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Video: Jon Stewart Debunks Ben Stein's Dominique Strauss-Kahn Defense
By
Jen Chung
Published May 20, 2011
Modified May 20, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 20, 2011
Modified May 20, 2011
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As ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn awaits release on $1 million cash bail, the Daily Show and Jon Stewart looked at the leading French economist and politician's passionate supporters. Like Ben Stein, the lawyer, Nixon speechwriter, actor, joke-teller, who wondered earlier this week, "The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn 'forced' the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He's a short fat old man," and "Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes?" Well, Stewart managed to find some examples, leading him to declare, "Economists are the rapiest profession going. It turns out the invisible hand of the market is very f***ing touchy feely... Yes, it's a redistribution of rape."
The Daily Show - La Cage Aux Fools
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
Stewart also looked at French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy's essay on The Daily Beast. (Lévy espoused a distaste for American justice and hotel cleaning standards: "I do not know—but, on the other hand, it would be nice to know, and without delay—how a chambermaid could have walked in alone, contrary to the habitual practice of most of New York’s grand hotels of sending a 'cleaning brigade' of two people, into the room of one of the most closely watched figures on the planet... I am troubled by a system of justice modestly termed “accusatory,” meaning that anyone can come along and accuse another fellow of any crime—and it will be up to the accused to prove that the accusation is false and without basis in fact.")
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accusations
allegations
Ben Stein
Bernard-Henri Levy
dominique strauss-kahn
hotel cleaning
Jon Stewart
rape
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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