Over at Reason’s Hit and Run, Matt Welch shares your feelings, Jonah, about the self-important and so incredibly French BHL:

So there was never a question of whether this narcissist millionaire shirt-unbuttoner would manfully rise to the defense of his poor, underprivileged pal Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but just how thoroughly he would soil himself, his country, and his alleged professions in the course of the apologetics. Well, thanks to the editing genius of Tina Brown, we now have an answer.
Let’s go straight to the victim-blaming . . .

The New York Times has a good story about the French code of silence. In France, affairs are a sign of good health and potency and are protected by libel laws.

Second, politicians in France are not hounded out of office for sexual indiscretions (although violence against women is another matter). Traditionally, a political man who reveals his sexual prowess is proving his vigor: he is showing his constituents that he is fully and physically capable of running the country.
During the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal in the United States, even some French politicians associated with Catholic causes chose to congratulate President Clinton for his strength of libido. “He loves women, this man!” Marie-Christine Boutin, a deputy in Parliament and a leader of the religious right, said. “It’s a sign of good health!”
Ms. Boutin has defended Mr. Strauss-Kahn after his arrest, suggesting that he was the victim of a trap.
Third, libel laws are so protective of private lives that the least intrusion in print or broadcasting inevitably leads to legal action and heavy fines. The French media’s fear of retribution by the powerful inhibits American-style investigative journalism.

This whole affair is so French that it would be funny if it weren’t so sad.