Political reprobates run wild

Written by Joe Pisani
Tuesday, 12 July 2011 23:00

Sometimes I think a life in politics is the best life possible for people prone to criminal behavior and illicit sex, especially in France and Italy, where every misdeed and indiscretion and felony is forgiven and forgotten.

A guy like Anthony Weiner, the disgraced New York congressman whose sexting proclivity led to his downfall, could be elected president in those countries — without even speaking the language. As it is, pretty soon he’ll have his own talk show or technology column in Maxim.

Then, there’s Dominique Strauss Kahn, aka DSK, aka the Great Seducer, aka Hot Rabbit, who allegedly chased the hotel maid down the hall and allegedly had sex with her, which may have allegedly been consensual, and faced charges for all sorts of sex-crimes and was sent to Rikers Island and then put under house arrest and was later released because the maid was allegedly a liar and con artist and maybe something worse.

Even though DSK faces new accusations from a writer who said he tried to rape her, he could still be the next president of France, and the Socialists are clamoring for him to get back on the wagon.

But would you want a guy whose nickname is “Hot Rabbit” as the president of your country or corporation or PTA? Would you want him picking up your daughter at the mall?

Whether it’s Weiner or DSK or Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, king of the “bunga bunga party,” the political world is often populated by a colorful cast of reprobates. Berlusconi, who is better suited for Saturday Night Live or Judge Judy, has avoided prosecution for everything from bribery, embezzlement, tax evasion and drug trafficking to orgies with underage women.

Can you imagine keeping your job at the insurance agency or car wash if you got caught doing the stuff he and Weiner did? Can you imagine running for president of the Kiwanis or Parish Council with a track record like Hot Rabbit’s?

Does a guy who goes around having “consensual sex” with hotel maids really have the right stuff when it comes to being president of a world power? What does it say about his judgment? What does it say about common sense? And — I hesitate to use this term because it’s not fashionable — what does it say about his moral values? What happens, for example, if he starts having “consensual sex” with Russian spies posing as hotel maids or cafeteria workers?

Right now, the French are breathing a lot of anti-American sentiments and are also suggesting the U.S. media played into a conspiracy to ruin DSK’s chance for the presidency.

One observer quoted in The New York Times, said, “Now this feeling is reinforced — that the United States is not a fully civilized country with a police that behaves like that, that wants to humiliate. There is a sense that it’s a dangerous country.”

To make up for what we did, I suggest we improve U.S.-French relations by lending them a few unemployed politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Edwards as possible presidential candidates — just to keep them all in one country.

Joe Pisani can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .