SEND IN THE CLOWNS

As the desperation among Democrats grows, seemingly by the hour, so does the level of hysteria among Obama's supporters in the media and entertainment industries.  Since Obama has a record of failure that he simply can't face, much less run on, the only strategy left for his campaign is to send in the clowns and let them do performance art masquerading as "journalism" or hurl accusations at Romney and Ryan.  The accusations are as vile and hateful as they are moronic and misleading.  And the ultimate irony is that if Republicans resorted to the same tactics and tone, the very media that is enabling and encouraging the attacks would be outraged by such reckless talk.  But because the targets are Republicans everything is fair game.

If you want to see Hollyweird in all it's unhinged glory, just have a look at Michelle Malkin's newest website, Twitchy.  There you will find a plethora of aging stars who apparently have nothing better to do than to put their political ignorance and clueless viewpoints regarding the real world (that they pay handlers to protect them from) on display while attacking Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and and any other Republican they can think of.  The latest to weigh in is actress Jean Smart, best known for her role as "sweet-natured but somewhat naïve office manager Charlene" on the TV show "Designing Women." Yesterday she called in to Current TV's "Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller" to share her thoughts on the "mean spiritedness" of the Right.

"It’s interesting that the side that is always waving the Bible and calling themselves Christians are the ones who don't live their lives or speak like Christians," she said, noting that the philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans come down to believing that either one is his brother’s keeper or not.

"It's hard for me to even forgive anybody anymore if they even align themselves with the Republicans," she continued. "I don’t know how you can be even a thoughtful, intelligent person … and say I'm a Republican."

As is frequently the case, the trap that Jean Smart falls into is the one in which the commenter begins with a false premise and then starts ad-libbing from that starting point.  The longer the improvisation continues the more bizarre it becomes.  In this instance, the premise is that all Republicans are callous, unintelligent and hypocritical.  Nothing says "I'm a clown" like uttering a sweeping generalization about an entire group of people based on nothing more than a personal opinion.  

Then Ms. Smart demonstrates her Christian values by refusing to "forgive" anybody who belongs to the Republican Party. This begs the question: is Jean Smart not smart enough to recognize the contradictions in her rant?  Or does she simply lack the intellectual honesty to care about being a hypocrite herself by using mean-spirited rhetoric to complain about Republican "mean spiritedness?"