NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Birds Of A Feather
It was ironic that Woody Allen signed a petition in support of child rapist Roman Polanski. It’s downright creepy that French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand, a self-confessed pedophile, “jumped” to Polanski’s defense after his arrest in Switzerland. The Associated Press reports that Mitterrand “is struggling to keep his job amid an uproar about a 2005 book in which he details Bangkok's brothels and the pleasure and freedom of paying ‘boys’ for sex”:
Mitterrand - nephew of late President Francois Mitterrand - is to appear on national television Thursday night amid a threatened police complaint and calls from both left and right for his resignation. …
Mitterrand's critics say it's about child sex tourism, which France's government is campaigning against. But it also involves a politician's sex life, which many French consider private business, and a public figure's recognition of his homosexuality. …
"Frederic Mitterrand must resign because his presence in the government as a representative of France is an indelible stain (for) the entire world," National Front vice president Marine Le Pen said Thursday. Le Pen triggered the controversy earlier this week, flagging excerpts of Mitterrand's book in a televised interview.
Leftists have joined in. Socialist Arnaud Montebourg said Thursday that Mitterrand "deliberately acted in violation of national and international laws" and appealed to [French president Nicolas] Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon to fire him.
"It is impossible that a minister representing France can encourage violation of his own international commitments to fight sexual tourism," Montebourg's statement said.
Mitterrand’s largely overlooked autobiography, "La mauvaise vie" ("The Bad Life"), came to light when the right-wing National Front party “went looking for dirt on [him] after his impassioned defense of Polanski,” according to AP.
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