This correction from BigJournalism on the numbers Maddow typically runs:
The study on which Maddow based her claim was conducted by Robert Lang. And while it did project a $121 million surplus for the state budget by the end of June, 2011, had Maddow read further she would have seen that Lang also “[outlined] $258 million in unpaid bills or expected shortfalls in programs such as Medicaid services for the needy, [and] the public defender’s office and corrections.”
Hmmm … I’m not great at math but let me try this: $258 million in outstanding payments minus $121 million in state budget “surplus” equals a $137 million shortfall in funds available (which is the very shortfall Governor Walker is trying to forestall when he talks about the pending “$137 million deficit”).
The last time Maddow got something this wrong was just last month, when she mocked Sarah Palin for suggesting that the American military ought to invade Egypt. The problem was that Palin had never suggested such an invasion. (Maddow was eventually forced into the uncomfortable position of admitting that the source she’d used to support the Egyptian invasion theory was from a satire website rather than a news outlet.)
Take note Rachel also makes this mistake that Chris Matthews and others have made. And that is that police and fire unions supported the Wisconsin governor:
