Quelle Surprise?
The Captain Louis Renault Award to the media for being “Shocked, shocked I tell you” that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. They have been acting like this was without precedent in his life … and then someone started looking back at the record to find that this is definitely not the first time he has been involved in something that may have been a good deal more serious than what was reported.
[Update below the fold.]
IMF chief may face new sex charge
IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s troubles are mounting, 24 hours after he was charged with attacking and attempting to rape a hotel maid.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who is set to appear at a New York court on Monday morning, denies the charges.
His court hearing was delayed to allow forensic tests to be carried out.
Now French writer Tristane Banon, 31, has indicated she is considering filing a complaint of sexual assault over a 2002 incident, her lawyer says.
…Ms Banon’s mother, Anne Mansouret, herself a politician from Mr Strauss-Kahn’s centre-left Socialist Party, said she persuaded her daughter not to file a complaint at the time.
“I just want to say that the only reason she didn’t press charges at the time is because I convinced her not to, because I thought it was better for her,” Ms Mansouret told French state TV.
…
However, in 2008, he was criticised by the IMF board for an affair with a subordinate member of staff. The board said the affair had been consensual but reflected a “serious error of judgement”.
“The board said the affair had been consensual”, or someone convinced the subordinate, Piroska Nagy, that it would be better for her not to “make a big deal out of it”, as happened to Ms Banon.
Now it would appear that every female journalist in France knows that it is a bad idea to interview this guy without witnesses, as they have been freed of a not quite formal gag rule that you don’t talk about the problem on the record.
Mr Strauss-Kahn has Benjamin Brafman as his defense attorney, but not even Brafman was going to convince a New York judge on arraignment to release his client on bail after he was arrested on an Air France flight headed for Paris, so he has been remanded.
It will take a trial to determine guilt or innocence, but, based on current information, the surprise would be if he was innocent.
Update: from the BBC: Strauss-Kahn affair turns French politics upside down
It would take a rapid unravelling of the maid’s accusation of sexual assault for him to have a future in French politics. As the hours go by, old stories are being dusted down and retold about a man who is openly called in France the “great seducer”.
In the past, his reputation has not harmed him. French voters have been far less troubled by infidelities or the complexities of a leader’s personal life. Mr Strauss-Kahn was able to survive an affair with a subordinate working as an IMF economist in 2008. He wrote to IMF staff and said “while this incident constituted an error in judgment on my part, for which I take full responsibility, I firmly believe that I have not abused my position”. In France, the affair caused scarcely a ripple.
So today friends and colleagues said that, even though “he had an interest in women”, using violence would have been completely out of character. “This does not resemble the man I know,” said former Socialist Party boss Francois Hollande. His wife, too, defended him.
“An interest in women” – the guy is a misogynous pig who doesn’t have to use physical violence on women who know who he is and how much power he wields, because they succumb to the psychological violence. The pressure he exerted on female reporters is a form of implied violence or coercion.
If he spends some time in the American penal system he will learn all about coercion, only as a victim this time.
A spay/neuter program for politicians is the only way to go.
10 comments
Sigh. John Edwards. Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Why do people who are so virtuous in their political life so driven to be assholes (or worse) in their personal life? I will never understand it.
– Badtux the Baffled Penguin
They achieve success in one area and think that they have earned a pass in all other areas because they are “special” and the rules don’t apply to them.
Politicians, athletes, entertainers, etc. don’t think they have to follow the norms of society. One of the major reasons they believe that is because the people around them believe it and reinforce the delusion.
He’s probably one of the millions of Psychpaths who haven’t yet made the mistake that will get them arrested. 🙂 I’ve just started reading “The Psychopath Test” by Jon Ronson (suggested by a friend on GoodReads). There’s a YooTube vid (ignore the poor dentistry closeups!) 😉 Apparently, most CEO’s and politicians are psychopaths (which I’ve long suspected, or that they were at least sociopath’s). It explains much, particularly why education is so poor. Knowledge is power. 😉
THE PSYCHOPATH TEST by Jon Ronson
There was also a good interview with the author on TDS (and also a great story on the FCC approving an illegal merger of ComCast with NBC-Universal. It seems that immediately after the FCC gave it’s approval, the FCC Commissioner, Meridith Baker, was given the job of Comcast-NBC Snr VP of Gov Affairs! 😆 (And who thinks anyone will do anything about that? Dream on!) There is also a segment on Huckabee proving once again he is a complete hypocrite (and probably psychopath, just without the required intelligence to be a *real* psychopath)! Oh! And a report on the shocking discovery of OBL’s Porn stash! LMAO (And that Disney is trying to trademark “Seal Team Six”! I kid you not!!)
The Daily Show May 16, 2011 – Jon Ronson
I love US News. Ours is soooo boring in comparison! 😉 😆
Well… back to the book! (BTW… If, as the shrinks think, about 1% of the US population are psychopaths… I wonder how many are Rethuglicants? 90%+? They fit the profile.) 😉
Drat! I meant to also say that that in that TDS episode, Jon also has a sketch about Strauss-Kahn. Just to keep the above post on topic! 😉 😛
Thing is, from all accounts Dominique Strauss-Kahn was one of the “good guys”. He pushed for policies that were good for real people, not for lizard people err bankers. The fact that in his personal life he turned out to be a real jerk (to say the least) is as disappointing as when John Edwards turned out to be a real jerk. Siiiiiiigh!
– Badtux the Disappointed Penguin
Yeah, I know what you mean. I stopped thinking anyone was a *good guy* over 20 years ago. Sadly, most of the time I’m proven correct in my assumption. Very rarely, I am pleasantly surprised. 🙂 I have *NO* expectations of anyone. Zero, zip, nada! Everyone has a skeleton or more hidden somewhere. Some are small and not that important, others are purely evil. *shrug* I know that the majority of people who speak loudly about how *good* and pure they are, is someone who has big skeletons, or lot’s of them. Such as most of your *Gang Of Perverts*, *holier than thou* fundie nutters, and assorted media pundits, and wingnuts. I’ve long suspected, after having known some personally, that most Corporate (or any large organisation) Directors have lot’s to hide. One of the senior Exec’s for a major Corp I was a project manager for who was very vocal about how *wasteful* our project was to his Company for over a year, and how poor our performance was, was discovered funneling a lot of the project funds into almost $200k of renovations for his house, and many $k’s of high-end home-wares were found that hadn’t been paid for. He figured it was just a bonus he deserved. Because we were often short of funds, or there were long delays getting it, the project was eventually cancelled after $240 mill. If not for him, we would have made it easily. On the plos side, he made the mistake of trying to screw me (or at least, I project I was working on). It took me some months, but I discovered what was happening (with help from others inside) and he was *anonymously* fingered to the Board, and charges were laid after a lengthy Police investigation. Most Boards don’t care if an Exec screws some other organization, but tend to get pissed when *one of them* try to screw their own! The first business rule I was taught was “don’t crap on your own doorstep”. Some people are too arrogant, and/or stupid to care. *shrug*
Apparently, there is now a second accuser against Kahn. I’m sure there will be more. And it doesn’t surprise me a bit. *shrug*
Strauss-Kahn wasn’t one of those proclaiming how “good” or “pure” he was, though. I guess that’s what fooled me — he didn’t show the signs of being a major-grade a-hole, one of which is that holier-than-thou attitude that you mention.
– Badtux the Fooled Penguin
Part of the problem was explained today on the radio when I was out and about. The French society and laws have a feature on the “dignity of one’s public image”, and they were shocked about the pictures of Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs doing the “perp walk”. That is illegal in France, as are cameras in any court.
Apparently, unless he has been convicted of a crime, the media can’t mention any problems he may have had. That would explain why when the French writer who may file charges against him mentioned his conduct towards her on a French talk show, they bleeped out his name. Some people may have known he was a jerk, but they weren’t allowed to talk about it in public and the media wouldn’t print it.
This would go a long way towards explaining all of the support he has had from various quarters – people didn’t know he was a jerk.
There is apparently a very high wall between private and public conduct, and in France the media doesn’t ever attempt to look over it, so politicians don’t bother with a holier-than-thou attitude because it doesn’t get them anything.
Kryten, the US First Amendment gives the media an amazing level of protection if they want to use it, and sex sells, so our news always features a lot of sex.
As for the deal with ripping off the rich, that always gets you in trouble. If Bernie Madoff had limited his scheme to widows of modest means, like televangelists do, he wouldn’t be in jail. He went after the people who actually had money, and they won’t tolerate getting ripped off.
I understand Badtux. I used to believe in some *important* people, and then discovered they were hollow shells. I was burned a few times personally, and had friends conned also. One here was a guy called Jodee Rich (a silver spoon type with charisma and a huge gift of the gab!) After I was burned by him, he contacted me some years later and asked me to join him in yet another business venture!! (It amazes me how these people seriously believe that even after they have conned you, you should just get over it and let them con you again!) He created a company called One.Tel (Wikipedia entry) I warned everyone what would happen, and it eventually did, and a lot of people lost everything! I’d known Jodee since the early 80’s, and he was always someone who’s big ideas far outweighed his business sense and ability to make them work. I don’t think Jodee was actually a *crook*, just very stupid and charismatic. A tragic combination for everyone.
I’ve also personally known others like Strauss-Kahn and been badly disappointed. I was once engaged to a woman and became a director of a company we created with 3 other friends. It turned out she was a true con artist, and screwed my friends out of thousands (and screwed one of them literally to do it). I realized after a few years what was happening, and I’m sad to say, I almost killed her (I never touched her, but wanted to so badly, that I was almost blind with rage. How I managed to walk away from her, I will never know. But she knew what I was capable of, and believed me when I told her that if I ever saw her again, or she went anywhere near anyone I cared about, she would be dead before she could blink.) IT wasn’t that she conned me, that I can handle. But she used me to con people I really cared for! And they never let on because they thought they were doing me a favor!! *sigh*
Yeah… I know all about disappointment (and I haven’t even mentioned my Military or Intel career disappointments, which were many! But on the plus side, I now have a thorough understanding about *how things REALLY work*! Sometimes… I wish I were still naive about such things. *shrug* Nobody disappoints me now, because I rarely believe or trust anyone, and usually rightly so! The World is such a craphole now, that most people will do and say anything to just survive.
Yeah, I know about the first amendment Bryan. It makes it very easy for a’holes to be a’holes. It protects them, but not the naive and/or the suckers.
As has often been pointed out, Kryten, the US has the best justice system that money can buy, and DSK’s money can buy representation by Benjamin Brafman.
Brafman can’t turn water into wine, but he can often make juries believe it’s grape Koolaid.