The Associated Press, Where Even Child Rapists Can Catch a Break

There was a big article about the Polanski case in today's paper. I'd link to it, but it's an AP story that is continually getting updated, so I can't find the exact story that the Register Guard published. In a huge article that quotes extensively from Polanski's lawyers, here is how the Associated Press describes Polanski's original 1977 crime:

The director had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl while photographing her during a modeling session.

Which is, I guess, one way of describing what happened. Another might be:

Polanski feed a 13-year-old girl Quaaludes and champagne, then performed cunnilingus on her while she said no. He then anally raped her while she said no.*

Just to be clear, Polanski does not dispute that any of this happened, he just doesn't understand what is so horribly wrong about the whole thing. I guess he is not alone, as the French Culture Minister Fredric Mitterand threw out the "ugly American" charge today:

Mitterrand told a press briefing that the arrest is "absolutely horrifying" and the case is "an old story which doesn't really make any sense."

"We know the conditions that this happened in, and while there is a generous America that we like, there is also a side of America which scares and that side has just showed us its face," he told reporters.

[Interestingly, this article about the worldwide "shock and outrage" at Polanski's arrest does not even mention what it is the director did to get him in all this trouble. Ah, the little details.]

So I guess I am an ugly American. I know that in France drugging and raping 13-year-old girls is considered standard after-dinner entertainment, but at least in this respect I hope America remains just as provincial as we can be.

More at LGM and a good summary of the conversation.


*From her 1977 Grand Jury testimony:

Q: What happened then?
A: He reached over and he kissed me. And I was telling him, "No," you know "keep away."
...
Q: What did he do when he placed his mouth on your vagina?
A: He was just like licking and I don't know. I was ready to cry. I was kind of -- I was going "No. Come on. Stop it." But I was afraid.
...
Q: Did he say anything after that?
A: Yes. He goes, "would you want me to go in through your back?" And I went "No"
...
Q: When you say he went in your anus, what do you mean by that?
A: He put his penis in my butt.
Q: Did he say anything at that time?
A: no?
Q: Did you resist at that time?
A: A little bit but not really because -- (pause)
Q: Because what?
A: because I was afraid of him