DSK Still Heinous to the U.S. Press

If Dominique Strauss-Kahn is waiting for apologies from the American press regarding them calling him a “dog” and a “pervert,” then he’s going to have to keep waiting. In the aftermath of the dismissal pronounced on Tuesday by the Manhattan criminal court, the U.S. media toned down their criticisms of him. The New York Daily News describes him as “philandering” and is no longer moved by the fact that he has been addressing the crowds of journalists surrounding his New York home in French rather than English. However, the New York Post still called him a “toad” and a “horny, Gallic goof-ball” this morning. The Post also went after his wife, Anne Sinclair, calling her a “pathetic doormat.”

No one seems to be very moved that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been treated as a criminal and lost both his position at the IMF and his French presidential prospects, as a result of facts that the American justice system now considers unproven. “As the prosecutors tell it, his behavior seems odious at best and criminal at worst,” writes Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker. “A housekeeper appeared in his hotel room, and some brief time later — maybe 10 minutes, maybe a little more — she was spitting out his semen in the hallway. It is difficult to imagine a scenario that reflects anything but dishonor, if not criminal culpability, on this prominent man. His legal victory should not be confused with a moral one.”

Once again, it is not only Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is beaten up by the U.S. media but all the French along with him. “French citizens may not mind their leaders acting out their fantasies with impunity, but Manhattan isn’t Paris,” writes The Wall Street Journal. “DSK got neither more nor less than he deserved — something for which he can blame, and thank, Cy Vance and America’s justice system.”