She was right and Castellanos and the GOP congresswoman were wrong, but I fail to see any historical significance. I'm not sure how many minds might have been changed by the exchanged. I guess it did shine a light on the GOP's denial of factual information, something they seem to be fond of.
I'll take this opportunity to highly recommend Maddow's book, Drift. It's a fascinating, very detailed account of how our country's military has changed over the last two generations. As you'd expect, she's done her homework. Also, it's not a liberal bashing of the GOP; she focuses on the actions of every administration since LBJ. It's not the kind of book I usually read, but I found it very compelling.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson