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How Polanski Could Help the Right
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Hollywood's rally around admitted rapist Roman Polanski has resurrected the limousine liberal, reminding much of middle America why they hate the left.
It figures. On the eve of the Democratic Party’s greatest triumph—when, after decades of pangs and false alarms, universal health care has finally crowned—a coterie of powerful liberals go ahead and hand a real bullet to Republicans who have otherwise been firing blanks. The limousine liberal, that Democrat who puts privilege before principle and the status in status quo, is back, with a cocktail of issues (pedophilia, Hollywood, France) so volatile that Roger Ailes could not have scripted it better himself. As the Democratic Party makes its final push for a health-care overhaul, some of its members are reminding Middle America why sometimes it’s so easy to hate the left.
For this, we can thank Roman Polanski. You could pave a boulevard in Los Angeles with the names of his apologists: Whoopi Goldberg, Harvey Weinstein, Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen, among others. Journalists joined in—Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum, Nation editor Katrina van den Heuvel (who backed off a bit when called on her stand by Katha Pollitt)—as did big-name authors like Salman Rushdie and Paul Auster. Even Washington advocates got into the act: “My personal thoughts are let the guy go," said Peg Yorkin, founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "It's bad a person was raped. But that was so many years ago. The guy has been through so much in his life. It's crazy to arrest him now.”
Like their forebears, today’s limousine liberals display a very special brand of class-conscious hypocrisy. These people would never rally around an admitted child rapist—unless that admitted child rapist made great films, won prestigious awards, and went to the same dinner parties they like to attend.
Some people have observed this outpouring and commented on the lengths people will go to apologize for great art, but what is actually on display here is the lengths people will go to in order to apologize for great artists, which is not quite the same thing.
Great art, and film especially, is accessible to everyone, whereas great artists are much scarcer. The incarceration of Roman Polanski would not stop anyone from renting his films from Netflix, but it would require that he sit out the annual festivities at Cannes. That would undoubtedly disappointment the class of people who thrive on such exclusive company. The rush of so many wealthy and powerful liberals to defend Polanski reeks therefore of self-preservation, borne from the belief that a certain amount of wealth and accomplishment should exempt them from the American penal system.
This is, of course, one of conservatives’ favorite attacks on the left’s elites. The term “limousine liberal” connotes a lefty whose wealth inures him from the consequences of the social policies he advocates—somebody who touts the benefits of public transportation, say, from the comfort of his Cadillac Escalade, or championing the virtues of public school while sending her kid to Dalton.
• Full coverage of the Polanski scandal
• Marcia Clark: The Lost Polanski Transcripts
• Thaddeus Russell: How Young Is Too Young?Though the epithet was first hurled by a Democrat at a Republican, during New York City Mayor John Lindsay’s reelection campaign in 1969, it became one of Republicans’ most damaging tools in the culture wars. In 1972, Vice President Spiro Agnew riled up the base with the phrase; Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan ushered the Republican Party to dominance by convincing voters that the Democratic Party was run by elitist hypocrites whose wealth insulated them from practicing the values they insisted on for the rest of the American people. As a consequence, populism, which had hitherto been a phenomenon of the left, became a conservative one—the consequences of which are still on ample display on Fox News and in town halls.
Like their forebears, today’s limousine liberals display a very special brand of class-conscious hypocrisy. These people would never rally around an admitted child rapist—unless that admitted child rapist made great films, won prestigious awards, and went to the same dinner parties they like to attend.
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Investigative journalist and syndicated columnist Diane Dimond has covered the Michael Jackson story since 1993 when she first broke the news that the King of Pop was under investigation for child molestation. She is author of the book, Be Careful Who You Love—Inside the Michael Jackson Case. She lives in New York with her husband, broadcast journalist Michael Schoen.
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Matthew Yglesias is a Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. He is the author of Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats.
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Pamela Redmond Satran is a developer of the baby-naming site nameberry.com and the coauthor of 10 books on names, including Beyond Ava & Aiden, due out next month.
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Ben Crair is an associate editor at The Daily Beast.
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Ben Crair is an associate editor at The Daily Beast.
byersl
I beg to differ, Mr. Crair. As you apparently are not aware, liberals are a feisty bunch, and unlike the right, we think for ourselves. While some of Hollywood's best talent has chosen to rally around Mr. Polanski, you are quite mistaken that we all, or even most of us, have also done so.
How convenient that the right likes to laugh at us for never getting our act together and march in lock step, yet turn around, as you have, and lump us all in one boat. In fact, the arrogance and "special brand of class conscious hypocrisy" actually applies to the right quite nicely. As it does to the entire cast of Terrorist Fist Bump News, otherwise known as FOX. The people you describe, elitist hypocrites whose wealth has them insulated from practicing the values they insist on for the rest of the American people, applies much more to the right than to the liberal and progressive left. We don't go into people's bedrooms, we don't legislate people's speech, we don't try and tell parents how to raise their kids, who they can marry, or tell a woman her body is not hers. Those values belong squarely on the shoulders of the right wing of the Republican Party's sex addicted, adulterous legislators (also known as fornicators according to Bob McDonnell) and their fancy pageant walkers.
As for our forebears, if you want to put us into the same category as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, the Kennedys and other fine liberals, fine, we'll take it!!! Better to be linked to them than the likes of McCarthy, Nixon and Reagan!
kiksadi50
Then speak out publicly. Be willing to publicly denounce statements like Ms. Goldberg's that "it wasn't rape-rape". Do you realize how many thousands of sexual assault victims would be helped by that? I have worked with sexual assault survivors for over 20 yrs. Twenty yrs. later we have made such little progress that a famous, influential woman, a member of an oppressed culture, using her public access to defend the perpetrator & minimize the crime. Women who have been sexually assaulted everywhere weep.
soitgoesjen
Roman Polanski raped a thirteen year old girl. Don't think for a minute that most of us are not absolutely disgusted. Whoopi Goldberg's statement does not reflect the consensus among liberals whatsoever.
Dylan111
It is easy to tell us to speak out publicly, but we don't have the same clout. I agree that the vast majority of liberals are appalled that this guy has managed to get away with rape; you have only to read the comments on this site and on Huffpo to see that. But let's face it: we are not famous. We don't have daily TV shows like Whoopi G. So it is easy for conservatives who do have their own shows, like Rush, to make it seem that all liberals support Polanski.
It is very frustrating.
UpstateNY
I am a Liberal and I speaking out. I'm sure nobody cares but I abhor what Mr. Polansky did - not as a Liberal but as a woman, a mother and a thinking human being. What Mr. Polanski did was terrible. He ran away to escape paying for his crime (and it is a crime) and he flaunted this by living large for the past 30 years. He should be tried and go to jail if that is the verdict of the jury.
I've never held the views of movie stars in high regard anyway. And I don't know why anyone should.
stjam8
I wonder what Ms.Golberg would describe as rape-rape? Since giving a child drugs doesn't seem to qualify, perhaps being beaten severely? I will pay more attention to Goldberg's commericals so I can write to the companies that use her for a spoke person. As for Polanski, you would think that a person that has suffered as he has, would be more sensitive to not harming another person. But apparently not. Frankly, I don't give a damn how talented he is. What does that have to do with it.
Cymatic
I'm disappointed with Whoopi for her comments especially since she has been so outspoken against violence against women in the past and was a victim of terrible abuse herself. Supporting Polanski goes against her own beliefs.
However, what she was trying to say is that it was statutory rape, and that the victim went along willingly. When the term 'child rapist' is used, most people imagine a brutal physical assault. The word I would use would be 'molester' because child abusers do trick underage girls to go along willingly.
Polanski was predatory and deserves his punishment, it will serve as an example for any other stars who think their fame will insulate them from payback.
Cymatic
Strike my previous comment! Having just read the rest of the comments section - I read that he sodomized his victim and that she had said no, many times.
I had read about it many times before and it was only mentioned as statutory rape. While the seduction of a 13 year old is a terrible act - it pales in comparison to what Polanski did. There is no way a 13 year old girl could consent to be sodomized. That is rape - end of story.
Statutory rape is very misleading in this case, even though that was the charge that wound up sticking, it's far too light a sentence. I hope he spends a lot of time behind bars contemplating what he did.
PennyDreadful
Have you followed the news? While right wingers are making straw man arguments, Jezebel, Salon's Broadsheet, and the Nation have all published articles slamming Polanski.
MOST people, of ALL political stripes, disagree with this minority of cinematic "ah-TEESTS". By the way, Mr. Crair neglects to note that dozens of these signatories are NOT American and are NOT Hollywood.
Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, has caught a lot of heat for her asinine remark.
case1234
Ok, but this article also ignores the number of "Hollywood" type who have denounced this defense of the indefensible such as Bill Mahre and Chris Rock who compared it defending OJ.
Also, when did everything in entertainment and politics be come conjoined. The democratic party is now measured by Hollywood actors? I highly doubt that Jim Webb gets up in the morning wondering what people in SoCal think of him.
possumdearie
You couldn't be more wrong that Jim Webb wonders what Hollywood thinks of him. He ran as a Democrat, because it benefitted him to do so. He holds a prominent position in the party now, because the Democrats are happy to have Virginia back after so many elections where they conceded the South. Jim Webb is profiled by magazines, feted by celebrities and schmoozes in the Beltway cocktail circuit. Don't think for a minute he doesn't think about this first thing in the morning when he wakes up and that it isn't the prism through which he makes all political calculations -- above the will of Virginia constituents who elect him into office. This was evidenced most recently by Democrat politicians during the townhalls.
JohnScottRidgway
Showing once again why Chris Rock should be president.
ChanRobt
Good for Maher and Rock.
But, Hollywood is rightly cojoined with the Democratic Party because Democrats so frequently come begging at the Hollywood trough.
I live in one of the neighborhoods where the money parties are held and I can't tell you how many times I've been re-routed on the way home when Democratic presidents came drooling for Hollywood glamor and cash.
scola91660
It appears me that you are a smug simpleton who may have a predilection toward making blanket, idiot statements.
markde43008
Ben is pretty much correct,. though I disagree with his characterizations of us conservtives.
Truthfully when this news first hit, my reaction was the opposite of what you would suppose.
I've been thinking lately the far left in ontrol of the democrat prty ws creating divisions we'd never heal. That Your leders and pundits were working feverishly to destroy any chance the center right, and right had to ever trust your motives. You seemed alien beings Hell bent on destroying what works in favor of an imagined utopian vision, which only you believed in.
Then the arrest, and the immediate response, left and right was identical. Exactly the same, even NOW issued a statement I agreed with entirely about it. For the first time in years, I thought, maybe we are all good people, nd the ange had just clouded that perception. I ws glad we we in greement,.. within hours the Hollywood response overwhelmed the lefts well considered one.
And then too, I thought, maybe the left will finally agree with us, that Hollywood is amorl, and no more the friend of blue Americ, than red, because you have daughters too to protect, and the Hollywood reaction was insane.
I like Rush, listen to Beck, but we do think as individuals as well, much s the left is loathe to admit that. I don't blame blue America for Hollywood, I think Hollywood has distorted many a Blue's thinking, but I'm not outraged by the rank and file democrats, I even am married to one. Her blue dog ways might make you cry here, but I felt we had at least for a while come together in honest indignation for the injustice Polanski commited,.
Hollywood tried, but I still see that as true. I see Hollywood as the anomally, the oddball, and limosine liberal is a term I do use, but only for the uber rich lefties.
Not one for the liberal across the street, we never will vote the same,. ever,
but we each know, our kids are safe when the other is watching,.
are we so different?
Cara-C
So, then, where are all the Hollywood bigwigs speaking out against Polanski?
Also, when does the Right laugh at liberals for not marching in lock step? First, I've RARELY seen that done, and second, the Left marches in lock step so frequently, that it would be hard to find occasion to laugh at them for not doing so even if one were so inclined.
Also, you confuse the religious Right with the majority of conservatives who advocate FREEDOM - the ability to live our lives as we see fit with as little government interference as possible. I rarely encounter these mythical Rightists who are obsessed with what others are doing in their bedrooms (unless it's raping little girls, which apparently the Left endorses).
You DO try to legislate speech, making "hate" speech a crime. You have silenced many serious discussions with politically correct speech, which keeps people from saying anything that might offend a protected group, no matter what the truth is. You DO try to tell parents how to raise their kids, with liberal educators forcing kindergartners to start dealing with sexual orientation issues, against the will of their parents.
You DO tell a woman her body isn't hers. When the Left advocates government-run health care, which lets Rahm Emanuel's brother decide whether your quality of life is up to his standards and merits life-saving treatment or not, you have told ALL Americans their bodies and lives are not theirs.
jaimo62
Excellent post.
rhonda1309
Cara on fire, go girl!
JohnScottRidgway
I am a proud liberal. My girlfriend lost her virginity, some 25 years ago, to a thug who drugged her. If you think the pain of this event has ever went away, you are as deluded as the people who think bullying children is a harmless right of passage. Unlike me, who lost his best friend to the effects of bullies. This man was convicted of a crime, then bolted. America does not let people who do this off, especially because they make over-rated movies.
Cymatic
I agree with your comments, except I think "The Piano" was not overrated. I didn't know about Polanski's past when I watched that movie, and I found it to be very real and very moving. When it comes to the greatness of art, some rather despicable people have written great songs, or painted great paintings, while some wholesome people have made crap. The opposite can be true as well.
Foxposte
Oh, please. Woody Allen comes to the defense of Polanski and you think liberals agree. Woody Allen, who had sex with his adopted daughter??? No one except a confused few in our society agrees with these values, right, left, middle or libertarian, for that matter. This gives ammunition to no one. Except those who want more money for police enforcement of crimes against women, and that certainly is something I fully support. Paint me liberal. And I hope that finally Polanski faces the music for his despicable illegal behavior--doping and raping a minor! One percent of the population own 95 percent of the wealth, and no one but that one percent think that's OK. The rest of us can hopefully come together on issues of decency. Hopefully we can agree that the wealthy must obey the law just like the rest of us.
PennyDreadful
Sssshhhhh!!!! Conservatives are smarting lately from losing elections and seeing their ideas discredited. This is the best shot they've had in a long time to make political hay out of an issue.
jaimo62
"The people you describe, elitist hypocrites whose wealth has them insulated from practicing the values they insist on for the rest of the American people, applies much more to the right than to the liberal and progressive left. We don't go into people's bedrooms, we don't legislate people's speech, we don't try and tell parents how to raise their kids, who they can marry, or tell a woman her body is not hers."
I think in today's world, the left are far more affluent than the right. The big corporations in large part give to the democrats. The democrats own and run almost all of the fringe media (NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.).
Yes the republicans have some issues with extra-marital affairs and they are usually rounded up and heartily tossed from their chairmanships or office or whatever by their own.
On the other hand the democrats have more criminals in office and holding chairmanships that the democrats refuse to look at or remove these individuals from their posts. Apparently the rules don't apply to them, because they are the true limousine liberals. Take Rangel, Dodd, even Pelosi herself, being such a huge union person working for the "little" people yet she's a multi-millionaire employing non-union workers in her vineyards. Where's the love Nancy? Rangel should have been removed from his post and office years ago, yet Nancy Pelosi refuses to remove him, why you ask? Because the democratic party as a whole is a criminal organization.
What about the "silky pony" John Edwards, scum bag of the century. Where are the democrats calling out his bad behavior. The National Enquirer had to break that story and you all called them liars. Who's the liar now Democrats.
So next time you want to throw republicans or make assertions that Fox News only presents one side why don't you look at your own alphabet networks for the same sins, that somehow are all excused. Why is that?
You lefty morons are not "special" or .... maybe you are and we need to protect you by enslaving you to the Government tit because you guys can't handle it out there in the big wide world all by yourselves like we can.
You're pathetic.
PennyDreadful
Troll troll troll your boat, gently down the stream...
veralani
You are totally insane.
ChanRobt
byersl, modern "Liberals" have very, very little in common with Jefferson, Franklin, or Jack Kennedy. Don't flatter yourself.
jpelhamtn
I'm sure Ben Franklin & Thomas Jefferson would find it amusing to be thought of as liberals...just as it's hard to believe John Kennedy would today support liberal thought on gay marriage.
But more to the point, it's nice to see liberal Hollywood elitists & David Letterman and others who found it so easy to hurl insults at Sarah Palin, be associated with the swine Polanski. The true colors are now evident to all. But then, the hate for her is that she actually has lived a positive, successful life and opposes abortion.
I'd much rather stand with Palin than Polanski or Letterman or Clinton any day.
democracyforall
I agree. This article is most disappointing. Making bad decisions is not a partisan issue. Polanski needs to pay for his crime.
dukerau
You're missing the whole point of the article. It's not that Republicans expect that Democrats agree on everything, but that Republicans can use this issue as a rallying cause. Republicans can appeal to conservatives and right-leaning moderates with opinions like "I can't believe what those crazy Hollywood liberals are saying."
wakeupastc
I'm not so sure it's the "liberals" who are the biggest and most vocal Polanski apologists. Hate to sound cynical - well, maybe I don't - but it seems to me that the Hollywood types who've spoken out are looking for their next film project. So we're hearing from a lot of despicably self-interested people who think Polanski will beat the rap and work with them on a future project out of gratitutde. The rest of Hollywood no doubt does deplore Polanski's child molesting ways.
But don't you wonder why have we not seen a petition publicly announced among the Hollywood players pledging to boycott Polanski and all his sycophant apologists? Why are the only actors and directors who've gone public the ones who've backed Polanski?
Anyone here want to announce that boycott petition and give up the Netflix?
And for Peggy Yorkin of NOW to ask that Polanski get a pass...disgusting. This is the kind of thing that makes NOW look like a toothless dishrag.
In any case, I think Ben has a good point - the right wing most certainly will jump on this, having largely done a belly flop with the rest of the drivel about Obama's birth certficate, etc.
Nice article Ben.
disfasia
Ben Crair,
Great piece! I would add that the risk here is not only what you call "limosine liberals", sadly there are a great many people on all corners of the politcal spectrum who think that this issue should be "left alone" for reasons that he suffered a lot in this life already, that it was a long time ago, and that the victim wants this to end. Most rapists suffered in their lives--they were usually raped as well. The time frame issue is a non-issue because the law decides how long is "too long"; and the statute of limitations has not run out. That the victim wants an end to this saga is totally understandable. But a crime was committed and she does have an obligation to let justice be served. Also, I would wonder to what degree money has been used to avoid criminal proceedings.
On the other side of this issue, there are people who think Polanski should face charges because his victim was a child. To me, this is a horrifying thought to think that somehow that "suitable victims" worth fighting for legal rights must somehow be underage. Rape is rape--be the victim a man, woman or child. "No" means just that: NO! I am saddened to see that a man who is actually guilty of this crime receives so much support while not so long ago, an innocent man who was clearly extorted, the justice system abused, and false accusations constructed by two different families resulted in absolutely no support, a media blackout, and this man's life destroyed. And yes, I am talking about Michael Jackson.
Chuckv
Disfacia brings up the issue of the what is the legal affect of having a victim forgive a wrongdoer. I think that the woman's forgiveness is strongly influencing the "limousine liberals." She wants the case to go away, so why should others not join her?
But personally, I think it is irrelevant. As a Christian, I believe that we should always forgive our enemies. But even when forgiven by the victim, a wrongdoer still must be held accountable by the law for his crimes. Further, Polanski fled from the law. That is a crime itself for which he must be held to account.
Finally, I object to calling "limousine liberals" hypocrites. Actually they are people who are working against their own self interests for the good of society. They should be against any social program that costs money. Why do they need Social Security or Medicare?
JohnScottRidgway
Do you think that child molester's who were molested did not live 'rough' lives? We still put them in jail. Do you think that kids who are raised in housing projects had easy lives that should get them out of prison. Let's face it, he is a Jew with the holocaust to pull heart-strings. No one gives the same break to Palestinians raised in the Jewish run holocaust. Guess they don't make movies that all these Hollywood types want to be in? Too bad. I am a liberal, and I am sickened by this. This is a class war we are experiencing in this country. People need to wake up to the fact that this countries worship of wealth and fame is the death of ethics on the left.
BozoerRebbe
"Palestinians raised in the Jewish run holocaust"????
From 1967 to the Oslo accords that put the West Bank under Palestinian authority the West Bank had one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Palestinian population also increased dramatically, with the Israeli occupation authorities starting hospitals. They also fostered the creation of six universities.
You have no perspective or historical knowledge. At Babi Yar, the Nazis machine gunned over 30,000 Jews in two days. At Auschwitz, the Nazis averaged murdering over 8000 people a day.
During the recent incursion into Gaza, there were about 1000 Palestinians killed. Obviously some were Hamas fighters. If the Israelis were trying to kill civilians they must have terrible aim.
It's quite obvious that if the Jews were trying to perpetrate a holocaust (the word, btw, means "completely burned up") or genocide, they're doing a terrible job at it. There are millions more Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper than there were in 1948.
As far as you, Mr. Ridgway, is concerned, Polanski's supporters are stressing his stature as a filmmaker far more than his family's troubles. Yes, Polanski is a Jew with family ties to the Holocaust. He's also a criminal and you're a Jew hater.
Stop devaluing language by accusing Jews of genocide with regard to the Palestinians. Real genocides involve killing thousands of people every day. I hate doing this kind of calculus, but you can check the numbers. Over the course of the Final Solution, the Germans killed about 3000-4000 Jews a day. In Cambodia, the communists killed over 1000 people a day. In Rwanda, the Hutus killed almost 10,000 Tutsis a day, making it perhaps the most gruesome modern genocide.
So if the Jews are perpetrating some kind of holocaust on the Palestinians, they are certainly not succeeding.
sophie44
"Let's face it, he is a Jew with the holocaust to pull heart-strings".
Sorry to interrupt your anti-semetic rant, but Polanski's mother was a Catholic and he was brought up as a Catholic, a very religous Catholic. That makes him a Catholic criminal, not the Jewish criminal you would love him to be.
neverlate
I marvel at the lack of self awareness and inability to see the hypocrisy in their beliefs. "It wasn't rape-rape" You are right Whoopie, it was simply rape.
possumdearie
To repeat a comment by Mark Steyn, it was more like rape-rape-rape-rape.
This user is no longer registered.
bcaldwell
Yes, because rape of a minor and drug addiction are so very much the same. Limbaugh abuses only himself and runs off a wife in the process,, Polanski RAPES a 13 yr old girl. One is an addiction issue, the other is an act of violence against a minor.
I'm not sure that being addicted to painkillers is all that immoral, but I do know raping a kid is and helping and advocating that a rapist escape justice is. There is NO equivalency on that issue.
Slamlander
Actually, IIRC, the charge was statutory rape, which is not forced sex. The girl was 13 but didn't look it and her mother was the one who brought the girl to the party to trigger exactly what had transpired. Many of us felt, at the time, that Polanski was railroaded by an over zealous LA prosecutor.
Polanski did admit to having sex with a minor, it was blown out of proportion as he had no idea that she was a minor at the time. This was a fact admitted by all three parties (mother, daughter, polanski). To call Polanski a rapist is vastly overstating the circumstances.
renagle
You confirm the idiocy of the left with this very post. So taking drugs is on the level of anally raping of a 13 year old girl?
I say let Hollywood talk and talk and talk. They've made themselves the forefront of the Democrat party with their idiotic "Obama Obama" videos. The mental midgets may be talented on-screen, but those of us who reside in the real world, don't take our cues from those who live in make-believe. Perhaps some of the people sitting on the fence will finally take a stand and see these disgusting hedonists for who they are.
texasmamma
congratulations on publishing this column in DB -- it's refreshing to see this level of honesty here. I disagree with the hyperbolic "conservative talk-show hosts have been reduced to making up issues out of whole cloth . . . , " but hope that all Americans, indeed any person, can maintain a moral compass and agree that rape and child-rape are violent, heinous crimes that should be prosecuted.
possumdearie
It's self-preservation. They want their President Dream Date Ken Doll to WIN, and his image is tarnished by the comany he keeps. This makes him look out of touch, insensitive, amoral and snobbish, because he hangs out regularly with Hollyweird. President Obama appeared on Letterman's show, a partisan hack who lambasts the right for doing things far less serious than harrassing and screwing your staff. Remember that ridiculous video of these reprobates promising to change their lives for the better because the President "inspired" them -- FINALLY -- and could no longer be an excuse for their degenerate behavior? That's why this Sistah Souljah movement all of a sudden.
texasmamma
yup
crymeariver
Hollywood wants Obama to win so they do so by supporting a child rapist? Because Obama supports child rapists? Get a brain.
kiksadi50
This is an article that hits home on so many levels that it physically hurts. I expected men to collude with polanski, but somehow once again the women who are defending him have disappointed me bitterly. Aside from the facts of the case, (as in he pled guilty to having sex with a 13yo, & that she was under the influence), & the forensic facts that proved that she had been sodemized, Polanski fled the country before sentencing! What if OJ had done that? or Kobe Bryant or Mike Tyson? And none of these guys have admitted guilt. Rapist rarely do, it is always "consensual". the support of prominent liberals supporting Polanski concerning this issue makes me sick,& angry. they should all go spend a week volunteering at a facility for victims of violent crimes against women & children.p.s. polanski's horrible history does not let him off the hook. Should make him more sensitive to the suffering of others.
Glenda1976
Middle America looks at Whoopi Goldberg and her "not rape rape " comment and say WTF?
Ariel17
We non-celebrity Americans look at Whoopi and think, "She's a bigger asshat than I thought," and we watch her pathetic attempts to swim her way back into our hearts.
As for the decrepit Woody Allen... creepy, creepy!
Of course, he always LOOKED the part of a sex pervert.
dreaday19
very true, and being from middle america myself (or any part of non-L.A. America), I think it's abhorrent as well. Making a blanket statement by associating it with liberals is just ridiculous and disgusting. This isn't a political issue, it's a rape issue. Why must everything be politicized? I finally think I may be entirely over this website. Ugh.
SansSouci572
That was certainly everyone I know's reaction---all this armchair analysis of it being a liberal or not liberal issue and how to use this for political benefit to your party is nonsense.
The bottom line of it all is wtf?
(I did happen to notice however, "lets be reminded to hate" as a political calling...a bit telling, in the author's introduction)
I am a liberal and I say its not "rape-rape" either, I call it Pedophille Rape.
The fact that he suffered is true; however, Most victims, including rape victims want the perpetrator caught so it does not happen to anyone else. They will go to court and be humiliated if they have to, to keep it from happening to someone else. Isn't that what most people say, "never again'?
That he suffered, to me, is all the more reason he should know better. (Not that you need to be told not to rape a kid)
nortonclybourn
Let's rehash a 30-year old case and try to make political hay. Let's pretend that there is a left-right divide on some superannuated California criminal case, and further stipulate that Limbaugh is relevant as anything but a leftover 90's phenom. Those feminazis are persecuting a creative entrepreneur..no, wait, he's evil...whatever. Whoopi Goldberg--has she ever been in a good movie?
Why should we listen to any of these people? In fact, we don't, but commentators like to pretend that we do, and they like to pretend that we pay attention to commentators. In fact, it's not up to the commenters or to us, but to the legal system.
GREGORYABUTLER
Polanski is a confessed child rapist and sodomizer.
He is a convicted felon and a fugitive.
He deserves to spend the rest of his pathetic life in prison.
PERIOD.
And if you disagree with any of that, you're almost as bad as Polanski.
JohnScottRidgway
Hey, let's not destroy the good name of sodomy, here... it includes head, remember. The problem is that this was not consensual sex.
crymeariver
Polanski performed ANAL sex on his 13-year old victim, that's why they called it SODOMY. He raped her anally, vaginally, AND orally. MULTIPLE acts of rape one one 13-year old kid.
mattheww
Well, and then there's them. Is the cycle of pious hectoring, caught-in-the-act, and terrified self-disavowal really all that more palatable? Polanski, if nothing else, has always been very up front about what a creep he is.
crymeariver
No he hasn't. Polanski has continuously refused to accept responsibility for any of his deeds. Even when interviewed he makes excuses. He is further surrounded by friends and family who make excuses for him and allow him to live a delusional existence whereby rules of society don't apply to him.
mattheww
Yes, of course, that wasn't quite what I... Oh, never mind.
sophie44
Far be it for me to explain what Matthew was trying to say, but given the subjects of his "brilliant" movies Rosemary's Baby - rape by the devil, Chinatown - incestial rape, Repulsion - rape by something in the room, his interview with Martin Amis where he said, out loud, "judges want to fuck young girls, the jury wants to fuck young girls, everybody wants to fuck young girls", his "affair" with fifteen year old Nastassja Kinski, the whining in his book about "I risked my reputation and livlihood for lovemaking" seems pretty up front about his own creephood to me. He drugged, raped and sodomized a child - he should be hung drawn and quartered, but then I'm a liberal, what do I know?
GREGORYABUTLER
So, by your sick logic, because he admits he's a creep means it's OK.
Not to me!
Polanski belongs in prison.
And if he doesn't want to go to an American penitentiary, he's free to hang himself in his Swiss jail cell.
crymeariver
Nice try at lumping all liberals with a TINY fraction of Hollywood insiders and Polanski apologist. The VAST majority of liberals do NOT believe in excuses for child rape of any sort. Even Bill Maher who is permissive of almost ANY thing and has frequently been accused of sexism (wrongly in my view) thinks Polanski is scum and has said so. Chris Rock compared Polanski apologists to O.J. supporters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMG2ON092GM
The most linked article regarding Polanski has come from the liberal site Salon.com titled: Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child. Which was pigged-backed by Newsweek to consolidate the MANY voices DENOUNCING Polanski: Roman Polanski raped a child-a primer. Not to mention the LONG list of articles from the Huffington Post trashing the Polanski apologist!
P.S. Since when is the Washington Post a LIBERAL newspaper?
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2009/09/29/roma n-polanski-raped-a-child-a-primer.aspx
Cymatic
Good points - where is the bleating about "the liberal media" on this one.
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Ottoheinz
Hmm...this article sounds like more of the same "making up issues out of whole cloth."
Hope you didn't pay much for this article, Tina Brown.
beproductive
Let the law take care of it. We have a legal system, as does Switzerland. If he gets extradited, if he gets tried, the legal system will work. It's not completely black and white. People who express opinions do not necessarily represent the entire group to which they belong. Harvey Weintsein, Woody Allen and Oprah do not represent Hollywood, any more than Rush represents drug-addicted, sexual tourist douchebags. Three or four loudmouth, shoot-from-the-hip liberals say something stupid about a complex case involving their friend, and people who have blogs to keep up or a 24 hour cycle to serve say it's trouble for the left. Give me a break, and keep your focus on what affects the whole country. We are trying to fix the world, and you want to mire us in trivia.
Ariel17
Oh good, you're trying to fix the world. What happy news, excuse us for intruding, and in fact now I recall the exaltant "I'm Going to Change the World!" pledge from BO.
Double creepy.
GREGORYABUTLER
So, forcible sodomy (without lubricant) of a child is "trivia" to you?
PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Veronicaxy
Abuse and the knee-jerk defense of abuse when a woman or child is involved isn't a trivial issue - it spawns & supports violence, poverty, and robs society of the vitality, creativity & stability of affected individuals.
People like Whoopi who are defending 'one of their own' at the expense of social health are showing us exactly how far we have to go.
In a big way I'm really glad this is coming up again. Maybe we're ready to learn some more.
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sillylemur
"No wonder Polanski fled. Anyone in their right mind would."
And anyone fleeing punishment after admitting to raping a child would have been captured and put in prison, too, famous or not. If he wants to make legal objections and appeals, he can do it from his prison cell, just like all the people who don't make movies would have to do, too.
Not all child rapists have the luxury of hiding in France, you know. Just because Polanski did doesn't make any of his actions right.
princeminski
I feel compelled to applaud any reasonable response to the Polanski mess. "Liberals" are consistently demonstrating their generosity of spirit by jumping on this lynch mob band wagon and ignoring any relevant information except "child." "Child." "Child." Saving the children is the mantra of every repressive wave, because it effectively erases reasoned discourse. I am not a Hollywood person; I live in the Bible Belt and see the mentality in action every day. You who have decided to side with this mentality on this particular issue are putting a nasty dent in your karma.
GREGORYABUTLER
Well, I DO side with the "mentality" that degenerates who forcibly sodomize children belong in prison.
And I am disgusted by those who don't.
markde43008
You cannot be serious..
It's not "generosity of spirit" it's a basic human need to shelter and protect the young, a finely tuned instinct any parent knows very well. It's a natural reaction to be repulsed by a child abuser, rapist, exploiter, I live in the Bible belt too and it cuts across political lines, we conservatives in perfect agreement with liberals on this.
You mutter child child child child as if you were jealous of the urgent need we feel to shield them.
When you have been to childs funeral, or known a raped child, .
The only question is, why are you so concerned about Polanski's life, when he was merely arrested, not beaten, not hanged, not put on a rack, arrested to meet his day of due process,
to call that a "lynch mob" is to deal in hysteria.
and forget the mere side isssue, that Polanski raped a child, for nothing more than he couldn't accept he had no right to penetrate whomever he wished, no matter how much they cried and begged him not too.
wrap your mind around that, then tell me, again about lynch mobs..
why, do you have sympathy, for him?
GREGORYABUTLER
Polanski would never have had to worry about the California judicial system IF HE HAD NOT CHOSEN TO BECOME A RAPIST AND A FORCIBLE SODOMIZER!!!!
He made his bed - let the son of a bitch lie in it!!!!!!!
moxichick
What is the difference between 30 years and 1 hour when a 13-year-old CHILD is given alcohol, drugs AND then raped? None. It was a horrible crime perpetrated against a child. Said child has grown up and moved on, but Polanski has not paid for his crime. I don't care what kind of life he has led. He did a crime and he must be judged. I can't believe that some of Hollywood's heavy hitters are coming out in his defense! Well, the only one I can believe is Woody Allen, but the rest??? Not good. Signing off...pissed off liberal!
nortonclybourn
Are you really calling Whoopi Goldberg a "heavy hitter?"
crymeariver
She is on DAILY on NATIONAL t.v. and everything said on the show is distributed to web blogs, news channels and newspaper. She might not be a "big name" anymore but she has POWER that you and I lack.
Thank you.
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