We are seeing before our eyes, so to speak, the movement of an entire layer of the upper-middle class to the right. There are those in the circles in and around Salon, the Nation and the rest of the liberal media who are merely stupid, to be frank, and easily duped. Remarkably, the anti-Polanski campaign has become yet another opportunity for liberal and ex-left elements to accommodate themselves to the right and return to the respectable fold.No one should forget that the attack on the artistic community in the late 1940s and early 1950s in the name of the “American way of life” and the struggle against “godless communism” had incalculable consequences for intellectual and artistic life in America that have still not been overcome.

When the vast majority is outraged by the bank bailout and the deepening suffering, the Polanski case conveniently diverts energy and attention away from the fundamental economic and political issues. The media coverage has an unstated subtext designed for the politically confused and uneducated: “We know you are angry about the bankers, about the politicians, about jobs, health care, education, the war in Afghanistan, etc. But you can’t do anything about those things. Here is something where you can add your voice of outrage, where you can be on the winning side and the side of the majority, and do something positive for the sake of your family, your children.”

Again, we will point out, the outraged middle class feminists and liberals demand their pound of flesh from Polanski while the real criminals in America—CIA and military torturers and killers—go free.