Ah, karma.  In the middle of this MS-NBC gigglefest over Sarah Palin’s response to Glenn Beck on which Founding Father she likes best, Mika Brzezinski offers her opinion on the best Founding Father — who wasn’t born until 20 years after the US adopted its present Constitution. As Talking Points Memo and Stormin’s Morning Java warn, you have to listen carefully at the one-minute mark for Mika’s interjection of “Lincoln”:

For what it’s worth, my favorite has been James Madison, mainly for his work on the Constitution, although after reading the latest Samuel Adams biography, I’d call it a toss-up. George Washington is a good, if safe and a bit pedestrian, choice, given the example he set for all future Presidents in eschewing power. But I think Palin would know better than to say “Lincoln,” and it’s hilarious that the chuckleheads in this clip never even caught it coming from their own.

Update: A bit more from TPM:

“Wow, uuummm… Wow, I just need to, let me just process, okay,” Brzezinski remarked in response to the clip. Later Buchanan chimed in, “I would’ve gone with Hamilton, myself, Joe.” Shortly thereafter Brzezinski said from off-camera, “Me, Linc-, Lincoln, but okay.” Sarcastic joke? Or startling lack of elementary knowledge of American history? Hard to tell…

Not really.  Had Palin actually picked someone born 20 years after the Constitution was ratified, then perhaps Mika could be credited with a bit of wit with a Lincoln pick.  I think it’s “startling lack of elementary knowledge of American history,” which prompts the question of why MS-NBC has her  chortling over Palin’s perfectly acceptable selection of Washington — known to history as The Father of His Country.