Larry Elder: Hollywood, media misfire on Polanski and Letterman

"Enter 'the Hollywood community.'

"Bigwig film producer Harvey Weinstein calls Polanski's unlawful sex a 'so-called crime' and claims that 'Hollywood has the best moral compass.' Harrison Ford, Debra Winger, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and many others want Polanski set free. They argue that the publicity-seeking but now-dead judge reneged on his promise of leniency; cash-poor California has higher priorities than to spend taxpayer money on a 30-year-old case; Polanski has 'suffered long enough'; his then-wife was murdered by Charlie Manson followers; he lost family in the Holocaust and is himself a Holocaust survivor; the rape victim/survivor, now 45 years old, wants the matter dropped; Polanski makes great films; and, in the immortal words of actress/pundit Whoopi Goldberg, this wasn't 'rape-rape.'"

and

"Did Letterman's female staffers, past or present, feel slighted -- lower salary, loss of promotion, bad assignments -- because of real or perceived favoritism given to those women with whom Letterman was having sex? Who knows? When 'reporters' have described the 'bombshell' news of the attempted extortion, none -- at least that I've seen -- has raised this obvious question.

"Maybe there's nothing there. But what of the failure to even raise this issue? Forget 'Letterman.' Pencil in 'Limbaugh' or 'Hannity' or 'Beck' and see what happens.

"The blatantly liberal Letterman makes no secret of his disdain for former President George W. Bush and for the war in Iraq. Does this cause the supposedly 'pro-woman' left to turn into a pretzel because someone they like finds himself in the cross hairs?

"For example, Kathleen Willey accused then-President Bill Clinton of taking her hand and placing it on his genitals. Feminist Gloria Steinem actually wrote that assuming the allegation true, this was not harassment or assault! 'President Clinton,' Steinem said, 'took "no" for an answer.'

"When ABC's Diane Sawyer interviewed special prosecutor Ken Starr, she actually asked him whether he had ever cheated on his wife -- as if Congress impeached Clinton for cheating. 'That's irrelevant and none of your business,' Starr should have said. 'The appropriate question is whether I've ever committed perjury or obstruction of justice. And the answer is no.'

"But take comfort. The liberal elite 'has the best moral compass."