Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Over at the American Spectator, Ben Stein insists on the presumption of innocence--and condemns the treatment of Strauss-Kahn as a disgrace. In part:
People accuse other people of crimes all of the time. What do we know about the complainant besides that she is a hotel maid? I love and admire hotel maids. They
have incredibly hard jobs and they do them uncomplainingly. I am sure she is a fine woman. On the other hand, I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me. How do we know that this woman's word was good enough to put Mr. Strauss-Kahn straight into a horrific jail? Putting a man in Riker's is serious business. Maybe more than a few minutes of investigation is merited before it's done….
I don't know Mr. Strauss-Kahn. I have never laid eyes on him in person. He may well, in the future, be found guilty of atrocious conduct towards the complainant and maybe towards others. But, so far, he's innocent, and he's being treated shamefully. If he's found guilty, there will be plenty of time to criticize him and imprison him. But nothing has been proved yet except that the way this case has been handled so far is an embarrassment to this country.
Does Stein have a point? Paul Rahe? Anyone?
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May '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Oh, as if this guy isn't a flight risk. No bond is big enough to hold him. He'd be in the air on a private plane and over Canadian airspace before the authorities knew what hit them.
Jun '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
We don't have a two-tier justice system as they do in some places. Here, we have high-flight-risk, and low-flight-risk. And DSK is in the Polanski range of flight risk.
Jun '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Uh, Mr. Stein, so you're in the habit of leaving airline tickets, money, important documents, and medications in your hotel room?
Jul '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
What would Ben Stein have our justice system do? One of the great things about America is that, occasionally, the mighty do the same perp walk and languish in the same grotty jails as the lowly.
Perhaps Ben would have preferred that Strauss-Kahn should have been escorted in nerf handcuffs to a luxury suite at the Ritz Carlton.
Jul '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
"On the other hand, I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me."
Yeah, I'm sure everyone of Them were convicted in a Court of Law before He stated this.
Edited on May 18, 2011 at 5:37pmNov '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
My initial response was to treat DSK as we do UN diplomats. Send him back home, put him on the "no fly" list, and for once, force the French to take responsibility for their own problems. Our criminal justice systems have enough on their plates as it were.
Edited on May 18, 2011 at 6:02pmNov '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Ben seems to think DSK should have been put under house arrest at the Sofitel. His lamest --and most elitist-- argument is that it is inconceivable that a man of such stature could be the kind of person that could commit such a crime. How ignorant of history do you have to be to make such an assertion? Ben is getting harder and harder to read, and this is not the first whiny, out-of-touch thing he's written.
Sep '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The personal projections are jaw-dropping amazing! First Stein claims to think highly of the cleaning woman. Then he links her to cleaning women he has not known but who he claims to know have stolen from and cheated him. So which is it? If he actually does respect cleaning women he has an odd way of showing it. If he's annoyed by the process, he should go after the circus media, not the police. As Stein must have learned in the case of Richard Nixon, the powerful must be ready to take the bitter with the sweet. Oh, that's right, I forgot: Stein thinks Nixon was innocent.
May '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
No. DSK will probably walk free. A smart friend of mine suggests this scenario: DSK offers maid $500 for sex. She agrees. When he has her pinned down he escalates to a form of sex she hadn't bargained for. (DSK has probably used this move many times before, correctly assuming the woman will be too ashamed to go to the cops.) This time was different; for some reason the woman decided to press charges. Chances are her story to the police has some inconsistencies due to her ambiguous situation.
DSK's lawyers will run wild with the inconsistencies and DSK is a free man. Lefty commentators will say that he was innocent.
Aug '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Elizabeth Dunn: My initial response was to treat DSK as we do UN diplomats. Send him back home, put him on the "no fly" list, and for once, force the French to take responsibility for their own problems. Our criminal justice systems have enough on their plates as it were. · May 18 at 5:42pm
Edited on May 18 at 06:02 pm
The dude isn't a diplomat - he heads an international agency. He is a citizen of a country that refuses to extradite members of a certain class or political persuasion to the US to stand trial for their crimes (Roman Polanski and Ira Einhorn to be specific)
His accuser is an American person at least and entitled to the same protections that anyone in this country enjoys. If a British tourist is murdered in Florida do you mean to advocate that the culprit is extradited to Great Britain for trial?
Furthermore, as the most recent allegations against the Peace Corps have surfaced - Ben Stein is completely wrong when he asserts, "This is a man with a lifetime of public service, on a distinguished level, to put it mildly."
We don't know that to be true. Period.
Jan '11
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Well, Stein's reaction was my first reaction -- I didn't want to rush from accusation to conviction. First reports are always wrong. Besides, the whole story seemed fishy to me. Still does.
Is the theory that she walked into what she thought was an empty room? And then a naked man comes out of the bathroom, sneaking up behind her, and then assaults her? Well that doesn't add up. To sneak up on her, he would have had to muffle his exit from the bathroom, which implies he planned to do this. Which, in turn, means he was hiding in the bathroom (for hours?), waiting for a random maid to come in. That doesn't make much sense.
Maybe he was already in the room, clothed, when she came in. She was going about her tasks when he excused himself, went into the bathroom, undressed, and then snuck up on her. But that's not what the reports originally said. Wouldn't a maid take precautions when a person is in the room?
Since the story is so whacked-out, that makes me suspicious from the start.
I'm going to wait this one out.
Aug '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Hmmm, brings to mind "I did not have sex with that woman"... but I digress.
Just got back from a trip, was in the hotel bathroom when someone knocked at the door, "Maid Service" she says. I close the door and say, "come in". She does and begins to clean. Hmmm maid walking in is pretty normal, I guess.
The point is, there is enough evidence to charge him and the dude is a flight risk (Polanski and Einhorn, hmmm). This justifies both the arrest and the holding w/o bail - just like it would be for the rest of us doolies. What is it that allows so many Ricochetians to give this guy a pass on standard US criminal procedure.
Presumption of innocence applies in the courtroom, during the trial, and is enforced only there. I am not required to extend it to him here.
Aug '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Nothing says senility it like "the maid is stealing my medication!"
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
It is conceivable that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is innocent. He will have his day in court; he will be well represented; and I am confident that, if he is innocent, he will be exonerated.
I cannot imagine that the authorities in Manhattan would have ordered the arrest and arraignment of so prominent a man if they did not have a plausible case. Apart from being denied bail, he has been treated in accord with standard operating procedures. The denial of bail makes sense given the absence of an extradition treaty with France and the example set by Roman Polanski. Rikers is where those accused of rape generally go -- especially if they have the means and motive to flee the jurisdiction.
I read that DSK's lawyers intend to claim that there was consensual sex. If that is true, it is an indication that the authorities in New York have ample physical evidence corroborating much of the maid's testimony. If what happened was consensual, one would have to wonder why the maid went to the authorities -- which she did immediately.
Someone should alert Ben Stein to the fact that DSK has a habit of cornering women.
Aug '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Sounds like Ben was running with Hunter S.Thompson when the maid jacked his stash.
Jul '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Exactly right, Instugator. The country that gave us the Einhorn and Polanski situations has no business complaining when we deem someone a flight risk.
Jul '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
But, so far, he's innocent, and he's being treated shamefully. If he's found guilty, there will be plenty of time to criticize him and imprison him. But nothing has been proved yet except that the way this case has been handled so far is an embarrassment to this country.
Huh? Of course nothing has been proved.
But what, pray tell, is shameful about the way he's been treated? And why on earth must we wait until he's been convicted to criticize him? Finally, why would the U.S. be embarrassed (of all things) because some bigshot foreigner is charged with a crime? Is the fact that sexual assault is deemed a crime in the U.S. a cause for shame?
If DSK were being charged for, say, talking to the woman without her male kin present, Ben might have a point.
Ultimately, Dominique is being treated like the rep he has earned (over decades) is justified.
May '10
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Not Stein's finest hour. Makes you wonder. Especially given the number of women that have now come forward.
Mar '11
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
As I understand it, Strauss-Kahn is well-known to have made unwanted sexual advances on several others, he attempted to flee the country with such haste that he left his cell phone and other personal effects in the hotel room, the hotel housekeeper reported the incident at her first opportunity and a medical examination produced forensic evidence consistent with her account.
In a court of law, Strauss-Kahn is considered innocent until proved guilty. That is how it should be because a court of law has the power to imprison the convicted. But the court of public opinion has no such power and is under no such constraint. It needn’t wait for a court of law to render its verdict.
We have no knowledge of what happened in that hotel room, but it is not unreasonable nor is it premature for public opinion to be skeptical of Strauss-Kahn’s account.
Jan '11
Re: Ben Stein Sticks up for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
I won't speak for others, only me.
I don't give the guy a pass. I don't say that he's obviously innocent or that he's likely a victim of a conspiracy. And I don't have any qualms about how the NYPD made the arrest. Grabbing a suspect off a plane when he's a possible flight risk sounds fine to me.
But before I believe that this idiot actually committed the crime for which he's accused, I'm willing to wait for more details to come out. That's because the details of the story so far seem somewhat suspicious to me. But maybe I'm just a suspicious person anyway.
Jack Richman says in #19: "We have no knowledge of what happened in that hotel room, but it is not unreasonable nor is it premature for public opinion to be skeptical of Strauss-Kahn’s account." I agree, but at the same time, we don't have conclusive proof against it.
Let the story come out. What's our hurry?