MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell first made his fame and fortune as a writer on West Wing. Tragically, he’s now penning political snuff films for the Left.

On Friday, with a smug self-righteousness staggering even by MSNBC standards, Lawrence O’Donnell declared war hero and Gold Star father General John Kelly a racist, all because of his Irish-Catholic background.

I know the neighborhood John Kelly comes from. I know the culture.

It was a neighborhood in which calling someone who looked like Frederica Wilson an empty barrel was the kindest thing that would have been said about her. You know what wasn’t sacred when he was a kid growing up, where he was growing up? Black women. He took time. A lot of extra time to call a black woman who he doesn’t know and he doesn’t like an empty barrel.

Colleague Joy Reid would echo the sentiment, insisting General Kelly was a racist because of his Irish-Catholic neighborhood in Boston.

Let that sink in: John Kelly is racist because he grew up in an Irish-Catholic neighborhood.

I have only one question: Why do Lawrence O’Donnell and Joy Reid still have jobs today?

Think I’m exaggerating?

Trade out the word “racist” and “Irish-Catholic” for the slurs “lazy” and “black.”

Again, I repeat MSNBC, why does Lawrence O’Donnell still have a job today?

“Empty Barrel”

The Left has so lost its mind that it decided that Gen. Kelly describing Rep. Frederica Wilson as an “empty barrel” is racist. Sure, it’s no surprise. The minute Gen. Kelly said he was deeply troubled by Wilson’s actions, the racist card was sliding up out of their sleeve. Obama and his minions drummed it into our heads that to criticize any African-American politician is — by definition — racist. Unless he’s a Republican.

So is the expression “empty barrel” remotely racist? It’s a phrase dating back to Shakespeare and even farther back to Plato, who used it in reference to other Greeks. It refers to someone whose claims are noisy but hollow.

Let’s try another common saying that expresses the same sentiment. Listening to the cowboy-hatted congresswoman talk for more than two minutes it’s clear she’s “all hat, no cattle.” And kind of crass.

Wilson actually took to bragging that using the dead body of an American hero in an effort to trash Trump has made her a “rock star.” “I’m a rock star now!” she said laughingly, when asked about the Kelly controversy. What is more offensive, her false indignation or her bizarre self-aggrandizement?

Sorry, Rep. Wilson, you are not a rock star. No rock star I know of would do what you did. Bruce Springsteen might pen a bitter ode about Trump tomorrow, but he wouldn’t cackle with glee about it. Ozzy Osbourne might bite the head off a bat, but he’s not going to hop on the body of a dead soldier. Even Spinal Tap would have found that too undignified.

Wilson naturally doubled down to drag out her 15 minutes of fame, declaring the White House “full of white supremacists.” The media slurped that pap up like it was soup from Le Bernadin.

They did not ask her about the $138,000 her office paid Imran Awan, the Democratic IT guy currently under investigation for assorted nefarious doings, including accessing sensitive House data. But I digress, in the direction of actual journalism.

The Truth about Kelly

So why are the media and Left going absolutely bonkers over General Kelly’s remarks? 

I used to intern at a spectacular radio station in D.C .called W-Lite. WLTT hummed under the management of a smooth genius named Bob Hughes. Hughes was absolutely demolishing W-Lite’s rival WASH. So WASH responded by launching a series of bizarre, personal attacks on Hughes and the station. A newspaper called to get Hughes’ response to the snarky diatribes. All he said was, “When you fire into a bush and you hear a scream you know you hit something.”

On Thursday, General John Kelly fired into the heart of the Left and it screamed. Anyone who saw Kelly’s remarks knew he was hitting something deep and profound. An old soldier who knew the pain of loss was speaking poignantly about what America has lost. He spoke of what had been sacred and was no more. He spoke with a dignity and wisdom and depth far beyond our current discourse. The meat he offered made us painfully aware of the lard we’ve been force fed.

However, rather than take stock, rather than even show an ounce of respect for the man and his opinion, the Left set out to destroy Kelly, and destroy him quick. They knew he had resonated in the gut of American citizens. This could be a game changer. They went straight into the mud.

For example, Hillary Clinton’s former spokesman Brian Fallon called this American hero “odious.” This from a guy whose Twitter page is wallpapered with a photo of 49ers kneeling through our National Anthem.

Kelly isnt just an enabler of Trump. He's a believer in him. That makes him as odious as the rest. Dont be distracted by the uniform.

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) October 19, 2017

Perhaps the media and the political minions should follow Gen. Kelly’s lead and take a somber walk through the graves at Arlington. When they return to their ivory tower they can pose a question: Given the choice between O’Donnell, Rep. Wilson or General John Kelly, whose hand would America rather have at the helm?

They won’t like the answer.