Socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn Not Guilty!

I have done an, admittedly crude, statistical analysis of rape and sexual harassment accusations of rich and powerful men in politics. I was not interested in whether the accusations were true (they almost always are), but whether upon hearing the charges, the intelligentsia cast scorn upon the accused or the accusations.

Conclusion: the more the accused tends towards conservative politics, the more we hear that it’s “The seriousness of the charges” that matters. Guilt is assumed. Conversely, the more the accused tends towards socialist politics, the more the women who make the accusations are scorned, vilified, attacked. Innocence is assumed.

Examples will readily bring themselves to mind (Clarence Thomas, Bill Clinton, Julian Assange, etc.).

Enter IMF chief and Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a socialist who was going to take on the more conservative President Sarkozy in the next election.

As you will have heard, Strauss-Kahn has been accused of raping a chambermaid at the Hotel Sofitel in New York City. According to one story:

Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, the woman told police. Then he dragged her into a bathroom, forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear, she said.

Whether or not Strauss-Kahn did the deed or not is not of interest here. What is are the comments made by those who would guide us.

French writer, author of the Free Roman Polanski! petition, supporter of socialist political candidates Bernard-Henri Lévy, admits in the Daily Beast that he does not know what happened at the Sofitel, but, darn it, he’s concerned.

“What I do know is that nothing in the world can justify a man being thus thrown to the dogs.” He calls Strauss-Kahn “a friend to women.” He is rankled that an American judge “pretended to take [Strauss-Kahn] for a subject of justice like any other.” He is “troubled” that in America “anyone can come along and accuse another fellow of any crime.”

He goes on and then goes on some more, misinterpreting the American justice system, offering theories of how Strauss-Kahn might be innocent, and so forth. The whole is an indignant sputter.

Many in France are “outraged” that Strauss-Kahn had to undergo a perp walk after his removal from a plane at JFK. So many complaints were heard that Mayor Bloomberg was forced to comment on the custom: “I think it is humiliating, but if you don’t want to do the perp walk, don’t do the crime.”

The News Real Blog found that Le Monde named Strauss-Kahn’s accuser, as well as publicized “The size of her breasts, the shape of her backside…” Further, “France’s RMC radio reported that Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys were surprised by how ‘unattractive'” the accused is. Not very gallant, that.

Mike Whitney at the socialist Centre for Research on Globalization, echoing the thoughts of many on the far left, said that Strauss-Kahn walked into a “honey trap.”

Whitney says the “whole matter stinks to high-Heaven.” If Strauss-Kahn was set up, it “was probably by members of the western bank coalition, that shadowy group of self-serving swine whose policies have kept the greater body of humanity in varying state of poverty and desperation for the last two centuries.”

Far left conspiracy theorists at OpEdNews.com are certain of treachery—but they are just as sure that Osama Bin Laden’s death was faked.

Socialist Party MP Jean-Marie Le Guen said the accuser was “not credible” and the story was “inconsistent with what he knew of the politician’s character. ‘Seduction, yes, but no way would he use constraint or violence.'”

“‘I am convinced it is an international conspiracy,’ said Michelle Sabban, a senior councillor for the greater Paris region” said the Telegraph. Also in that article:

“We cannot rule out the thought of a trap,” Henri de Raincourt, minister for overseas co-operation in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, said in a broadcast interview…Francois Hollande, the former Socialist party chief, said: “To commit an act of such seriousness, this does not resemble the man I know.”

MSNBC reports that former Socialist culture minister Jack Lang said, “He is a brave man on whom a contemptuous fate has been inflicted.” He called “Europe 1 radio” and complained of a “lynching.”

The torrent of abuse directed at the accuser and the comments in support of Strauss-Kahn has subsided over the last forty-eight hours as it became clear that Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers abandoned his original claim of not being at the hotel to tacitly admitting a “consensual” engagement. Experience shows that even if Strauss-Kahn is convicted or pleads guilty, his crime will not be held against him among the intelligentsia.