with this creep

And he thinks he's ENTITLED.

I have not known what to make of the previous allegations against him. The evidence seemed so equivocal, and the American press loves scandal, so it is good to get the perspective of from someone from France.

I don't think his conduct is compatible at all with leadership, though. It's a more-than-fatal flaw.

It's one thing to be a horn-dog and try to "get a leg over" as they say--while that is rude and crude, No still means No in those circumstances. It's quite a different thing to rape people and it seems that's what this guy was doing.

The guy is no spring chicken, either. I can't imagine what a humper he must have been in his youth! As we age, unless we're using hormones or chemicals, our shit slows down, as nature intended (someone has to be "wise" after all). He just seems like he's still in "full steam ahead" mode despite his, shall we say, difficulties.

DSK was a real menace to anything in a skirt--he was stronger, more agile and would stop at nothing.

He has a truly brilliant mind which French people admire. But, the in-joke in France now is that "nous nous sommes échappés belle!" (that was a close call!)

What if he'd been elected Président and pulled one of his satyr stunts on the international scene--with Angela Merkel or Michelle Obama? "Quel honte!" (For shame!)

The French (like many Latins) have a fairly high tolerance for private sexual pecadillos. Président Mitterand had an openly secret love child, for example, and was elected to two terms.

But, when it goes public and besmirches the good name of the République Française, they draw the line. DSK is now a pariah.

private, assuming there is is no hypocrisy involved (the whole "family man" assertions while being a horn-dog) or coercion (no one goes for sexual assault anywhere). The generations that came before me in my family would have a shitfit if they had to deal with the number of "baby first, marriage later" weddings I've gone to over the last decade or so!

some real mental leaps since her granddaughter (my niece) did the single mother thing last year.

30 or even 20 years ago, an "illegitimate" child in the family would have sent her into seclusion! LOL!

Women who never dared to speak up in the past, when his political power made him almost unassailable, are now coming out of the woodwork.

I don't think DSK is going to have a restful old age. Potential criminal charges and court cases are piling up as we speak.

edit: typo

the upside that came out in all this, that i can see a real advantage, is it allowed to the surface what has been denied, ignored, dismissed for way too long. the women in france have the opportunity here and now, to say certain behavior is not allowable. i read a lot at that time of the NY rape what the women in france were saying, and listening to experiences they have both socially and in the work environment. maybe, this will allow them a time to speak up.

of reaction from French women of all classes, but especially from professional women who've had to endure harassment and mysogyny in silence for too long.

edit: typo

Apparently they did not believe in marriage. Now Hollande is with a girlfriend with whom he is not married. It would be unthinkable in the US that the President would be known not to marry the women with whom he has affairs.

From the late 1970s, Ségolène Royal was the private-life partner of François Hollande, former head of the French Socialist Party and President-elect of France, whom she met at ENA. The couple had four children: law student Thomas (b. 1984), Clémence (b. 1985), Julien (b. 1987) and Flora (b. 1993). They were neither married (considering it too "bourgeois"[47]) nor bounded by a PACS (pacte civil de solidarité, which provides for a civil union between two adults, regardless of gender), contrary to the rumors.[48] A news agency leaked news of their separation in June 2007, on the evening of the legislative election.[49] According to the Guardian, she had asked Hollande "to move out of the house" and pursue his new love interest "which has been detailed in books and newspapers" – a reference to a much-discussed chapter by journalists explaining how Hollande was having a long-term affair with a journalist.[50]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9gol%C3%A8ne_Royal

There are countries in which people find our standards to be immoral. But there are others that are more forgiving than we are about the sex lives of their leaders. One of the French presidents' mistresses (at least one of them) served on his cabinet.

DSK apparently is accused of forming a ring for hiring prostitutes -- with other rich friends. So, it isn't all that unusual in France, I would assume.

That's quite unusual in France.

being accused of "aggravated procurement" in all the years I've been living in France.

This goes well beyond a political witchhunt--the dam has finally broken about his sexual predilections and all the sewage is beginning to pour out.

So you have to ask how "pimp" is being defined.

This is an interesting charge. I wonder how they are framing it. Why would a very rich many "pimp"?

Makes no sense unless they have some very convincing facts.

that is what gets him off. so he creates his haven of filth to get off on.

these men you back are disgusting and your inability to see the filth but always look to justify is....

interesting.

is a good word

openly "living in sin" (as my mother would've called it) with his lady friend and being elected to the highest office in the land?

As you said, "It would be unthinkable in the US"...which just underscores the hypocrisy and sanctimony at the heart of US politics.

Newt and Rudy could have serial wives, but god forbid anybody should "co-habitate" out of "wedlock".

The French divorce rate is about half that in the US because the French understand that "nobody's perfect"...

They love quoting that famous line from "Some Like It Hot", both in English and in French!

As already stated, DSK has been at this for a long, long time. I recall reading about other hotel-related rape/forced sex rumors when he was still locked up in NY.

This man is a prime example of someone who should not be running for a high elected office. He is a walking "honey trap" waiting to happen. And perhaps it did happen.

How, as a country, can you place trust in a leader who willfully exposes himself to huge sexual entrapment risks by coming on to every woman he sees?

Very sad.

That lack of judgment can run the gamut from guys like JFK to Bill Clinton to Jefferson. Pretty much the only constant there would be the hyperactive sexuality causing possible PR problems.

The difference you are looking at with DSK would be the RAPE component. He's a predator and it isn't about sex it is about power and violence.



Laura

(here in France), she mentioned that the French press had been talking about some physiological/psychological studies that had been carried out on men in high places, i.e. politicians, CEOs, etc.

It seems that to a man, they all had higher testosterone levels than in the general population.

So, what does that mean? Does their power bring them a testosterone rush or does an extra dose of testosterone cause them to seek power and position?

Interesting question that could have global implications!

I don't think an extra dose of estrogen would cause women leaders to rape, pillage and wage endless war. Power to the women!

while the shot of testosterone could eb explained greater competitiveness, the power allows the entitlement. deserved. earned. and yes, that includes rape.

No doubt Strauss-Kahn is disrespectful if not worse to women, but . . . . the timing is just political.

Last edited Fri May 4, 2012, 08:06 PM - Edit history (1)

disrespectful if not worse to women

wtf???/

i look at du today and really, there is no wonder why a man like dsk can repeated rape and get away with it.

supporters still say he's the victim.

But the general public now sees him as a sick sexual predator who has made France look ridiculous on the world stage.

He is now a political persona non-grata.

Whether the accusations are true will be demonstrated by the trial.

This Sunday is the French election. These accusations have been out there for months if not years.

That DSK is lecherous has apparently been known for a long time. Just what he has done is unclear but I assume it will become clearer.

I don't support people making up incoherent, illogical stories that could not have happened to make a political point.

As for DSK, he has lived in France a long time. There were lots of opportunities and there was lots of time to investigate him. If he is a sexual predator, he should have been stopped long ago.

These accusations are brought AT THIS TIME to embarrass the Socialists and change the topic from the economy to DSK.

I do not oppose trying him. I am suspicious about why he was not tried earlier.

Bringing it up just after the new Pope was chosen was just political to embarrass the Catholics!

See how this works?

It couldn't be that cronyism is the reason DSK kept it under wraps for so long!

Attitudes towards sexual harassment, child molestation and rape have changed drastically over the past 70 years. It is quite amazing.

We still have people who think in the old ways. They have not learned the new rules.

The US is ahead of a lot of the world with regard to respecting the rights and the equality of women.

I think that got him caught was 1) he came to the US and acted untoward (if not actually did was he was accused of doing, but I've gone through that, and I frankly don't want to rehash it) and 2) because the US, at least to a small extent, actually prosecutes those who act such ways.

When he returned to France it became insurmountable. In any event any new information regarding DSK in France has very little bearing on Hollande and his eventual win in France. I do not see Sarkozy winning.

but he used his power and prestige as a bludgeon to get what he wanted.

I tried to explain the phenomenon in a French context up-thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=113867
"He is a serial abuser of position and power and uses them to feed his sexual addiction. "

It's only now that he no longer wields any political power that women are daring to speak up. He has been neutered so to speak.

most recent legal troubles will most likely have no impact on tomorrow's results.

He has become a political non-entity, persona non-grata.

The guy is a predator. There's no need for any conspiracy. He did it to himself.

My economist brother who has lived in France for many years (although right now he's living in Brussels since the city is the headquarters of the EEC), says that Kahn is a sicko. His predatory ways were well known, but he has always gotten away with it.

Years ago he coerced the wife of the Minister of Finance of Argentina into an affair and ruined her marriage when the affair became an international scandal.

The man is nothing but scum.

but not so rough that she'd want to file a police report?

And why are French prosecutors looking into an incident that allegedly happened in Washington?

corroborate the accuser's statement, it looks shady...Unless there have been more details revealed than the vague hearsay in the original story...

when raped? do you know the reaction from others when raped? do you know how hard it is to be heard? ask for it? really happen? how are you to blame?

it doesnt look shady. it "looks" real. men can feel it looks shady. which will give you one example of the cluelessness of men.