It must be that springtime brings blossoms and the discovery of five horrid men. Why this is so is beyond me, but the facts are the facts.
First on the bad fellows list is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was formerly the head of the IMF. He earned a superior salary of $450,000 a year with no income tax being attached to it. His treatment of a maid in a hotel I hope is well-known to everyone. He is the first of the horrid fellows that come to mind.
The second one is a fellow named Giovanni Ramirez who is a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Because another fellow attending the opening day game in Los Angeles wore a San Francisco Giant tee shirt, Ramirez thought it was appropriate to attempt to beat him to death. Opening day was March 31 and the San Francisco fan, Bryan Stow, is still in a coma. I hope that the authorities find a place for Strauss-Kahn and Ramirez somewhere in the deep jungle of our penitentiary system.
The third fellow who is in our hall of infamy is Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California. I am sure you have read that Schwarzenegger was the father of a child who was born to his housekeeper. For a bit more than twenty years, this woman tended to the needs of Schwarzenegger’s wife and family. When his wife found out about the affair, she moved out and took the children with her. Schwarzenegger’s time of trial has just started.
Then there is John Ensign, the former Senator from Nevada. He was engaged in a long-term relationship with the wife of his Chief of Staff. The wife claims that he forced his way into the relationship contending that if she did not agree, he would terminate the employment of her husband. How sordid.
I find that Ensign’s conduct was reprehensible in the extreme. He took advantage of his position. My guess is that the wife of his former Chief of Staff is speaking the truth when she said he forced his way into their marriage.
The last horrid person is John Edwards, the former vice-presidential candidate. He is accused of taking about a million dollars to cover up the affair he was having with a woman who was supposed to take his picture, then followed him from town to town in his presidential aspirations. This woman had a child by Edwards.
In the final analysis, it is the children who are being hurt. There is the Schwarzenegger case and the unfortunate episode involving John Edwards, the former Senator who was running for President.
The springtime of the year 2011 has brought us these five characters. I hope the courts will not show much mercy to Ramirez, who beat the San Francisco Giants fan into a coma. I have no respect at all for Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
I understand human failings, but in my estimation these five fellows went too far. They are beastly fellows and qualify for the title of this essay which is about five horrid men.
The case of Anthony Weiner, the Congressman from New York, who used his twitter account for unusual exchanges, looms potentially as a sixth horrid man. I suspect that when all is known, it may be that the five will have a sixth companion. We will have to see about that.
E. E. CARR
May 30, 2011
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Ramirez turned out to be innocent — they had the wrong guy. Weiner though, man oh man. Maybe the craziest story of the lot; you should watch the documentary if you haven’t yet.
If I had to do a retrospective scumbag power ranking here:
1) Strauss-Kahn
2) Edwards
3) The dudes who weren’t Ramirez
4) Weiner
5) Ensign
6) Arnold