Marco Rubio cut a funny ad last week incorporating an attack on him by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, asking viewers to decide whether they’d like less government spending, lower taxes, and less intrusion into their lives — or whether they’d rather tune in Maddow at 9 PM. Maddow, apparently overcome with gratitude towards Rubio, proceeded to respond by making Rubio’s argument for him. “In Florida, where the economy is really, really bad, unemployment stands at 11.4%, higher than the national average, foreclosures up nearly 10% in the first half of the year, higher than the national average …” Say, isn’t that what Rubio has been saying all along — that Barack Obama and Charlie Crist have done a lousy job? Who knew Rachel Maddow was a Tea Partier?

“These are troubled times.” Maddow gets that right, too.