"The Great Seducer"

As you've undoubtedly heard by now, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and the leading candidate to run on the Socialist Party ticket against Nicholas Sarkozy next year, has been accused of raping and sodomizing a hotel maid at the luxury Sofitel Hotel in New York City on Saturday.

The hotel maid has now picked Strauss-Kahn out of a police lineup.

This is a story which raises some interesting questions. First of all, why would a nominal socialist have to stay in a $3000 a night hotel room? Is a $600 a night hotel room not good enough for a man of the people? And was this a judicious use of an IMF expense account? (I can't figure out exactly what it is that a $3000 room offers that a $1000 room does not.)

Second, Strauss-Kahn's nickname was "The Great Seducer." Does this not seem a bit of a misnomer for a man who resorts to rape?

Third, Strauss-Kahn has evidently been accused of rape before (by Tristane Banon, a French journalist). Even if that accusation is not admissible in court, does this not make the current charges more credible?

Fourth, the woman he evidently raped on Saturday is a single mother from Ghana. If a conservative raped a black woman, would he not be accused of racism? Why are no such accusations being leveled against Strauss-Kahn?

And finally, fifth, is this what Whoopi Goldberg would consider "rape rape?"

(It's funny, by the way, how prior knowledge can influence one's views. Had I not known who Strauss-Kahn was, I would have said that the picture above looked like just another self-satisfied jerk. Now that this story has broken, I see.....the face of a rapist.)

Let's just hope the NY Times gives this story the same kind of continuing front page coverage they gave the Duke lacrosse "rape" case when that first broke.