This article , as well as numerous others (do a Google search), suggests that Larry Flint will publish a story claiming that, in the 70s, George Bush paid for an ex-girlfriend to have an abortion. Obviously, at this stage, its not appropriate to take such a claim seriously, or as fact. However, my understanding is that Larry Flynt has a track record of accuracy in such matters, and, frankly, given Bush's past (see: Coke addiction), this wouldn't surprise me at all. It wouldn't even need to be "true" to harm Bush's re-election campaign. If Flynt comes forward with the story, and if the mainstream media picks up on it to the degree they've picked up on the story of Bush's National Guard duty, how would this affect his re-election chances? To the conservatives: if you BELIEVED this story to be TRUE, would it affect your opinion of Bush? To what degree?
Yes, I agree, Larry Flynt does have a track record of awesomeness. re: Bush enjoying blow - cocaine is a hell of a drug!
Larry might be a scumbag, but he never traded Sammy Sosa, now did he? Larry Flynt has been more successful at his endeavors than George W. Bush has been in his endeavors.
Regular guys, either right or left, might not be so shocked. Bush has put himself on a high horse and will lose points with the religious right. But, if this is true and this narrowly focused voting block hates him for it, will that make them vote for the Dem candidate? I doubt it. This may be the reason why Bush is pushing the anti-gay marriage agenda. The 1970s? Am I to guess he did this during a time when abortions were illegal? That could also be a factor, but I don't know the whole history of abortions in the USA. Was it his baby? Helping a friend, especially an ex? Heck, my roommate in college asked me to help him pay for an abortion for his girlfriend. It was his baby, but they wanted to finish school first. Lame excuse. I ended up helping him, going against my personal feelings and religious convictions. I had never faced such an issue that questioned friendship versus my personal feelings. Later in life, I got married. We tried to have children, but my wife lost the baby, two different times. The Catholic in me says that this is my punishment for helping my friend, all those years ago. We will be married nine years this year and we plan to try this again. It has taken, especially my wife, many years to get over the loss and the feeling of "not being good enough" to have children. My point being, this is not a fun and games issue. There are too many unknown factors, even if you are totally against abortions. Yea, Larry Flint makes tons of cash off porn, but he also has the guts to make these things known. I hope he shows the same *cough*class*cough* as he did when he bought the nude pics of Pvt Jessica. The public needs to know, and just as the National guard story, the public needs the WHOLE story. To come clean, in politics, is suicide. Bush will never admit to anything. Would you? See, there is one issue and one issue alone that will make me vote for Bush, and the abortion debate is not that one. For the religious right, they could get angry and not support Bush with money, but in the end, they will be forced to vote Bush, because the Dems could looks to make abrotions with more access. Not my issue. Mine is immigration and Bush has put some bills into action that make me happy...if they turn positive. I may not know these results until after this election, but Bush gets points in the real effort shown. In the end, Bush lied, lies and will always lie. I don't think I'd vote for him out of spite. I really dislike the man, on a personal basis. I don't really like Kerry, but who knows right now. Clinton lied, but with some effort. Clinton could have two naked babes on his lap in front of the media, but he could explain it with his slick smile and I just might believe him. Bush doesn't even think he has to explain himself, never tried to do a good job at anything and never had to work to get access to power. Maybe this doesn't play well in middle America and they may swing to a "centerist-looking" Kerry, but we all know is an ellite Eastern liberal, far from center. Let's be real. Heck, Ted Kennedy hasn't got this much airtime since his last wedding. The major cities, Dem strongholds, weren't going to Bush anyways. Maybe the Latino population would hold this against Bush, but I don't really know. Latinos are the real believers of Family Values before it was a slogan.
Ask Speaker of the House Bob Livingston (Livingstone? I forget) whether Larry Flynt is accurate or not. Off-topic - I was under the impression that Flynt bought the Lynch nudes so that no one would publish them. Which would be a little out of character for him, granted. Shame he ran such a piss-poor campaign for governor of California. This nation needs a wheelchair bound leader with vision, and FDR is dead and Guy Caballero only uses a wheelchair to get respect. (SCTV reference. Never mind.)
Re: Larry might be a scumbag, but he never traded Sammy Sosa, now did he? Sosa was a loser when was traded. The year after the trade, Sosa had 150 strikeouts to go along with 15 HRs and a whopping .233 BA. The White Sox thought so little of him that they traded him to the crosstown Cubs. The Sosa of 1989 was not the Sosa of 1998. I'm so tired of seeing this garbage repeated.
I'd agree. Larry doesn't seem the meanspirited type who attacks for solo political gain. He seems to enjoy outing the hypoctites of the world. Bush is such an easy target, but even this story is bigger in nature than I could imagine. But, as I already stated, this would have been a bigger issue if say, this were 2000 and Bush and McCain were doing battle. Bush is set. No party opposition today. How can this hurt him other than with that 1/3 of the population that has not decided yet? 1/3 will vote against Bush (eeerrr, vote for Kerry) and 1/3 should be already voting for Bush. The middle 1/3 are not what I'd call radical or should be shocked by such politicos talking and doing different things. Is this an issue to them? Me? I'd put myself in the middle 1/3 with a heavy inclination of voting against Bush. Does this issue help that decision? Yes. Just for the fact that this guy is a prick, he knows it. He knows you know it and he doesn't think he has to even try to hide it. That is why, reluctantly, I had to say the man had class. I guess even a porn king has standards. Seeing that, could we assume that he will only give the green light knowing the story is at least as accurate as a Fox News report? And, he may be needing to double and triple check the sources due to the fact, Bush and his religious right would be so willing to sue and ruin the man, one a personal basis. This is why I'd trust just about anything Larry produces. I mean, he doesn't hide the women or the story. The naked truth is what he is all about, I'd say. Pushing the envelope may make him money, but he has much to lose if he were to be wrong.
I doubt it. That's the beauty of "finding Jesus" in the political arena. You pick the date of the last time you seriously fucked up, and you get a free pass from the religious right for everything you did up to that date.
Scoey's question isn't directed at me because I'm not a conservative and I already hate Bush but I find myself utterly indifferent to this. Honestly, there are about 5000 other reasons to think he's scum than this. In the 70's he was young and stupid. If I found out he made the girl pay for her own abortion I'd be more upset. Yes, I know this is further evidence that he's a hypocrite but we knew that already, too. --------------------------------------------------------- I think that there's no way this will make religious conservatives vote for a democrat but it might make them stay home.
Is it just me, or does Bush seem like he is faking this whole super-Christian thing for political expediency? I mean, we see plenty of photo ops of him praying his brains out, but has anyone ever seen or heard of him doing anything that demonstrates Christian charity and love? Besides paying for this woman's abortion.
Wasn't it Larry Flynt that called for a National Day of Prayer for the Death of Bill O'Reilley? I don't know why I'm asking cause I know that it was. Clearly, a great great man.
Providing funding for AIDS in Africa is a very good thing. But wouldn't you characterize that as checkbook liberalism rather than Christian charity? It is really easy to spend someone else's money.
I generally try to avoid reading your posts, much less respond to them, but since you've responded to me, I'll do the same. No, but I'm sure you would, as it directly counters your point. Regardless, if Bush were doing more Christian things, you'd merely use that against him. Witness the faith-based charities brouhaha.
I'm not interested in him implementing faith based activities through the federal government. That is not the federal government's role. I am very interested if he has every done anything on a personal level that demonstrates Christian charity, sacrifice, love.... I have a gut feeling he is going through the motions of being a Christian.
This is a mischaracterization of the program. You'd prefer he demonstrated his Christian charity as some sort of photo op, thereby going against the teachings of Jesus? And don't you think he's just a bit busy being President to really do some solid work with Habitat for Humanity? Many religious conservatives have changed their view on the suffering in Africa as a direct result of their faith. Even the evil Jesse Helms. I'm guessing you're just hungry.
Re: Re: Larry might be a scumbag, but he never traded Sammy Sosa, now did he? Sammy Sosa=better living through chemistry. If Corky isn't juicing, I'll let him use my head as a batting tee.
He had plenty of time in the 80s and 90s to do things like Habitat for Humanity, soup kitchens, drug recovery half-way houses, youth sports teams, and so on. As governor, he had several dozen opportunities to show Christian charity and suspend the death penalty. Yet, he went ahead with the killings. Yeah, I am hungry, and Chelsea is playing Stuttgart!
I loathe Bush but this doesn't really do anything for me. As a younger guy (30) I can sympathize with the plight a few of my friends have been in regarding pregnancy. It is a tough, personal decision. Now of course Bush is a gross hyprocite advocating against Abortion except when it is convienent for him but it is not exactly news that Bush is a flaming hyprocrite (see his latest screed against "activist judges" - they sure didn't seem to bother him on Dec. 12, 2000).
Roel, you seem to be pretty sure of what a Christian is or isn't supposed to do. How do you come about that knowledge? Are you yourself a Christian?
No, and yes. A Christian accepts Christ as his savior, so I don't meet that criteria. No single orthodoxy seems to fit. His teachings were fabulous and fascinating, particularly considering the historical context. I've certainly tried to incorporate some of those teachings into my own life. And there are some powerful parables that can be applied to public policy.