Damn, George is in a tight spot!

Sure, we know he's somewhat left of Fenway's Green Monster, but we've always kinda liked George Clooney. He has that stylish goofiness you don't see in actors much anymore. His politics are a jumbled mess but you have to consider his affliction -- er, profession. His work in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" by itself should merit him admission into the Intergalactic Acting Hall of Fame.

This morning we noticed a brief report that Clooney believes 2005 "is the worst year" of his life.

Actors are noted for having "worst years" on a frequent basis, especially if it gets them a few extra headlines. But George was not complaining about the continued excesses of the Bush Administration, or a belief that taxes are too low.

No, George has real problems. Woes with which even we can identify.

Among his long list of woes, the 44-year-old actor had to deal with painful spinal damage after gaining a huge amount of weight for his role in his latest movie SYRIANA.

He says, "When I started the movie I had gone through a series of sort of unhappy times. Some bad things had happened in my life and it's also depressing to put on that much weight that quickly. I did it in 30 days.

"So I was really sort of reflecting what I was going through in a way. It wasn't a lot of acting, it was just sort of me playing a part I wasn't very happy in and I wasn't very happy at the time either.

Weight, depression, a role he couldn't seem to get into, back pain. That's a good start on a bad year. Yet there is also this:

"On my way to Morocco (where Syriana was filmed), leaving my house, there was a rattlesnake wrapped around my dog with its teeth in the back of his head. I had to get a baseball bat and beat the snake until it let go, but it killed the dog. That was the last thing the dog saw, me beating a snake with a bat."

"It was just one thing after another too. My brother-in-law, who was 46 years old, stood up and had a heart attack and died.

"My dad was running for an election that he lost in the middle of this shoot and stuff like that. So it felt like I was having a bad year."

Some might question why the death of a pet would be mentioned before the death of a relative. This does not mean that George is necessarily shallow. Any man who will list the death of his dog as a great tragedy, well, that's a man who loves his dog. A man who probably watched Old Yeller and shed a manly tear. Brothers-in-law come and brothers-in-law go, and it is no less a tragedy, but a good dog is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. No one should ever have to see a rattlesnake clamped to his dog's skull.

You also have to admire Clooney for taking the issue of retribution into his own hands, wielding a baseball bat with deadly force against that most evil and ancient foe of mankind, the snake. He didn't call for his butler, his gardener, his publicist or even his agent. George did what needed to be done.

Perhaps sensing that most Americans could not care less, George saved for last, and only in passing, the fact that his dad lost his election bid ("and stuff like that.") Any other leftist moonbat actor would have mentioned it first. For this he deserves our thanks and a metaphorical pat on the back.

Like the character he played in "O Brother," Mr. Clooney is not yet beyond redemption.