5.) Mr. Strauss-Kahn had surrendered his passport. He had offered to stay in New York City. He is one of the most recognizable people on the planet. Did he really have to be put in Riker's Island? Couldn't he have been given home detention with a guard? This is a man with a lifetime of public service, on a distinguished level, to put it mildly. Was Riker's Island really the place to put him on the allegations of one human being? Hadn't he earned slightly better treatment than that? Any why compare him with a certain pedophile from France long ago? That man had confessed to his crime. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has not confessed to anything.
If S-K had been a roofer staying at a Motel 6, he would have been thrown into Riker's for this alleged crime. The argument that S-K is rich, powerful, and chock-full of social awesomeness does not, should not, give him a free pass or preferential treatment in the American justice system. Why has he "earned" better treatment? The police and prosecutors believe they have a rock-solid case, with ample evidence to support the arrest and incarceration. Ben's argument smacks of elitism and class lines, and I reject it.
7.) In this country, we have the presumption of innocence for the accused. Yet there's my old pal from the Ron Ziegler/ Richard Nixon days, Diane Sawyer, anchor of the ABC Nightly News, assuming that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty. Right off the bat she leads the Monday news by saying that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is in Riker's... "because one woman stood her ground..." That assumes she's telling the truth and he's guilty. No such thing has been proved and it's unfortunate for ABC to simply assume that an accusation is the same as a conviction. Maybe he's in jail because one person didn't tell the truth. I don't know one way or the other, but I sure know that there has been no conviction yet.
Well, good grief Ben! You're just now noticing that the Nightly "News" has been corrupted into the Nightly "Opinion"? Psst...it's been going on for quite some time. You're a bit late to the party. For you to be selectively miffed over this journalism FAIL is specious at best.
8.) In what possible way is the price of the hotel room relevant except in every way: this is a case about the hatred of the have-nots for the haves, and that's what it's all about. A man pays $3,000 a night for a hotel room? He's got to be guilty of something. Bring out the guillotine.
Oh, for the love of Pete. I can't believe you went there, Stein. I'm cringing. Who is the "have-not"? The maid who is working her ass off to support her daughter? She is a blue-collar worker and S-K is an uppercrust la-tee-da glorified accountant, a global playah, a man of fame and means....so this crime should be dismissed out-of-hand because of class hatred? Have you lost your marbles?
In this country, we are all well aware that moneyed citizens are given the kid-glove treatment when it comes to crime and punishment. It's unusual for one of the self-crowned "elites" to be cuffed and thrown into Riker's. It's very unusual. I don't know what's behind it all; maybe one of the other global playahs wanted S-K out as head of the IMF, and this was the easiest way to do it. Or maybe he's a scumbag and sexual predator, and has been for decades. Time, and our justice system, will tell. In the meantime, it's heartening that he's being treated like everyone else who is accused of such a brutal crime.
While Ben Stein throws up his hands in exasperation and openly wonders why the system didn't work, I find myself pondering the flip side of the coin: why the system did work. What do you all think? Is Ben Stein cuckoo-for-cocoa puffs? Has he had his tea pinky waving in the air too long? Or am I blinded by class hatred, and zeroing in my sights on all rich people (while bitterly clinging to my guns and my religion)?
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| S-K and Turbo Timmy - sharin' the love! |
Stein errs. The perp walk was a bit of gratuitous low theatre, but American due process is about to be visited on S-K. Rape is a crime of power, not sex- and that is the only class element at work here, what with S-K being the uber-apparatchik dining with Presidents and the maid being a black, immigrant single mum.
ReplyDeleteAnd Muslim. Did I mention that the alleged victim is Muslim???? Quite apart from France's restive banlieux and les yoots propensity to riot over perceived slights, there's going to be a fundamentalist Islamic cohort in any American penal facility that S-K checks in to. Being a saggy, enervated French Jew ain't gonna suggest a lengthy lifespan henceforward.
Frankly, absent a grand-slam home run by his defence counsel (Brafman might better be named "Brashman" and he's now got S-K telling four different stories and apprehended in activeflight), I reckon the French elites and S-K himself would prefer that he quickly die.
The point of the $3000 hotel room is that this guy is a socialist. And like all socialists, he deserves to stay in a $3000 hotel room while roofers are shouldn't even be staying at Motel 6, because he shouldn't be killing the environment by traveling in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the legal presumption of innocent until proven guilty -- why should being an elite snob save him from what you and I would go through in the same situation?
Matt nails it.
ReplyDelete"DSK" (as he styles himself) is a thoroughly modern socialist - not an advocate for state power as a means of empowering "workers", but as an end in itself, for the benefit himself and people like him.
That said: there's something a bit weird about this whole thing... I'm going out on a limb and will speculate that
1) whatever the truth is, it sure isn't very flattering to "DSK", but...
2) we're not getting the whole truth here... some parts of this narrative might unravel...
I could be wrong, of course.
oh, and lady red - _love_ the photo. World class.
ReplyDelete