IMF president accussed of rape

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lawyer-imf-leader-arrested-in-nyc-denies-trying-to-rape-maid-at-manhattan-hotel/2011/05/15/AF38BC4G_story.html

Quote :

NEW YORK — The leader of the International Monetary Fund, a possible candidate for president of France, was yanked from an airplane moments before it was to depart for Paris and arrested in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid, police said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He had been taken off the Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday afternoon by police officers.

Based on several articles I've read in both the French and international press, this isn't the first such incident he has been involved with.
I hope it is the last though. It certainly will mean the end of his political career.

Well, you know what they say about power...

I'm surprised, but glad, they nabbed him for this.

He wanted to be President of France, so I heard. Now he can become president of the soap.

So much for presumed innocent. I hope you guys never get to be on a jury.

Didn't mean to jump the gun, Mr. Strauss-Kahn.

ambler wrote:

So much for presumed innocent. I hope you guys never get to be on a jury.

Obviously none of us know if he's guilty or not, but there is a disturbing pattern of prior behavior that gives credence to the likelihood of this being more than a mere false accusation.

In a less serious reply, if I were on his jury I'd send him down for life in the name of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, evidence be damned. :twisted:

And in an even less-serious reply, he's French and he's got a German sounding name, what more proof do you need of his evilness??

This accusation could well be a smear from Sarkozy, or any other opponents. Machiavellian tactics are quite common in French politics.

Everyone knows women never lie. I say Strauss-Khan is guilty. Hang the bastard.

Peace, love and penerectomy. God bless the left.

Well let me turn the question around: why are you all assuming that the woman is lying?

Salomé wrote:

Well let me turn the question around: why are you all assuming that the woman is lying?

I'm not, though I damn any justice system that releases his name and not hers.

She could be.

We're trying to give some counterbalance to the bias at the top of the film. Always question, never take what your given as some infallible truth.

ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

Well let me turn the question around: why are you all assuming that the woman is lying?

I'm not, though I damn any justice system that releases his name and not hers.

He was seen being arrested at the airport - which kind of gives the game away anyhow.

And in further news, apparently the woman picked him out of a lineup. Not so good for him.

colly wrote:

ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

Well let me turn the question around: why are you all assuming that the woman is lying?

I'm not, though I damn any justice system that releases his name and not hers.

He was seen being arrested at the airport - which kind of gives the game away anyhow.

And in further news, apparently the woman picked him out of a lineup. Not so good for him.

Both points are irrelevant if you understand the presumption of innocence.

The woman's name is also known, but no one in the establishment press has published it. For the moment the case remains one person's word against another.

For those of you interested in the details of his alleged crime:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/strauss-kahn-complaint?page=0

If he wanted to look guilty, he did a great job. A day after his legal team claimed he had already left the hotel to have dinner with his daughter at the time of the alleged rape, they now claim that he did have sex with the maid, only it was consensual. Riiiiiiiight. :evil:

I don't want to pre-judge here but this guy sounds like a caveman. See woman- must boink. Chase, chase, drool, grab paw, pant, slobber............

Anne Coulter's commentary is quite biting and funny. Its got her usual unrestrained derision of all things liberal but very funny. At least I think so.

annecoulterArticlelink

I like this analysis from the Economist on how this Strauss-Khan circus highlights the legal and cultural differences between puritanical America and Europe, where seduction can be seen as more of a strength: http://www.economist.com/node/18713896

I don't think we're getting the whole story, or ever will. It seems too extraordinary for the NYPD to react so swiftly to the accusations of a poor immigrant woman, particularly when such a high figure is involved. I'm sure they've hushed up plenty of similar incidents involving politicians and other elites, so something's got to be special about Strauss-Khan. I could be wrong of course.

Not everything has to be a sinister plot. The man has a history of incidents where he behaves inappropriately and sometimes downright violent, sexual aggression that seems to come and go on a whim. I suspect that's what happened here, I very much doubt he got up that morning and said "I'm going to rape the maid today".

You have to wonder how he got away with it for seemingly so long though. The most disgusting thing I read was the mother who convinced her daughter not to press charges against him. She chose to be a politicians first and a mother second which is just downright disgusting. Though it's par for the course for people who are forced to play the political game.

tiffanywint wrote:

I don't want to pre-judge here but this guy sounds like a caveman. See woman- must boink. Chase, chase, drool, grab paw, pant, slobber............

Anne Coulter's commentary is quite biting and funny. Its got her usual unrestrained derision of all things liberal but very funny. At least I think so.

annecoulterArticlelink

Thanks for posting, timmer. I particularly like this quote:

"Second, it's not unheard of that a wealthy liberal would assume the law does not apply to him. Actually, let me restate that: Wealthy liberals always assume that laws don't apply to them. After all the waivers the Obama administration has been dishing out like candy, are there any liberals left to whom Obamacare will apply?"

So funny yet so true.

Liberal, conservative... who cares? Is womanizing and sexual assault limited to people of one political stripe? I think not. Look at Berlusconi.

GeneralGogol wrote:

Liberal, conservative... who cares? Is womanizing and sexual assault limited to people of one political stripe? I think not. Look at Berlusconi.

Fair point but you know Anne's going to beat him over the head extra hard, because he's a socialist

"First of all, Strauss-Kahn has evidently gotten away with treating the fairer sex as his playthings for some time. No wonder his nickname among the French is "le grand seducteur," which I believe roughly translates to "the short, tubby serial rapist."The New York Times reports that as far back as 2007, Brussels journalist Jean Quatremer remarked on Strauss-Kahn's troubled behavior -- "close to harassment" -- toward women, saying the press knew all about it, but never mentioned it because "we are in France."'

The thing with Ann Coulter, is that most people take her horseplay far too seriously.

Sharky wrote:

The thing with Ann Coulter, is that most people take her horseplay far too seriously.

For the short tubby remark she will be skewered for being an obese-ist and a stature-ist ( hateful of fat people and short people)