Rachel Maddow on Wednesday mocked the math skills of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie only seconds before she made the exact same arithmetic mistake she bashed him for.
In a short segment about the state of New Jersey losing some education funding as a result of errors made during the application process, the MSNBC host placed all the blame on the new Republican governor.
To put a fine point on what Maddow claimed was Christie's incompetence, she played a video of the Governor on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" earlier in the day misstating the number of points Ohio edged out New Jersey for this award.
Hysterically, when the clip ended, Maddow made the very same subtraction error (video follows with transcript and commentary):
RACHEL MADDOW, HOST: Even while talking about the application process, Governor Christie has still been making some basic mistakes as evidenced by his appearance on this network this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R-NEW JERSEY): We came in eleventh, ten people won, and we lost by 2.2 points...
UNKNOWN MALE: Next year.
CHRISTIE: ...to Ohio.
UNKNOWN MALE: Next year.
CHRISTIE: If there's more money. I doubt there will be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MADDOW: 2.2? According to the Department of Education, Ohio got 440.8 points in the final phase, and New Jersey got 437.8 points which is not three points. It's 2.2 points. I don't know if there was a math section, but if there is, I bet that's Obama's fault, too.
Nice job, Rach. You really are the smartest gal in the class.
Maybe more hysterically, the story doesn't end there, for someone must have noticed Maddow's error and decided to re-film this final section for the video to be posted at MSNBC's website and possibly the reruns.
See if you notice a little difference:
MADDOW: 2.2 points Governor Christie? According to the Department of Education, Ohio got 440.8 points in the final phase and New Jersey got 437.8 points which using math - using my powers of math comprehension that's three points not 2.2. I wonder if there's a math component to the test. If there is, I bet that's Obama's fault, too.
Makes you wonder how many takes they needed for Maddow to finally get it right.
