"EVERY GREAT mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied," said Pearl S. Buck.

I WONDER if Hollywood's liberal elite is pondering its great mistake? I do mean the ill-considered drumbeat of outrage that immediately followed the arrest of Roman Polanski in Switzerland on a 1977 charge of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor?

If given the chance to do it again, would they re-assess, and -- in the words of Barack Obama -- "calibrate" their protests in a more reasoned manner? Would Debra Winger, even if she believed it, openly refer to the forces behind Polanski's arrest as "philistine?"

Even New York magazine's celebrity-crazed "Approval Matrix" remarked on "the weird outpouring of Hollywood support for a guy who drugged and raped a 13-year-old."

Over the past two weeks a palpable -- and rare! -- sense of embarrassment has fallen over the entertainment community, a collective, "oops!" It's not so much that minds have been changed, but there is a realization that eagerness to help a colleague may have actually assured him U.S. jail time. Public and media backlash was instant, and served to seemingly define the worst of what some people feel about "Hollywood types."

That broad brush-stroke is unfair. Nobody who signed the petition to release Polanski from his Swiss jail cell, approves of child-rape. But emotion and entitlement momentarily swept aside measured response.

If Polanski himself had a shred of sense, he would have immediately demanded to be returned to the U.S. to face the music, with appropriate remarks of long-held remorse and guilt. At 76, respectably married with children, having survived the Nazis and the butchering of his wife and unborn son, and with not the slightest indication he has ever re-offended I don't think he would have had it too hard. Now?

Sometimes it's best for friends to just shut up.

AS YOU probably already know, Barbra Streisand has topped the Billboard chart yet again. Her "Love Is the Answer" CD is number one. She beat out Mariah Carey and someone or something called Paramore.

Now, just because we wrote a glowing review of Streisand's recent stint at the Village Vanguard, we'd never dream of taking any credit for Barbra's success. But her rep did send a sweet note -- along with all the staggering stats on Barbra's album -- "Couldn't have done it without you." He probably sent a similar missive to everybody who worshipped Barbra in print over the past week or so. Still, with civilized thank-yous an almost forgotten art, we will accept that compliment.

SOME YEARS ago, before the death of Anna Nicole Smith, while she was free-falling into drugs and sad exhibitionism, I said to a friend, "She is the kind of girl who, if she hadn't become famous, would have ended up in prison for murder." My friend was shocked. I said I didn't think Anna had many moral boundaries, and her abuse of substances lowered whatever boundaries she did have. And, she was dumb. No crime in that, but she was.

I had been the recipient of some inside info on her, too sad and sordid to print, but it gave me a terrible glimpse into her life. Often, I would call a press rep that stuck it out with her for more years than I thought possible. I'd always say, "Forget about her; she's a lost cause, what about her son?!" He'd reply, "Oh, but she really loves him," which was not the point I was trying to make.

So, does it come as a surprise that the late Anna is now being accused of once having wanted the son of her late billionaire husband dead? Nope. She was not smart or calculating enough to have planned anything, but in the grip of her addictions, her fear that she'd lose her lawsuit against the estate -- could she have said it, and more than once? I think so. Luckily, she was surrounded by people as spacey and dim as she was, so nothing came of it.

In a way, it's too bad the FBI couldn't have jailed Anna for conspiracy. She'd be alive today, clean and sober and with good behavior, out of prison before she was 45. And her son would probably be alive too.

SPEAKING OF the sad and sordid, Phil Spector remains locked away, convicted in the death of actress Lana Clarkson. But one of the better products to spring from Spector's fevered brain is being re-discovered and re-issued. I do mean the producer's 1963 "A Christmas Gift for You" album, one of the most famous holiday discs of all time, featuring Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, Bob. B. Sox and the Blue Jeans. Sony Classic Music is spiffing this up for an Oct. 27 release.

Spector continues to appeal his sentencing. Good luck on that -- nobody is leaping to his defense, a la Polanski. However, NBC Universal France is putting together a major documentary on the fabled "Wall of Sound" creator; it will be largely a career tribute, touching only sparingly on his trial and imprisoned denouement.

(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)