What the heck was Cowell thinking?

Every time it seems like Simon Cowell is, well, explainable, he does something totally unexpected.

While "American Idol" has never exactly been my cup of tea, I've always found Cowell to be by far the most honest of the judges. Oh, he's waaaay too harsh sometimes — unnecessarily rude and obnoxious — but he calls 'em like he hears 'em.

But then last week he apparently suffered a bout of deafness. Or, at least, tone deafness.

Even to those of us for whom music lessons are far in the past, it was rather obvious that Matt Giraud was the weakest performer last week. And yet Cowell praised Giraud to the skies while fellow judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi were, well, lukewarm at best.

It was, at least, a nice way for Giraud to exit when the vote went against him.

"It was a great way to go out," Giraud told TV critics after he was eliminated. "Because going out with Simon calling you brilliant and comparing you to Nat King Cole — that's pretty much the best way I could go. I mean, it's better than going out like, 'That's the worst you've ever done — have a good day.' "

Anybody who's ever watched "American Idol" even casually knows that the judges are there to influence the outcome even when the voting is in the hands of the viewers. And not just with the "save" that was added to the show this year.

The judges in general and Cowell in particular push for contestants they like and push against those they don't like. It's all part of the game. If it weren't so, why even have judges once the show reaches the viewer-voting stages?

And Cowell tends to manipulate the proceedings masterfully. He's even been known to use a bit of reverse psychology, telling contestants they're in danger of going home just to raise the ire of viewers and make them vote to keep those contestants on the show.

To this day, you've got to wonder if the outcome of last year's "Idol" finals were, at least in part, influenced by Cowell's comments. If you recall, he told viewers that David Archuleta scored "a knockout" against David Cook, all but handing the crown to the Utah teen.

Whether that influenced the voting — which went decidedly in Cook's favor — we'll never know for sure. But there certainly seemed to be some backlash against Cowell declaring the contest over before a vote had been cast.