If Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a right winger, how many on DU would be defending his rape?

[Very_Boring_Name]

Currently, a very large number of DUers are defending him, and claiming that he was "set up". If every single circumstance of this case was identical, except he was a right winger instead of left wing, how many here would still be defending him?

[marmar]

1. Unrec for another tired flamefest-intent poll.

nt

[Very_Boring_Name]

3. It's a legitimate question. His defenders are politically motivated

[marmar]

4. It's a rehash of something that's been posted ad nauseum already.....

..... and will serve no purpose other than to start a(nother) flamefest.

[Very_Boring_Name]

5. Some of us don't spend 24/7 on DU and aren't aware of every single post

Your problem with the thread appears to be that its a repost, but you decided to lazily label it as "flamebait" instead.

[marmar]

9. If it quacks like a duck......

nt

[Very_Boring_Name]

10. Clever

[groovedaddy]

30. Was he raped? The question makes it sound like he's the victim. But that may be true either way.

So he leaves his cell and other personal belongings in the hotel room and bee-lines to the airport because he's affraid he's being set up? This guy has weilded much power and he runs from a housekeeper? I could not serve on the jury on this case because I think he's guilty as hell.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Your claim that they are politically motivated is what makes it flamebait

You are inviting DUers to criticise other DUers via speculation, and to implicitly agree with your 'a very large number of DUers'.

[joeybee12]

24. Same here...I have no friggin idea what this guys views are...had never

heard of him before...but that doesn't make me not think people have been set up before and we need to let this play out.

[seabeyond]

2. damn... didnt even have to spent a sec on that question. nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Probably about as many as would be defending Bill Clinton's behaviour with women...

if he were a Republican?

[Fumesucker]

7. "A very large number are defending him"..

:shrug:

Is this a call out?

[Very_Boring_Name]

12. Nah, just an observation

[marmar]

13. Yes. Under the guise of a "legitimate question."

nt

[myrna minx]

17. "Some people say..."

[MannyGoldstein]

8. *Alleged* Rape

Who knows what happened? That's why we have trials.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

16. I don't think a number of people here on DU needs trials to proclaim their opinions

that he is guilty as facts and unblemished truth, ofcourse many of the same people also think others are innocent without a trial, depends on their agenda and interests a lot.

Personally I'll wait for the trial before declaring one way or the other

[groovedaddy]

18. Amen! The fact that the judge viewed him as a flight risk and wouldn't allow bail, doesn't

bode well for him. He was clearly trying to get the hell out of dodge in a hurry.

[meow mix]

11. a couple well known trolls.. but thats about it nt

[Eddie Haskell]

14. No one is defending rape

Only the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. "Currently, a very large number of DUers are defending him"

Bullshit! These posts are almost AMWAYS untrue. The OP simply made that up.

unrec.

[Silent3]

19. I'd say it's the greater offense to leap to a presumption of guilt...

...when people we disagree with politically are involved than it ever is to allow for the possibility of innocence.

Strident certainty of either innocence or guilt (a favorite of the more conspiratorially-minded posters on any internet forum, who will often hide behind the "we're just asking questions" defense while practically oozing vitriolic certainty of a particular conclusion) is seldom ever warranted by people on the sidelines with clearly limited access to the facts of a situation.

[woo me with science]

35. Thank you. nt

[spanone]

20. i've seen no one defending rape.

[Nye Bevan]

21. It's not the finest hour for DU's DSK defense team

"He has an alibi!" oh wait, there's video...... OK, "she's lying!" oh wait, there's DNA....... "she wanted it! SHE seduced HIM! Consensual! Right wing setup! Sarkozy tweeted it before it happened!"

And all because this rich bankster fat-cat refers to himself as a "socialist".

[mn9driver]

22. Who is defending rape?

If he did it the way the authorities allege, put him away. If he was set up, it would be nice to know.

And it could very well be that it was BOTH a set up AND rape. We'll see.

[Nye Bevan]

25. A set up? Seriously?

What did they do, hire a classically trained actress to pretend to be a hotel maid, so that she would put on a convincing act when she poured out her story to the police and called her friend in tears? And how much did they have to pay this actress to run the risk of several years in jail for filing a false report? And how did she obtain his DNA for the forensics? And did they also pay all of the other women who are coming out of the woodwork to say he did the same thing to them?

Well, I guess it's about as believable as Wellstone's plane being brought down by gamma rays, or the Japan earthquake being triggered by machines. So I shouldn't be that surprised to see people propounding this theory here.

[mn9driver]

43. From the detail you provide, you were there for the whole thing.

Far be it from me to speculate on anything when you obviously have all of the facts. Sheesh.

[Nye Bevan]

44. I provided no details. I only asked some questions (nt)

[ecstatic]

23. Bin Laden was a right winger and was defended here

So it's hard to say. :shrug:

[blondeatlast]

26. Look, I've been knee-deep in those threads on the "non-defending" side,

and I can honestly say maybe ONE DUer has defended his act. However, there does seem to be a sort of fanclub defending the MAN--which is interesting, because at least two of DU's honest-to-God socialists are defending neither M. SK or the act or his politics.

Personally, I'm just enjoying the fact that a major league WEALTHY hoi polloi got treated like a common criminal by the NYPD.

[pintobean]

28. Unrec & no vote - crap poll

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. Who would set up a right winger?

Right wingers don't really care if their leaders are criminals.

[socialist_n_TN]

31. Strauss-Kahn IS a right winger........

How can the head of the IMF be anything but?

[blindpig]

32. Exactly

The French Socialist Party is a corrupt shadow of it's former self.

[socialist_n_TN]

37. And it's former self wasn't any great shakes.......

either. It was always a bourgeoisie "reformist" group. Now they've OBVIOUSLY "reformed" whatever working class basis they ever HAD out of the party.

A fucking SINO.

[leftstreet]

40. +1

[ellenfl]

33. he's a leftie? i would not defend him no matter his politics.

however, i would not condemn him either until all the facts were in evidence. i would hope we would be more cautious about judging, considering the constant stream of misinformation coming from the msm . . . on ALL subjects.

ellen fl

[blondeatlast]

42. He's not a leftie; he's a limousine neolib. nt

[woo me with science]

34. I can't wait for the DU meta-forum.

A WHOLE FORUM for talking about other DUers!

[Ichingcarpenter]

36. Dude!

Word.......LOL

[Maru Kitteh]

38. Only the very small contingent of open, flagrant misogynists would defend it then.

We have a small set here who will always assume that females are evil, in all ways, at all times.

[LeftishBrit]

39. It's not 'defending his rape' - it is considering the POSSIBILITY (and that is all) that he might

have been framed by enemies.

And it's not a question of whether the individual is a right-winger (and it's arguable that DSK *is* at least centre-right), but whether he has ultra-powerful, ultra-right-wing enemies, who would be prepared to do anything to achieve their aims.

I think that very likely he's guilty, but there is a non-zero possibility that he might have been framed by ultra-right enemies. And the ultimate sufferers would then be the poor people of struggling countries, who will then be squeezed HARD!

It is the nature of the hardliners in the IMF that give me a little pause over this, not any particular sympathy for DSK.

ETA: Maybe my perspective is influenced by the fact that the IMF's demands on the UK in 1976 paved the way for Thatcherism and for our ultimate moral and economic decline in many ways. I may therefore be particularly 'tinfoily' about that particular organization.

As I say, I'm NOT saying that DSK is innocent, and indeed I'd say the evidence so far leans the other way. But it's not a certainty IMO.

[fascisthunter]

41. Ummmm... what makes you think he's a liberal?

did you mean "neo-liberal"?