Hillary Rodham Clinton's Hollywood contributions: James Varney

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I've always considered actress Tea Leoni a total babe. That's why "Madam Secretary" made a brief appearance on my TV screen Sunday night.

If it weren't Leoni, who can also be funny, that never would have happened. And it probably wouldn't have happened even with Leoni if the Carolina Panthers hadn't looked so soft and lost against the Steelers.

But whatever the reason may have been to go, neither Leoni nor an uncompetitive NFL game were enough to get me to stay.

That's not the fault of the actress of the players, though. It's that in-kind campaign contributions masked as drama aren't any good, even when liberally sprinkled with ads by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.

The specter of Hillary Rodham Clinton haunts "Madam Secretary." You had to figure that would be so - what are the odds a network would put on a primetime Sunday show about a woman secretary of state if Hillary weren't running for president? Still, the Clinton campaign should declare many millions from CBS as an in-kind contribution.

"Madam Secretary's" debut reminded one of a recent Clinton trial balloon. Not too long ago, remember,Hillary let it be known she favored a more forceful White House policy regarding Syria. Sunday night, Leoni warns the president he is in "a box of appeasement" in Syria that only her more hard-line approach can unlock.

Leoni handled it with more aplomb and grit than Hillary seemed to - certainly nothing in Leoni's performance would require her to"hug it out" as Hillary and President Obama did while luxuriating on Martha's Vineyard.

But the broad themes were established: a savvy player unafraid to take risks is in control over at Foggy Bottom, even if that puts her at odds with a more cautious chief executive and commander in chief.

As if the premise and the plot weren't enough to prove the whole thing is Clintonaid, everyone involved in the show and all the critics insist it isn't about Clinton. That seals it.

When rich, famous leftists come together and declare what they are doing hasnothing to do with a specific political campaign, it's virtually certain the enterprise has everything to do with that campaign.

Read more:
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Hollywood contributions: James Varney