Creepy Ben Stein Defends Accused Rapist

There are some people that just creep you out when you look at them. Ben Stein (pictured) is one of those people for me. Stein is a creationist and conservative apologist, but probably is best known for his commercials for Visine eye drops and FreeCredit.com (which is far from free). Now he has added something else to his repertoire -- defender of rapists and attacker of victims.

As you may know, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in New York City for trying to rape a hotel maid. He is being held without bail for now. This is not the first time to be accused of sexual impropriety for Strauss-Kahn. Back in 2008 he coerced a female economist who worked under him to engage in an affair. He obviously thinks since he is an important international financier he can have his way with women who have little power.

But Stein never met a banker he didn't like. In a column for the conservative magazine American Spectator Stein sprang to the defense of Strauss-Kahn and attacked his victim. Here is some of what he wrote:

I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me. How do we know that this woman’s word was good enough to put Mr. Strauss-Kahn straight into a horrific jail?


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. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it’s anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?

I could understand someone saying Strauss-Kahn is innocent until proven guilty, because that is how our system of law works. But Stein's unwarranted attack on a victim of sexual assault is beyond the pale. I had thought Stein couldn't get much lower than his disingenuous defense of creationism in the fundie film Expelled. I was wrong. He has found a way to get lower.

If the accused had been a sports figure or Hip-Hop artist, Stein would have been one of the first to condemn the crime. But it was a rich and powerful banker, so Stein attacked the victim instead. I'm beginning to think there is no bottom for this creep.