I think any reasonable reader will conclude that you just admitted what I said, even if you didn’t want to.

Did ANYONE on the right from Hollywood sign the pro-Polanski petition?

Not that I am aware of.

If not, doesn’t that demonstrate that it is ONLY the Hollywood left supporting him?

No. It means a portion of Hollywood, who also identify with liberal politics, support Polanski.

And doesn’t that demonstrate that the shared politics ARE the issue

No.

Did ANYONE on the right from Hollywood sign the pro-Polanski petition?

If not, doesn’t that demonstrate that it is ONLY the Hollywood left supporting him? And doesn’t that demonstrate that the shared politics ARE the issue, not mere “let’s support our friend” thinking?

You have chosen to twice ignore my challenge to you.

You are right – I have chosen to ignore it, because I am not interested in it.

Of course these have little or no comparison to the Polanski issue – the drugging, raping and sodomizing of a 13 year-old girl, then fleeing prosecution – in case you forgot.

I am well aware of what Polanski did. And I never compared what he did to what the others did. As I have already said, and you have chosen to ignore, I named those in response to your list of people who also were involved in things that were not comparable to what Polanski did.

You may continue to assert this Polanski petition does not reflect on the shared politics of the petition signers but that doesn’t make it so.

And your continued assertion DOES make it so?

You have chosen to twice ignore my challenge to you. Unless your response is the three names you mentioned in your last comment. Of course these have little or no comparison to the Polanski issue – the drugging, raping and sodomizing of a 13 year-old girl, then fleeing prosecution – in case you forgot.

Vitters – a man who hired prostitutes, Ensign – a man who had an affair, Stanford – a man who engaged in investment fraud. All worthy of condemnation. But where is the petition demanding their release from jail? And where are the apologists who say theses men should be forgiven their crime because they have done such good work elsewhere?

You may continue to assert this Polanski petition does not reflect on the shared politics of the petition signers but that doesn’t make it so.

a bunch of people protecting their friend in the industry…

I guess we’ll leave it at that.

But that is certainly not what is happening here and to trivialize the Polanski petition as just another example of a group trying to protect their own is frankly appalling.

Actually… you are the one who used it as an example of just another example. Let me quote:

We saw it with the Clinton/Lewinski affair, we see it now with the many ethics problems of Charles Rangel, we saw it with a laundry list of Obama appointees, and sadly we see it with pathetic Hollywood types like Roman Polanski, Wooddy Allen and David Letterman.

You compared them, not me. And I simply responded to that list by saying that the Right does the same thing – Vitters, Ensign, Stanford, etc.

But, do you not see how this contributes to a sense that the political left in this country is morally bankrupt?

No… I think it points to a bunch of people protecting their friend in the industry, and that it has little/nothing to dop with the “political left.”

Let me try to rephrase with better grammar. I was responding to this statement, made by you:

FWIW, I can give just as many examples of conservatives/Republicans protecting their own.

I don’t disagree with you. In a general sense, every group engages in political CYA. But that is certainly not what is happening here and to trivialize the Polanski petition as just another example of a group trying to protect their own is frankly appalling. This, as Mr. Colton has pointed out above, speaks to something much deeper than politics, much more a reflection of fundamental morality, or lack thereof. And I repeat my challenge. Show me an example of a similar situation in which a conservative/Republican has committed an act such as this, that then generated a petition among other conservatives demanding his or her release from jail. You and I both know there is no such comparison. In fact, what you will find is condemnation from fellow conservatives when something even remotely like this takes place.

You also said:

…but lets not pretend that all on the left, or even a majority, are supportive of Polanski.

No one has made such an assertion. But my response is that ONLY among the left can one find people who would agree to sign such a petition, claiming his body of creative work somehow cancels out his terrible crime. Furthermore I did not bring up the subject of the left vs the right – you did.

You have stated Polanski is a “scumbag”. And the petition signers are somewhere between “naive” and “scumbags”. I’m glad to hear you say so, though I am hard pressed to imagine the former . But, do you not see how this contributes to a sense that the political left in this country is morally bankrupt?

The only thing silly here is your feeble twisting of what has been said to try and claim there is some sort of political/moral equivalence to be found with the Polanski child rape, and those LIBERALS who defend him.

Huh? I claimed nothing of the sort.

And what about you, Dave. Your comments here seem to indicate a greater desire to defend the left than to condemn Polanski. What does that say about you?

WTF? It says absolutely nothing about me. I think that Polanski is a scumbag. And I think those that defend Polanski are naive at best, and scumbags at worst.

But go ahead an imply otherwise. I mean… why deal with what I actually say when you can make things up and use innuendo to personally attack me?