Leave it to you to bring politics into this. Leave it to you to 'read my mind' and tell me exactly what I'm thinking and what my motivations are

. And you wonder why many people on this board consider you beyond being able to have a rational conversation with. Using your logic, I could claim anyone defending him must agree with him politically, right? Yeah, but I'm not so much of an *ss that I would make such a ridiculous claim.
Plain and simple, no one should talk to their kids that way, period. I have a teenager FULL TIME whose own mother behaves much the same way Mr. Baldwin did in that phone message. Hot temper, arrogant and selfish. She takes it out on her kids, which is why they don't want to be around her, and which is also why they DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE when she calls. Who in the hell wants to be put through that?
Point being, how do you know this isn't standard operating procedure for Mr. Baldwin? You don't! All that we have to go on is a) Basinger's claims of his verbal abuse (long before now) and b) the evidence of his verbal abuse as demonstrated in this message. Conclusion? The guy's a jerk.
But hey, defend him all you like DESPITE what you see right in front of your face.