The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Dominque Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, and a near-certain rival of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the next election, was pulled off of an airplane at JFK and arrested for sexual assault.
From Business Insider (via the NYPost, which had one of its all-time greatest headlines: "IMF Boss in Perv Bust!")
The New York Post was first to break the news that on Friday, the IMF chief was hauled off an Air France flight two minutes before it was due to take off, and taken into custody by the NYPD.
Here's its description of the events that transpired in the hotel:
The trouble began around noon today, when a housekeeper entered Strauss- Kahn’s room at the Sofitel on West 44th Street.
Strauss-Kahn was in his bathroom, said sources. He emerged from the bathroom naked, said the sources, and grabbed her.
Then, Strauss-Kahn allegedly threw the housekeeper on the room’s bed and [assaulted her].
The New York Daily news puts it a different way, saying that the maid escaped:
Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly crept up behind a maid after she entered his room and [assaulted her], sources said.
The woman broke free and ran out of the room. Strauss-Khan quickly headed for the airport, sources said.
He has been seen as a potential future candidate for Prime Minister of France.
I'm not sure this is exactly the kind of thing that ends a French politician's career, is it? It didn't end the career of a certain American president.
On the other hand, Sarkozy is an awfully tough competitor. If there's anything to be gained by making a big deal of this back in France, M. le President Sarkozy will not miss the opportunity. But it will be fascinating to learn, as the process unfolds, what a 62 year-old Frenchman thinks the definition of "sexual assault" is.
- Comment (24)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Blah, blah, blah. Not interested until the Taiwanese come out with one of their re-enactments. Then we'll have a story.
Dec '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
I think even in France, forcible oral sodomy is a crime. Of course, if he's really Clintonesque, Strauss-Kahn can claim he just misunderstood the English idiom, "it is customary to give the hotel maid a tip."
Dec '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
How do these people get these jobs? Is there something you're supposed to major in that I missed?
I've never seen the "Head of the IMF" ad on monster.com. But believe me, I'm willing to do a lot for obscene sums of money.
But I think the Enlightened French view of all this is that it's awful and that he should never have done such a thing, but rather have a stable of twentysomething mistresses who are more than willing to throw themselves on him.
But I do have to wonder if a maid in a French hotel would have reported such a thing.
Sep '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
AmishDude, I thought you'd know this already. You have to fail Calculus II first, and then become a business major.
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
We can only hope the maid was an illegal alien. Undocumented status trumps being an international socialist, if I understand the rules correctly.
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
If I remember correctly, this is not the first time that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been charged with sexual misconduct -- though this looks to be a much more serious case. In France, of course, shenanigans of this sort might give a man's political career a boost.
Jan '11
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
I'm going to wait to pass judgment on this one.
It doesn't seem to add up that the man in charge of the IMF would be so stupid about a random maid in his hotel room. On the other hand, Rob is correct; Clinton has broken down that wall of disbelief.
You can't help but wonder about this story. If the story is correct, then Strauss-Kahn deliberately waited for a random maid to come into his room, and then sneaked up behind her, naked. Which means he was lying in wait for the maid, but of course, before she came into the room, he wouldn't have known what she looked like. (For all he knew, the maid could have been a grandmother.)
So, either Strauss-Kahn is so whacked-out that he didn't care who he assaulted, or he was set up for a scandal. Personally, I'm hoping for the setup. We can hear about whacked-out anywhere.
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
What a piker. Usually the IMF sodimizes entire countries.....
Mar '11
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Reminds me of what Patton said ( I paraphrase ): I'd rather have a German division in front of me than two French divisions behind me.
Dec '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
KC, perhaps the same maid had serviced his room several days in a row, and he decided that on this particular day he was entitled to extra service. I wonder if his disregard for her wishes stems from his socialism: she is after all only a working-class drone whose needs he, a member of the governing class, knows better than she does herself.
Mar '11
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Didn't Al Gore try to pull this stunt in the last year in a massage parlor or something? I forget the details.
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Maybe he was confused about what the initials I.M.F. stood for.
(Insert your own joke here and then keep it to yourself. Otherwise, one of Claire's cats will have to come over to the house and dislocate one of your kneecaps)
Mar '11
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Hey, Rob. I'm only 60 but if I jumped out naked on my hotel maid I would hope she had her video cam running so she could post the video on You Tube's Monty Python channel, the operative phrase being:" Bring out your dead!"
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Audit the IMF. Ron Paul 2012!1!1!!!!!!
Jan '11
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
As it happens, I've stayed in that hotel several times. It was basically across the street from the corporate headquarters of Marsh McLennan, who I used to work for. When we had grueling planning meetings, that's where they'd put us up.
When I first read the story, I have to admit, my subconscious dredged up the memories of those meetings. For me, the hotel was a really nice place to stay, but the memories of it were ruined by the drudgery of the meetings. These were the kind of meetings where they'd start at 8am, and we'd be talking for twelve hours or so. Whiteboards. Brain-sailing. Synaptic death.
When I think of that place, all I can think of is flopping on the bed and sleeping while still in my suit and tie.
So, when I read the story, I thought ... where did he get the energy?
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
This isn't good news, particularly since I can't find a superior, electable candidate for the French presidency.
Jul '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
This reminds me of a very unpopular post from a few months back...
Jul '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
I hear hotels all over the United States have long ago learned to send security along any time Barney Frank calls down for a plumber....
May '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
I told her nothing good would happen if she wore that French maid costume. First S&P downrates us, then PIMCO shorts our bonds, and now the IMF is seizing our parlormaids. I blame Bernanke.
Dec '10
Re: The Head of the IMF Pulls a Clinton. Allegedly.
Against all odds, this is a really great example of bureaucracy working, as well as a great defense against single party governments. You have to have disparate parties trying to score points against one another. No one doubts that it is a huge win for the NYPD to be able to arrest this creep.
The only way to make bureaucracy work, is by turning them against one another. Make it a market for merit!! A meritocracy!!
Thanks NYPD.
Edited on May 14, 2011 at 11:11pm