Reminds me of an article I read about twenty years back - an old woman (mid-late 70s) started acting inappropriately toward the men around her. Turned out she had tertiary syphilis - she'd been infected close to 50 years before, treated, and had no signs of the infection ever again... until it flared up very late in life.

Reading about Strauss going after pretty much anything in skirts, and so clumsily to boot - at 73 (an age where you'd have figured a man would know how to get a grip on himself, so to speak) - and after a rather bad experience with the hotel staff, kind of makes you wonder what's driven him off the rails...

He has not been convicted yet and it is still not proven that it was forced.
Yes, they found DNA evidence but if a prostitute serviced him there might also be DNA evidence.
He was the only viable candidate with the possibility of beating
Sarkozy in the upcoming election. She speaks fluent French. He was warned that his pattern of sexual behavior would not fly in the United States. How do we know that his opponents did not pay this women a substantial sum of money to claim she was raped. This is still a he said, she said situation unless they can prove force, not consent.

Pam,

The view out my bedroom window is absolutely spectacular, and sometimes the view insdie can be as well.

How about joining me for a couple of drinks? Jasper just delivered a fresh jug of his very best 'shine.

Unless you anticipate being on the jury, why are you ignoring the man's history?

Pam -

If he were a conservative, if he were (heaven forfend) a (gasp) REPUBLICAN here in the US - the SOB would have been hung, cut down, and drawn and quartered by the 'feminists' as being unfit to hold any sort of public office.

But he's French, and Socialist. Therefore he gets a 'get out of jail free' card?

I remember back around the time Clarence Thomas was going through his confirmation hearings and Anita Hill was testifying - the woman I was dating at the time thought that he was guilty just from the accusations, lame though they were. After all, women don't lie about such things!

Fast forward a few months, and the Clinton Bimbo Eruptions were going on - and she was defending him because the women were obviously lying. She was very intelligent, but she couldn't understand why I thought she was partisan on this subject.

Folks, remember the Duke scandal? Tawana Brawley?

Certainly the guy sounds like a scumbag, but we only know what's been put out to the media. We don't like the IMF and we hate the French. So we WANT to believe the accusations.

If he is guilty, incarcerate the bastard on RIker's Island.

If not, even if he is an arrogant powerful rich womanizing scumbag, leave him alone.

Definitely a case of sudden psychosis.. Tragic.

It will be difficult for DSK to get a jury that is not filled with Feminists,Anti-Semites,Nazi sympathizers, Muslim radicals,and haters of the wealthy. His only hope is to get a jury filled with men that were falsely accused of rape.

epador,

Usually I agree with your posts, but here we part company.

To compare this case to Tawana Brawley or the Duke non-rape case is despicable. In both of those cases you had an accuser who had deliberately fabricated the charge and the media and left wing establishment backed them despite the fact that there was no evidence to support their charges and in the Duke case, evidence that pointed to the innocence of the accused.

In this case we have evidence that the accused did do something sexually and the video tape of the maid fleeing the scene; and there may be more evidence that has yet to be revealed further establishing his guilt.

To compare these cases is to dismiss the evil that was perpetrated in the Tawana Brawley and Duke cases.

Whether or not DSK is guilty is of course for the courts to decide.

For me the most interesting part of the story was how the Euroweenie socialist reacted by questioning how the NYC police could possibly believe the word of this lower class maid over someone like the great DSK. Never forget that under socialism all people are equal, but some people are more equal than others. (apologies to Orwell)

With real newspapers, mostly British, printing the details of the RSK'ers previous "exploits" it's becoming obvious to me at least that he's a serial womanizer in an atmosphere (the IMF) that encouraged and rewarded his type of behavior. Is he crazy? Probably not but like most people he just kept going in the direction he was going until something made him stop.

It's interesting where liberal feminists stand when another liberal attacks a woman. Suddenly, it's blame the victim time. I have been disgusted by the desperate attempts to portray DSK's attack on the maid as possibly consensual-is that why there's all the blood on the bed? Is that why she showed immediate signs of trauma?

Apparently, some women are more equal than others as well.

A smarter person than I, when we were discussing this at the coffee machine, suggested his only reasonable defence was that he'd phoned for a prostitute and mistaken the housekeeper for her.

Slight problem of actually proving he'd called (if indeed he didn't).

From what I've read, the guy took off right after the "event". If he were nuts, he'd have stood his ground saying it was consensual.

Are we next to believe that The Goracle also has a similar medical problem?

Strauss-Kahn is a very powerful man. He has also been a very successful man. Men like that tend not to have such problems with impulse control -- they need at least a slight measure of self-restraint, or they flame out long before they reach the peaks.

There's an opposite possibility to consider - which is that Strauss-Kahn is a psychopath. A key component of being a pyschopath is enjoying harming those weaker than oneself.

And according to recent book "The Psychopath Test", you are four times more likely to encounter a psychopath at the upper levels of society than lower. This is because a lot of the the traits that make someone terrible to society are also useful for gaining power.

This explains the Hitlers and the Stalins of the world - and also the Bernie Madoffs, and perhaps the Strauss-Kahn's.

I suppose Jay Tea is trolling for the defense offered by some of his friends in the French press - Muslim plot against a powerful Jewish Westerner - but he didn't want to say it himself.

To me, it looks bad for DSK. First, he's got a record of groping, grabbing and crude approaches. Second, so far, she looks like an ordinary hard-working woman whose actions are consistent with a credible sexual assault charge.

I think he'll try to escape the USA if he can't get her compromised or bought off - he's looking at 3-10 years in prison if convicted.

Better to compare him to Al Gore or WJ Clinton than the Duke Univ non-rape case. Hotel rooms, unsuspecting women etc

Has Whoopie had anything to say about this? Just curious.

Somewhere, there's a universe where Chico's remarks bear even a slight resemblance to reality.

This ain't that one.

J.

His obsession with Joooooos is very BryanDesque.

"Strauss-Kahn is a very powerful man. He has also been a very successful man. Men like that tend not to have such problems with impulse control "

Actually, his position and power covered for his lack of self control. In the French culture, where status is everything, DSK could prey upon women of lower status with impunity. There was little if any risk from this behavior in Europe. It is here in the US, where we were founded on the notion that status does not exempt you from the law, that he finally was caught up by his disgusting conduct.

Perhaps it is not surprising given that the US has a culture strongly influenced by protestant Christianity where people are believed to be judged based on he content of the hearts rather than their status and deeds, whereas France has a culture based in Catholicism (despite the character of the revolution), which taught respect for authority and obedience to the hierarchy. It is that difference that helped DSK escape consequences for his behavior ad which now shocks so many Europeans. They are not used to people of status being questioned in this manner, nor are they used to holding them to any sort of moral standard that the average person would be held to.

I recently heard some idiot state that great people are almost always seriously flawed people so in order to experience their greatness we should ignore their flaws. What a load of crap.

Predatory serial sexual assaults? Sounds like a Cli'ton.

If he's convicted, I think it's very unlikely that he will serve any real time. Even country-club minimum security time. I will be surprised if it's more than a year, if that.

The only way powerful people serve time is if they've hurt other powerful people.

All that said, any measure of justice is welcome, and if these allegations are true then it will have probably ruined his career. As, if true, they should.

Women Against Rape(WAR) is attempting to organize a demonstration in front of the Federal Court House demanding castration laws to be enacted removing one testicle of any man convicted of rape. A second offense will remove the remaining testicle. Men Against Castration(MAC) will oppose the demonstration.

Jim m,
I would suspect France's history of feudalism and oftentimes brutal exercise of central authority has more to do with any lingering caste/status roles than the religion that is increasingly ignored.

The British colonies' distance from the crown and parliament also had more influence on their rebelliousness than the various flavors of protestant Christianity practiced therein. IMO FWIW

#23

If this were enacted 30 years ago a certain blue dress would never have a chance to make it to the Smithsonian.

then it will have probably ruined his career. . Which one was that being a politician, or as a serial groper or sexual predator?

Contrary to what Jay thinks- that DSK was a psychopath or socipath- deviancy has been defined down for powerful and narcisstic politicians; that their criminal and destructive behavior has become the norm for many like themselves, who lack self censure. They think they can get away with it, because they nearly always have, and they are normally very ruthess and unapologetic people to begin. When was the last time you heard a politician make a genuine apology, unless he was coherced into it? It is unheard of.

And since very few people have the courage to speak truth to power, especially their friends, or their wives: Hillary Clinton, Maria Schriver, Anne Sinclair, (DSK's wife)who can be counted on to defend their husband´s appalling chronic behavior and denounce their husbands victims as "liars", until the evidence becomes so overwhelming.

Which one was that being a politician, or as a serial groper or sexual predator?

Oh, being a politician of course. He'll still probably be able to get away with mistreating women who don't have access to the same level of money or power as he does.

With the stories in the NY press about DSK's friends in the French business community seeking to influence the maids family it's time for the DA to step up. Something like arrest warrants for witness tampering. Whether the warrants can be served in France makes no difference. They can't come here without risking arrest.

If this were enacted 30 years ago a certain blue dress would never have a chance to make it to the Smithsonian.

You mean, if what was enacted was considering someone guilty until proven innocent? Even after the case went to trial and was laughed out of court?

I haven't seen a video of the assault.

While seemingly improbable to explain otherwise, all the other evidence I have seen or heard from has been circumstantial. Premature reports of DNA evidence have been repudiated the last I saw.

My impression of the "friend" who so quickly was all over the press on her behalf is what has made me just a little skeptical.

As he is in custody and authorities are sifting through all the evidence, I am more than happy to wait this one out before lynching him AFTER the trial.

I think I better clarify.

I wasn't saying that he was unlikely to have done this; what was surprising to me was the sheer non-stop nature of the sexual aggressions. In the timeline presented so far, he hits on two hotel employees, rapes the maid, and is ready for more shortly thereafter when he hits on the flight attendant. That was what made me wonder if there was some sort of medical disorder at play here -- if he can't turn it off even after getting his rocks off with the maid (remember the DNA evidence), how the hell did he keep it zipped long enough to get to be as successful as he is?

I believe that he's always been a hound. But this is far beyond houndish behavior. I've known guys that aggressive -- they had neither the time nor self-restraint to be successful at much else.

A French Socialist rapist -- any two of those is enough for me to go medieval on him. But this is so bizarre, I really think that there's something else at play here.

J.

What you do not understand in the US is that "Socialist" in Europe equals "Democrat" in the US.
It's the same ideas, the same politic.

Since the DSK alleged rape scandal most women are living in fear. But protection will soon be available in the form of an earring, It is a RAPE ALERT PENDENT EARRING(R.A.P.E.) One yank on the earring will quickly summon a helicopter and a swat team. The rapist will be handcuffed and severely beaten before being taken to the police station. The Pendent is well made and can be used many times, it is capable of sending out over 100 hundred alerts.

Hotel trash cans are often filled with condoms left with traces of last evenings sex affair. It would be easy for a maid to rub some of the left over semen on her shirt.

Hey guys, it appears the maid's credibility is now being called into question:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43617284

The show isn't over yet, but it is getting a whole lot more interesting.

Care to comment, jim m?