When Sen. Orrin Hatch proclaimed Tuesday afternoon that President Barack Obama's re-election campaign would "throw the Mormon church at" Mitt Romney, Democrats were quick to reaffirm "attacking a candidate's religion is out of bounds" and dismiss the senator's opinions as "utter nonsense."

Apparently MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell missed the religious-attacks-aren't-cool memo, because on the very same day as Hatch's controversial comments, O'Donnell blatantly attacked Romney's religion by materially defaming Joseph Smith, founding president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Specifically, O'Donnell made erroneous statements about the revered Mormon leader during political programming intended to offer analysis of Tuesday's presidential primaries in...