> What do you call someone (like, say Jenny McCarthy), who honestly deludes herself into a position where their lies are both harmful and profitable?

For Jenny McCarthy to continue to believe what she claims to believe, she has to be either brain-damaged or lying. Oh -- or both.

> Does it matter what they really think?

Of course it does. An intelligent, mistaken person can be reasoned with, educated, presented with new evidence. An intelligent con man cannot.

> We are who we pretend to be.

Unrealistically cynical. The best way to derive mutual benefit from other people is to be exactly who you say you are.