Richard Leiby reports in today's Washington Post on an appearance by actor/comedian Chevy Chase at the Lincoln Center Tuesday night that was so embarrassing that even People For The American Way felt it necessary to scold Chase for his tasteless remarks against George Bush. Chase launched a profanity-laced tirade from which even Norman Lear disassociated himself:

After actors Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon delivered speeches accepting their Defender of Democracy awards, Chase took the stage a final time and unleashed a rant against President Bush that stunned the crowd. He deployed the four-letter word that got Vice President Cheney in hot water, using it as a noun. Chase called the prez a "dumb [expletive]." He also used it as an adjective, assuring the audience, "I'm no [expletive] clown either. . . . This guy started a jihad."

Chase also said: "This guy in office is an uneducated, real lying schmuck . . . and we still couldn't beat him with a bore like Kerry."

I have to ask where this meme of the "uneducated" President originates. George Bush has a bachelor's degree from Yale and a Harvard MBA, not exactly diploma-mill colleges. It puts him one degree ahead of John Kerry, Al Gore, and even Chevy Chase himself, who wangled a BA in English from Bard College. Bush's political opponents often accuse the President of lacking education, but this only reveals their own ignorance of the man who they love to hate.

The last funny movie that starred Chase came out in the 80s, "Christmas Vacation", and that designation may be debatable. Why the PFW wanted Chase as an emcee escapes me, but they soon regretted it. As anyone who has seen Chase operate without a script -- I had the utter misfortune to tune in the execrable "Chevy Chase Show" debut episodes -- he is simply incapable of extemporaneous humor. (Why did I watch more than one? I couldn't believe it could get any worse. I was very, very mistaken.)

The reactions of those in attendance actually gives hope that the Left has not completely lost their minds. Norman Lear remarked that "it was utterly untoward"; Ralph Neas, PFW's president, shot back at Chase by issuing a statement that "Chevy Chase's improvised remarks caught everyone off guard, and were inappropriate and offensive." After Whoopi Goldberg's hatefest last July, the Left appears to know how to contain the damage done by clueless and ignorant celebrities. When they finally stop bestowing awards on them as well, we'll know they've decided to rejoin the rational world.

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