Ben Stein vigorously defends IMF chief

Read Time:5 Minute, 39 Second

I have never liked Ben Stein, and don’t think I ever will, especially after his latest commentary. In it he has the audacity to defend the IMF chief who is accused of sexually assaulting the hotel maid as she cleaned his room.

Here is the story summary, followed by the original story:

Ben Stein is taking an Internet whipping for his defense of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the American Spectator. Among Stein’s arguments: “If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn’t he ever get charged until now? ” and, skeptical of claims that DSK overpowered the woman: “How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He’s a short fat old man.” Also: “People accuse other people of crimes all of the time. What do we know about the complainant besides that she is a hotel maid? ”

A sampling of reaction:

  • ED Kain, Forbes: “Can we all stop taking Stein seriously now? He’s made a fool out of himself for the past few years … and now this bizarre blame-the-victim defense wherein apparently rich and powerful people can do no wrong.”
  • Melissa Bell, Washington Post: After offering her own summary of Stein’s arguments (“Economists don’t rape people!”), she writes: “With defenders like these, Strauss-Kahn really doesn’t need any enemies.”
  • Alex Pareene, Salon: “Stein says it is totally possible that DSK is guilty of the crime he’s been arrested for, but what he is actually, really saying is that DSK is totally not guilty of the crime, because he is a rich economist, and maids are crazy bitches.”

Here is Stein’s full commentary reprinted from The American Spectator:

Now for a few humble thoughts about Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his recent brush with law and journalism, bearing in mind that it’s possible indeed, maybe even likely, that he is guilty as the prosecutors charge:

1.) If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn’t he ever get charged until now? If he has a long history of sexual abuse, how can it have remained no more than gossip this long? France is a nation of vicious political rivalries. Why didn’t his opponents get him years ago?

2.) In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.

3.) The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn “forced” the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He’s a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it’s anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?

4.) Did the prosecutors really convince a judge that he was a flight risk when he was getting on a flight he had booked long beforehand? What kind of high-pressure escape plan is that? How is it a sudden flight move to get on a flight booked maybe months ago?

5.) Mr. Strauss-Kahn had surrendered his passport. He had offered to stay in New York City. He is one of the most recognizable people on the planet. Did he really have to be put in Riker’s Island? Couldn’t he have been given home detention with a guard? This is a man with a lifetime of public service, on a distinguished level, to put it mildly. Was Riker’s Island really the place to put him on the allegations of one human being? Hadn’t he earned slightly better treatment than that? Any why compare him with a certain pedophile from France long ago? That man had confessed to his crime. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has not confessed to anything.

6.) 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.

7.) In this country, we have the presumption of innocence for the accused. Yet there’s my old pal from the Ron Ziegler/ Richard Nixon days, Diane Sawyer, anchor of the ABC Nightly News, assuming that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty. Right off the bat she leads the Monday news by saying that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is in Riker’s… “because one woman stood her ground…” That assumes she’s telling the truth and he’s guilty. No such thing has been proved and it’s unfortunate for ABC to simply assume that an accusation is the same as a conviction. Maybe he’s in jail because one person didn’t tell the truth. I don’t know one way or the other, but I sure know that there has been no conviction yet.

8.) In what possible way is the price of the hotel room relevant except in every way: this is a case about the hatred of the have-nots for the haves, and that’s what it’s all about. A man pays $3,000 a night for a hotel room? He’s got to be guilty of something. Bring out the guillotine.

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.

So tell us what you think of Ben Stein?  Do you think he makes sense?  Let us know in the comments:

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About Post Author

Hunter Steele

Colonel Steele is a retired military officer with a deep and abiding interest in history and politics. His views are often considered controversial but his thoughts and observations have been echoed in various publications.
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12 years ago

According to our supposedly ‘right wing’ tabloid The Daily Mail, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (who has a woman’s first name incidentally) has been described as a ‘Gorilla’ by three of his ‘victims’.

I am delighted to see MMA supporting The Daily Mail. It is a ‘sensible tabloid’ and a ‘sensible newpaper’ unlike The Telegraph and The Independent.

Welcome to the real England MMA.

Ultimately, the bastard is French so lock him away and have done with it…;-)

Our own Kenneth Clarke seems to think there are ‘different kinds of rape’ so perhaps you could take ‘our Ken’ and lock him up with Dominique?

Please?

12 years ago

Ever since he put out that joke of a film “Expelled” where he quote mined those that were interviewed people have started to see what kind of a nut job he really is.

12 years ago

Ben Stein is a rich SOB that needs to crawl back under a rock never to be seen or heard from again.

Reply to  Mike Golch
12 years ago

I couldn’t agree more Mike!

12 years ago

What an elitist asshole.
“What do we know about the complainant besides that she is a hotel maid? ””

And we know what about Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

I’m a fairly well informed guy and I’d never heard of the prick before in my life.
Fuck these elitist dickheads who will defend each other as sure as they will support tax breaks for the rich and oppression of the lower classes.
BTW: Who the fuck is Ben Stein anyway. Wasn’t he the boring dip shit actor who played the boring dip shit teacher on The Wonder Years? Then he did a few boring dip shit Visine commercials. Just turn the boring dip shit off.
Lessee, he’s made a career of being a boring dip shit, can I make a career of being an obnoxious asshole? Oh, never mind, Charlie Sheen beat me to it.

Reply to  Anonymous
12 years ago

HEY! I’m not “Anonymous.” I’m THE Sagacious Hillbilly. What’s with the “Anonymous” stuff?

Reply to  Sagacious Hillbilly
12 years ago

Don’t blame me! Ben Stein probably did it 🙂

Peter Lake
12 years ago

I can barely abide this man. I love to watch Sunday Morning on CBS and from time to time they have him on, and I have to switch the channel. Wasn’t he fired from the NYT for making irresponsible statements?

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