didn't cover itself in glory (Frédéric Mitterand, Bernard Kouchner, Bernard Henri-Levy, Jack Lang, Alain Finkielkraut, Pascal Bruckner...this is quite the spectrum) back when the Swiss were holding Polanski.

So, I'm not sure how pointing this out is a distraction. It's more just a fact. There were some (Onfray comes to mind, but he is really more an outsider when it comes to the elite) who were right in their expressions of disgust towards this Polanski character, but in the main you saw a french elite which was circling its wagons in contemptible fashion. And these clowns are still influential, which says a lot about how long it takes and how much it takes for the elite here to utterly discredit themselves (if that is indeed possible).

As for Polanski needing to do time way back when instead of now, surely you are correct, but he didn't, and this is in large part because he was being defended by those same french elite (and those in some other European countries), which is why the "distraction" is still relevant.

 

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill