Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and a presidential hopeful in France, has been arrested and charged with attempted rape, criminal sexual act and unlawful imprisonment, New York City police and the IMF said on Sunday.
[…]Mr. Strauss-Kahn allegedly forced a cleaning woman onto his bed and sexually assaulted her at around 1 p.m. Saturday inside his room at the Sofitel Hotel near Times Square, the official said.Mr. Strauss-Kahn allegedly allowed the woman to leave and then departed for the airport, the official said. The alleged victim informed co-workers who then alerted authorities, the official said. […]
The Times report says that the police have DNA evidence.
gypsy howell
When you’ve spent years raping whole countries, what’s a cleaning lady or two?
MattF
I’d bet that there’s a behavioral repertoire here– ‘rough’ sex with women he doesn’t know. And then he crosses the line due to some combination of stress, age, intoxication, etc.
I’m not suggesting, btw, that any of those factors are extenuating circumstances. It’s just a likely model for his behavior.
JGabriel
It may be the first time Straus-Khan has been charged for sexually agressive behavior, but it’s not the first time he’s been accused of it:
.
TooManyPaulWs
This is disgusting. And in some respect, I am not surprised. I get the impression Mr. Strauss-Kahn has gotten to that point in life where he thinks he can get away with anything.
Xenos
With all disclaimers about people being innocent until proven guilty in court and so on, this story made me proud to be an American. A working class woman is (apparently) victimized by one of the most powerful people on earth, her employer and coworkers help her report this to the NYPD, which proceeds to take the crime seriously and promptly locates and apprehends the alleged criminal without any regard for his high position and power.
Well done, that. More, please.
TooManyPaulWs
I know this is wrong to go off-topic but: what the hell is the head of an international financial institution doing running FOR the Socialist Party? Any Socialist Party?! It’s like getting a gay unemployed Mexican-American Anarchist from Massachusetts running for the Republicans…
Valdivia
There is also a story of him either sexually harassing and/or assaulting an Hungarian economist while at the IMF.
JPL
@Xenos: I agree. His behavior has been excused for years. JGabriel at #3 links to a Guardian article that you might find interesting.
Bloix
The Times report says that the police have material from the room containing DNA: “The investigation in the hotel room uncovered forensic evidence that would contain DNA.”
This could be as little as a hair in the sink or in the bedsheets. It doesn’t remotely imply semen. The Times report implies that the woman was not raped, as the charges against Strauss-Kahn include “attempted rape” but not rape.
Valdivia
I see the JGabirel article refers to the relationship to the Hungarian though from people I know who work there the rumors were uglier than that.
I’ve known men like this, it just surprises me it took this long for him to actually rape someone. Or fir someone to actually call him on it.
ETA or not rape. I read somewhere he sodomized her. We won’t know for sure until more info is in.
JPL
What does this mean to IMF’s work trying to keep countries afloat? I hate to sound crass but I’m curious.
Valdivia
@JPL:
Probably nothing since they have a #2 person who can step in and since he was going to resign anyway to run for President of France
Cat Lady
Would all of you entitled assholes just go Galt already? Just plz let us know where you’ll be while withholding your productivity so we can nuke it from space. kthx.
Admiral_Komack
“The great seducer” – that’s how the French press politely refer to Strauss-Kahn. Anne Sinclair, his wife of 20 years, appears to deal with his reputation with surprising pragmatism. In an interview with L’Express magazine, she explained: “It’s important for a politician to be able to seduce.” She also wrote a blog post in 2008, right after DSK’s affair with the IMF’s economist, claiming this kind of incident can happen to a couple, and that they still love each other like at the early beginning. The post has since been deleted.”
This woman is a damned idiot.
WyldPirate
@gypsy howell:
You win the internets. They will be arriving at your home tomorrow….
Jay C
@Xenos:
Proud, hell yeah! The NYPD not merely “located and apprehended” M. Strauss-Kahn, but halted, boarded, and hauled him off of an Air France jet at JFK (out of first-class, no less: so much for Socialist austerity); after it had left the gate.
If you saw it on an episode of Law and Order (and you probably have) it would be classic “theater”: that life is imitating art here is one of the good things about living in NY…
JPL
The Guardian has a story about who might succeed Strauss-Kahn at the IMF if/when he steps down. link
Gin & Tonic
@Jay C:
The Times story also says that his hotel room cost $3,000 per night. I can see flying first class if he flies a lot, as he probably does for his job; airlines are fairly generous with upgrades to their best customers. But $3k/night? Not very soc!alist to me, either.
Gin & Tonic
@Jay C:
Seem to have gotten moderated for a word that you used, but I apparently can’t
The Times story also says that his hotel room cost $3,000 per night. I can see flying first class if he flies a lot, as he probably does for his job; airlines are fairly generous with upgrades to their best customers. But $3k/night? Not very soc ialist to me, either.
amk
When you’re screwing poor countries all over the world, what’s one poor maid ?
And remember, this guy is a leftie in the frogs country.
Good of NYPD to haul his ass off the plane. How fast now will IMF scramble to this asshole’s defense ?
gelfling545
@TooManyPaulWs: I suspect that, in places where socialist does not equal demon from hell, the party is much like others in that they get an assortment of people under their banner & run the one they think will win. They were apparently mistaken here. Also, socialist does not mean indifferent to of knowledgeable about finance.
Gin & Tonic
@Bloix:
But doesn’t it imply that he left some evidence in the room and some on/in the maid that they can compare it to? I don’t think he can very well deny he was in the room in the first place, if he registered, showed his passport and used his credit card. So a hair on the pillowcase is useless, I’d think, unless they have something also recovered from the maid that shouldn’t be there. If it’s just another hair, a defense lawyer will say she picked it up from cleaning the room. It would have to be a more incriminating substance.
Maude
@Jay C:
This also involved the Port Authority because of the airport and the DA’s office to bring the charges.
Of all the places this idiot could commit an alleged sexual assault, he picks New York, where the laws against this typw of crime are very strong.
It’s like Ted Bundy going to Florida where they have the death penalty.
Maude
@Gin & Tonic:
He left behind his cellphone and other personal items in the hotel room. The incident occured around 1 p.m. Saturday and the official arrest, I read on Reuters, was at 2:15 a.m. Sunday. (Omnes alert)
That’s truly fast work by the NYPD et al. They had to have enough evidence to charge him and they got it as they were questioning him.
He was taken off the plane to be questioned.
Edit: Oh, and he doesn’t have diplomatic imunity.
cathyx
Does his position fall under the diplomatic immunity provision that many foreign dignitaries get?
if he does, then he may get a free pass.
Gin & Tonic
@cathyx: If he had diplomatic immunity, he would have claimed it, and probably flown home. The NYPD knows very, very well how they can and can’t deal with people covered by it.
Matthew B.
@cathyx: Le Monde says he probably doesn’t have immunity. (Link in French.)
JPL
@cathyx: No. His immunity only extends to his specific duties with the IMF or so I have read.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Lots of hotels offer gov’t employees discounts… I doubt DSK was paying the rack rate.
It is too bad that DSK seems like he might be a sex criminal; he was trying to reform the IMF into less of a monetarist, Chicago-school austerity-monger.
Xenos
@JPL:
So, indeed, he is permitted to rape entire countries with impunity. Tonight I will toast this with a pint of Guinness, a glass of port, and some ούζο με νερό.
Ash Can
@Admiral_Komack:
Or, probably more likely, a rather cynical mercenary who’s OK with the gig. Marital fidelity simply isn’t a big deal in France, for either spouse. I don’t see how she can defend the rough stuff, though.
Bloix
#22- I’m not carrying a brief for the guy. I’m saying that when the cops say they’ve found DNA evidence “in the room” they’re not saying very much at all. It could be strong evidence or it could be trivial.
cathyx
@Ash Can: I think that spouses of politicians are just as ambitious as their husbands and will overlook infidelity to have a top position. There are many examples of this. In fact, I’m having a difficult time thinking of any politician’s wife who did leave her husband once he was caught.
bryanD
You have been neglecting your Rothschild and Rockefeller studies. It’s all about financiers financing *rivalries* to plump up sales of supplies and to garner interest payments from both sides in the rivalry.
Marx was financed by Engels and other sons of rich men.
The Fabian Society was the pet of rich kids from the very best schools.
Trotsky was given a grant by Schiff and Westinghouse on the docks of Brooklyn and put on a boat.
Lenin’s return to Russia was financed by German industrialists. Finland Station, ho!!
Hitler could not have assumed power without the aid of Krupp, Thyssen and the Ruhr coal consortium.
The Geithner family have been shepherding the white side of the “Obama” family for 3 generations. The Geithner connection to the CIA conduit Bank of Hawaii where Obama’s grandmother was vice-president is an obvious example: Geithner Senior was Granny’s boss. The cold war hot spots Kenya and Indonesia were fields under which the CIA operated under cover of groups such as USAID, in which Obama’s mother probably served as a “student-volunteer” for “humanitarian” purposes. Since this would have been simply a cover, it explains Mother’s free-time dalliances with Indonesian officers and East African political prospectors. Salary!
Or was she assigned these men? Were the marriages essentially shams? (I say: most likely)
On the flip-side: the houses of Bush and Soros are heavily connected as the Bushes are known to keep running out of capital and seeing gross losses. Soros has bailed out the Bushes at least once during the rocky 1970s.
Gin & Tonic
@cathyx: The former governor of South Carolina. His wife left him instantly.
bryanD
@TooManyPaulWs
You have been neglecting your Rothschild and Rockefeller studies. It’s all about financiers financing *rivalries* to plump up sales of supplies and to garner interest payments from both sides in the rivalry.
Marx was financed by Engels and other sons of rich men.
The Fabian Society was the pet of rich kids from the very best schools.
Trotsky was given a grant by Schiff and Westinghouse on the docks of Brooklyn and put on a boat.
Lenin’s return to Russia was financed by German industrialists. Finland Station, ho!!
Hitler could not have assumed power without the aid of Krupp, Thyssen and the Ruhr coal consortium.
The Geithner family have been shepherding the white side of the “Obama” family for 3 generations. The Geithner connection to the CIA conduit Bank of Hawaii where Obama’s grandmother was vice-president is an obvious example: Geithner Senior was Granny’s boss. The cold war hot spots Kenya and Indonesia were fields under which the CIA operated under cover of groups such as USAID, in which Obama’s mother probably served as a “student-volunteer” for “humanitarian” purposes. Since this would have been simply a cover, it explains Mother’s free-time dalliances with Indonesian officers and East African political prospectors. Salary!
Or was she assigned these men? Were the marriages essentially shams? (I say: most likely)
On the flip-side: the houses of Bush and Soros are heavily connected as the Bushes are known to keep running out of capital and seeing gross losses. Soros has bailed out the Bushes at least once during the rocky 1970s.
Gin & Tonic
@bryanD: Holy cow! I knew Lyndon LaRouche was still alive, but I didn’t know he was commenting on B-J.
amk
@bryanD: wow bryan, just wow. You got all that just by reading blogs ?
Ash Can
@Gin & Tonic: I was waiting for the Queen of England to show up in all that, and was surprised that she didn’t.
Omnes Omnibus
@cathyx: You must remember that we are speaking of a French politician. Mitterand’s longtime mistress was at his funeral along with his wife. The French are very equal opportunity about these things as well; his wife could very well have been carrying on affairs of her own. None of this mean that the French folk in question do not love their spouses or have happy marriages; they just don’t necessarily prioritize sexual fidelity as a value within the marriage. This, of course, does not excuse any rape or sexual battery.
Omnes Omnibus
@bryanD: Bilderberg! Secret rituals at the Bohemian Grove! Masons! Do I have to draw you a picture?
Xenos
@Omnes Omnibus: Masons? Do the LaRouchies work the Masons into their conspiracy theories?
The last person who actually had trouble with Masonic conspiracies was George III.
Omnes Omnibus
@Xenos: I have no idea. My dealings with LaRouchies have mercifully been limited to one encounter with a woman handing out pamphlets outside the Pike Place Market last time I was in Seattle. I just thought the Masons deserved a shout out. I could have gone with the Odd Fellows, but I thought they might be too obscure.
Jay C
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, well I got modded too: goddamn soshulists….
Anyway, I wonder if DSK was actually paying the full ticket at that hotel: Sofitel is, I believe, a French company: and it’s likely the IMF (or somebody’s friends on the Quai d’Orsay) worked out a deal for for him. Maybe he assumed the, ummm, services of the maid were part of the comp??
ETA: Ooops, I see O.O. beat me to it @ #29. Sorry….
shortstop
@Admiral_Komack: Wow. There’s someone in that household more repellent than Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
shortstop
@Maude: Think it’s more likely that he’s picked multiples places to commit this crime, and this time it caught up with him.
Like others here, I’m impressed with the quick work of the NYPD and appreciate the artistically dramatic aspects of the arrest.
Gin & Tonic
@Jay C: So he didn’t pay $3k. Still, a four- or five-room suite for two (weekend) nights in NYC? He wasn’t having IMF meetings in his suite’s conference room. He’s pretty clearly a guy who’ll go in expecting the best room in the house. Yeah, maybe he assumed extra services were included as well.
jeff
If true, I don’t think he should be allowed to serve his sentence in France. Sing-Sing for at least part of his term.
gelfling545
@gelfling545: that should say or unknowledgeable about
Anya
@TooManyPaulWs: Mr. Strauss-Kahn is actually a reformer where the IMF is concerned.
We have to remember that IMF was founded by John Maynard Keynes as a liberal economic institution to address the economic challenges of the nations affected by WW II. Even if Keynes was not happy with the end result (he felt that the Americans were taking advantage of their strong economic position to force ill-conceived decisions on the IMF and Bank.) – IMF’s origins were liberal. IMF changed completely to its current day monstrosity during the long reign of Michel Camdessus – who drastically changed the role of the IMF.
Strauss-Kahn was was apparently in the process of reforming the IMF to bring it back to the original role and mandate. He’s accused of a brutal crime and he should be persecuted fully, if he’s guilty. I am glad he did not succeed to flee to France. If he did, it would have been a repeat of the Roman Polanski situation.
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not sure that Mitterrand’s mistress is an analogy. We are talking not about marital infidelity, but about multiple cases of women charging rape or attempted rape, yes? I realize you addressed that at the end of your comment, but it’s really the heart of the matter, not an add-on.
Of course, Strauss-Kahn’s wife may be telling herself that all of this is consensual, as wives/girlfriends/family members of rapists not infrequently do.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic:
This aspect does not make him any different than the vast majority of senior politicians, business leaders, partners at Big Law firms, etc. Where he appears to have stepped out from the pack is in having alleged assaulted women.
Gin & Tonic
@Xenos:
Actually, they do. Something about rebuilding the Third Temple in Jerusalem. You can Google it. It’s way too confusing for me to summarize.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus:
It doesn’t, of course. It just makes the “Soc ialist” label somewhat of a poor fit. That was my only point. He has apparently referred to himself as a “caviar leftist”, so I doubt he’d disagree.
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: The comment to which I was responding specifically referenced infidelity. It did not discuss the sexual assault aspect. I brought that back in to try to ensure that it did not seem as though I was attempting to condone that in any way.
Matthew B.
@Xenos: The Italians have had trouble with Masons a lot more recently than that. But yes, bryanD is a nut.
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: Right you are. I read too quickly and misunderstood — I thought she had made that comment in the context of her husband’s alleged attempted assaults. Mea culpa.
I still would love to have a conversation with her about this — suspect it would be beyond appalling.
Anya
@bryanD: Did the Illuminati have any role in Obama’s upbringing?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: The PS in France is simply the major left of center party; it is not necessarily all that actually soshulist. DSK is from the center-left section of the party. He is, by background, a fairly typical well-off, upper middle/upper class, European, center-left politician.
Joel
It’s funny because I had just seen Inside Job and came away with a vaguely positive impression of this (alleged) scumbag.
Omnes Omnibus
@Anya: The Illuminati are a fictitious group whose alleged exploits are publicized to provide cover for the real work being done by the Daughters of the American Revolution. n00b.
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop:
It would be interesting to see what she thinks. OTOH, many spouses would defend their loved one in the face of an accusation. It is not necessarily a bad thing, although it can require blinders.
Omnes Omnibus
@Joel: Outside of his (alleged) scumbagginess, he is, in terms of international economics and business, on of the good guys. It really is unfortunate that he appears to be a real shitty human.
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: Certainly. What happens when an accusation becomes a pattern of similar accusations, though, and the perfectly natural desire to stand by your spouse slams into mounting evidence that he or she has done some truly hideous things?
Hmmm. I’m certainly not giving this guy the presumption of innocence, am I? I’ll stand down with the comments until he’s tried.
El Cid
In this time of Strauss-Khan’s extreme personal crisis, the best response is to drastically reduce his inflated and unsustainable legal expenditures.
When such a person is in these desperate straits, it’s time for the discipline of legal and personal austerity.
There is the risk of him passing on to his grandchildren attorney representation debts, and it’s now time to move beyond avoiding such questions.
It’s time for all of him to do some belt- and zipper-tightening; personal and legal austerity can’t just be for others. He all has to do it, together.
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: I wasn’t saying that there isn’t evidence and that an ordinarily aware person might not develop some concerns, but that a spouse is often the last to accept that the loved one is something less than expected. There is always a question of where and when loyalty becomes foolish. She might also have known and not really cared. We just don’t know. Based on what I currently know, DSK seems to be, at the very least, an asshole in his relations with women.
Roy G
It’s not at all implausible that DSK was ‘Spitzered.’
Omnes Omnibus
@Roy G: I will wait for all the evidence to come in, but there is one be difference between Spitzer and DSK according to the information currently available. Sptizer’s infidelities involved prostitution and a consenting adult; DSK’s alleged actions involve sexual assault[s]. It is a big difference.
SiubhanDuinne
Liane Hansen interviewed some French journalist about this story on NPR’s weeken Edition this morning and his take was basically that it was a terrible tragedy for DSK and for the IMF. Terrible tragedy for the woman? That wasn’t mentioned. And no, Liane didn’t ask the question. Fucking liberal media.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus:
This according to Reuters. Standing by her man.
tomvox1
But the Irish, Greek, Spanish & Portuguese people need to exercise more personal responsibility for the messes they’ve made of their countries. Austerity, bitches!
ruemara
@Roy G:
Oh please. The man has a history of assault. Period. He may have been a reformer I could agree with, but that won’t stop the fact that he is a sexual predator.
Omnes Omnibus
@ruemara:
He hasn’t been convicted of anything yet, but, if he is, I will fully agree with this.
ETA: Even if he is not guilty of anything criminal in this situation, it does appear that he has a history of, at a minimum, inappropriate/harassing behavior.
scottinnj
Innocent until proven guilty and all that but it is hard to overlook the history. Plus, and not to sound crass, they guy is obviously loaded so why can’t he get a ‘professional escort’ up for a quicky before he flies back to France? It’s just stupid (or, not thinking with the brain as it were)
WereBear
@scottinnj: It’s not about sex. It’s a sexual crime, but it doesn’t spring from being horny nearly so much as it is an attitude of taking whatever you want.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: don’t forget their paramilitary arm…. The Elks
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: I wasn’t mentioning them because I don’t need a middle of the night “educational” visit from them. Keep your doors bolted, my friend.
bryanD
“wow bryan, just wow. You got all that just by reading blogs?—AMK
I see you being wounded by the Obamaean tidbits. Suffice it to say that the rest of my information is barely disputable as its been cogitated in 100s of books across many decades. Heiden, Shirer, Fast, Taylor, Tuchman, etc etc etc.
As for someone that chimed “Illuminati”. I didn’t mention that catch-all term, however an “Illuminati” did exist and Thomas Jefferson commented on it, as he had just read the book “Proofs of a Conspiracy”. Jefferson was just skeptical that the Illuminati had not been overthrown completely by the Bavarian electorship in its infancy instead of growing to become the great unseen hand behind the French revolution, which he supported. Personally, I’m agnostic, i.e. what’s in a name?
rikyrah
throw him under the jail.
scottinnj
@WereBear: Sorry, i didn’t mean to infer that what he is alleged to have done isn’t a crime. It’s about power and its abuse in this case.
Omnes Omnibus
@bryanD: Good lord.
bryanD
P.S. Obama – Goldman Sachs. Nuff said.
And Obama was APPARENTLY raised an *intelligence community* brat—-it’s like an army brat, but with *connections*. (The best kind of background check!)
Anya
@scottinnj:
Because rape is about power not about sex. Rape is used a sexual expression of aggression. The rapist gets off by the force and the pain he’s causing. It makes them all powerful. It’s never about availability.
Anya
@bryanD: I bet you’re a regular listener of Alex Jones.
Comrade Darkness
>Francois Bayrou, a centrist opponent of Strauss-Kahn, said: “If the facts prove true …… it’s something degrading for all women. It’s terrible for the image of France.”
more by François Bayrou
Maybe I’m just ultra grumpy this week, but really, ladies, help me out here and tell me it’s not just my residual distaste for the frat culture in college . . . Isn’t a culture where the powerful men’s club is given a pass already pretty degrading?
Comrade Darkness
@Gin & Tonic: Awesome. I gotta use this somewhere. The head of a huge conspiracy destroyed by night terrors about conspiracies.
And BTW, brain wave patterns indicate right wingers fear everything, including their own shadow. Explains everything they say. Pity would be in order if they weren’t such tools.
Yutsano
@bryanD: Oh jeez. Implied birferism to boot. Tighten your tinfoil hat plz, the signals are starting to break through.
TooManyPaulWs
@Anya:
@Anya gave me the best answer, whereas @bryand gave me a poorly written page from the Big Book of Conspiracies.
Omnes Omnibus
@TooManyPaulWs: OTOH, Anya’s answer was merely well written and informative, while bryanD’s answer was loony and entertaining.
Basilisc
It’s all clear now – the Geithner family, Goldman Sachs, and the CIA conspired to create a Manchurian candidate who, 50 years later, would do their nefarious bidding. By, um, not putting enough clout behind the public option, soft-pedaling some aspects of financial reform, and not being aggressive enough in prosecuting Bush-era torture. THE PLOT WORKED!
Omnes Omnibus
@Basilisc: DADT is in there somewhere as well.
JR in WV
bryanD’s answer was entertaining…
I’m pretty sure the Elks aren’t the military arm, the Moose is well-known to be more aggressive than elk any day. The Elk’s seem to have nice bars, a dining room, card room and dancing.
The Moose have gambling!
I’m saddened/enraged by another wealthy powermad b’tard taking what he wants from someone he perceives to be completely powerless. If he wasn’t French he would be a TeaParti candidate, maybe…
Most o’ those guys seem to be power-crazed narcissists – or at least they want power to be mad with.
Usually I find conspiracy stuff interesting, the goofier the better, but I just can’t get into bryanD’s little novella. Too strange, disconnected, no one could have/would have planned 47 years ago to elect a half-African genius to the American Presidency, think about how racist society was then!
No one can plan today to prepare a newborn for the presidency – except for maybe the Bush family ;-)
Well, maybe W. fixed that feature for us, ya think? Genius, indeed…
JR
Gin & Tonic
@Valdivia: This is probably dead-threaded, but:
may not be entirely accurate. While the IMF, of course, has a #2, the Financial Times is reporting that he was planning to retire in August.
alwhite
Zimbabweans call ESAP (Economic Structural Adjustment Program — a system that requires vulnerable governments to make deep cuts in social spending, open markets to capital, and privatize anything that moves) Extra Suffering for African People.
Gravenstone
@bryanD: Mummy, I like this new toy. Can we keep it?
someofparts
Well, granting that he has a history of sexual predation, that charges against him are true. I still feel this is an Elliot Spitzer situation. Inside Job told us how much business the sex industry gets from Wall Street. Is Straus miraculously the only powerful financial/political figure with this history, the only one who could be easily caught if the NYPD wished it? How could that possible be? It can’t.
Deplorable, inexcusable those this excesses may be, I think the hit is political – because of the socialism, because of the reforms he hoped to make at the IMF.
someofparts
Also, doesn’t it make sense that if one’s religion forbids divorce, the cultural attitudes toward affairs might be a bit more relaxed? Just saying.
DPirate
Must be an Enemy Of Carlotta
Dr. Psycho
Apparently, he didn’t understand that “BOHICA” was just a metaphor….
shortstop
@someofparts: Judaism doesn’t forbid divorce.
Do you think “affairs” and “history of sexual predation” are synonyms?
You’re trying way too hard. And coming up way too short.
someofparts
shortstop – I was referring to the observations about the relaxed French attitudes toward affairs. I’m surprised to learn that they are a Jewish nation.
I tried too hard because I’m obviously the only one here who things this, and I wanted to make it clear that I don’t excuse the predation. Confounding “affairs” with “history of sexual predation” is your projection, not my expressed opinion.
Granting that all sexual predators should be apprehended and punished does not invalidate my point that this was done selectively.
Let’s nail every financial mucky-muck who has criminal (Strauss) or merely tasteless (Spitzer) sexual misbehaviors to hide. That would be so entertaining (and take so long) it would probably edge American Idol out of the ratings.