Today's Boston Globe has more interesting stories than can be blogged. The continuing fiasco of Catholic parish closings is covered here. In OpEd territory, Scott Lehigh gives the Democrats a good j'accuse over the party's destructive relationship with narcissistic Hollywood stars. The choices bits of his critique:

The avidity with which some prominent Democrats later embraced Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" — a film whose thought-provoking antiwar message was cloaked in cockamamie conspiracy theories and drenched with disdain for Bush — reflected their misreading of the country's anxious, uncertain mood. The image of Moore ensconced in former President Jimmy Carter's box at the Democratic National Convention showed that that mentality had infected even the highest reaches of the party...

Exactly right. I have tried to find an image of Moore and Carter sitting together on the Internet without success. That image is seared - seared - in my memory as an icon of the malady that has so damaged this poor party.

Other stars may have helped Kerry raise money, but they also served to embarrass him, putting their unbridled contempt for Bush on proud display during a July fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall. Whoopi Goldberg indulged in a long riff that used the name Bush as a sexual pun. Chevy Chase belittled Bush's intelligence and mocked his pronunciation of "terrorist" and "nuclear." (Didn't Jimmy Carter mispronounce the latter word too?) John Mellencamp sang a song that called Bush a "cheap thug who sacrifices our young." And so it went. Kerry then made the mistake of saying that the stars had conveyed to the audience "the heart and soul of our country." His campaign was soon on the defensive, left to assert the performers' right to express their opinions, while stipulating they did not necessarily reflect Kerry's views.

This is just political common sense. So why did it go unsaid during the campaign?

Now, the celebrities' contempt may well mirror the sentiment of confirmed Democrats.

Hmmm. Hatred animating the Democratic Party mainstream? Surely not, Scott! Unmentioned by Lehigh is the 42nd US president, who elevated the Washington-Hollywood connection to a core party value.