Among the many incoherent messages of the last four years, perhaps the most glaring double standard on the left is the idea that money is bad unless it’s being donated to Obama.

The facade is so paper-thin that our moral, ethical, and intellectual superiors are having trouble pretending they can’t see right through it. The Hollywood Reporter reports from Hollywood:

Barack Obama’s recent barrage of Hollywood campaign fund-raisers is drawing backlash from an unlikely place: Hollywood.

Some of the president’s most ardent entertainment industry supporters quietly tell The Hollywood Reporter that while they realize he needs to deploy all of his weapons to compete with deep-pocketed Republican super PACs, they fear the increasing reliance on stars and celebrity contests could backfire with swing voters and mobilize the right.

“We don’t like what he’s doing, but we understand it,” says one Hollywood fund-raising insider. “He has to raise the money. It’s a bad situation.”

Reaction was particularly strong to the $40,000-a-plate dinner co-hosted June 14 by Sarah Jessica Parker and Vogue editor Anna Wintour with guests including Meryl Streep, Aretha Franklin and Bravo’s Andy Cohen. Critics say the tony, heavily promoted event­ — Parker sent an e-mail to supporters promising the evening would be “fabulous,” and Wintour posted a video online urging supporters to enter a lottery for two tickets — risked creating the impression of an elitist, out-of-touch candidate in a period of ongoing distress and growing economic inequality.

Obama? Elitist and out of touch? How could anybody ever get that utterly false impression, based on nothing more than his consistent pattern of behavior?

I know Lawrence O’Donnell doesn’t like it when we talk about Olympic events, but I can’t help but marvel at the mental gymnastics that liberals have to do to keep from questioning their own assumptions. See, those evil Republicans have all the money, which is why Obama has to run around all over the place holding $40,000-a-plate fundraisers with celebrities. Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour will be glad to tell you about how Ann Romney is out of step with ordinary Americans. And could Harvey Weinstein talk some more about “these rich guys,” please?

An action is to be considered good or bad based not on its own merits, but whether the person performing that action expresses the approved set of opinions. Once you understand that, you can do and say whatever you want.

Yay!