How Larry Flynt Saved the Republic
Well, maybe he didn't, just like Sara Taylor didn't bring down the Republic but a little turnabout is fair play. And yes it is indeed hyperbole that Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine (not linking to that, you should all know what that is), is the savior of our Republic. Although, he did do something that did hold senators to a new standard. About a month ago, Mr. Flynt took out a full page ad in The Washington Post offering one million dollars to anyone who had evidence of extramarital affairs committed by high ranking government officials. Note, this is also the amount offered by Bruce Willis to anyone who turns a high ranking al-Qaeda member. Well, it appears Mr. Flynt is taking credit for the recent revelation by Senator David Vitter that he had an extramarital affair with a famed DC madam. Oh, fine, the madam's name is Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Oh, if only this were the first time sex and politics were intertwined.
Messalina not withstanding, the entire history of the Roman emperors had all kinds of great sex stories involved. Servilia Caepionis was the mistress of Gaius Julius Caesar and the mother of his assassin, Marcus Junius Brutus. There were graffiti all over Rome shaming Culpurnia (wife of Julius Caesar) by showing pictures of the conquering hero with Servilia. Of course, in the modern era, we have prided ourselves, at least in the last few years, on having elected officials who are above these kinds of things. IF someone has an affair, we publicly chastise them for it. (odd aside, why is chastise correct but criminalise is the British spelling?) Clinton practically got impeached for his extra-marital affair (yeah, yeah, lying to Congress, but let's face it, he got busted for an affair). The congress elected a new Speaker of the House after Gingrich resigned (for, among other things, an affair). The man they were going to elect, Bob Livingston, was taken out of consideration after it was discovered he had an extra-marital affair. The affair was discovered after Larry Flynt offered money in 1998 for extra marital affairs. Livingston stepped down from his seat and the man who was elected to the Speakership was Dennis Hastert and the man elected to his Congressional seat was. . .David Vitter. He served in the seat until 2004 when he was elected to the Senate. Hustler giveth and Hustler taketh away.
What Larry Flynt is doing is a blatant attempt to get readers and publicity for himself. He's a multimillionaire and can afford to pull such stunts. This is a way for Flynt to compete in the growing world of homemade porn on the internet, and it will probably work. Of course, that doesn't mean this won't work and isn't a good thing to maintain some kind of honesty in our elected officials. After all, if Republicans are gonna keep running on morals, religious values and hating gays, then they deserve this kind of scrutiny even more than any other politicians usually do. Sen. Vitter was one of the major sponsors of the anti-gay marriage amendment (excuse me, defense of marriage amendment that did nothing about rising divorce rates, marriages arranged by television shows or sham marriages with lots of affairs by both parties). If people are going to claim the highest standards, then they should have no problem defending themselves against men like Larry Flynt.
Larry Flynt is no one's idea of an ideal moralist. Even he doesn't claim that. He KNOWS he's a pornographer and not the next George Washington. But what he's doing should be easy to defend against. Your average senator should be able to say "I ran on being a moral person, please, examine everything you can. While it is possible for a cheap person to come forward, I can defend all this". To his credit, Sen. Vitter did come out and admit once his phone number was found on the phone records of the madam. Ahem, alleged madam. He said he asked his wife and God for forgiveness and they both gave it. He says he made a terrible mistake and he and his family have dealt with it and are dealing with it still. He's being all kinds of forthright and magnanimous about all of this in an effort to stem the damages that may have been done to Republican chances in 2008.
Yes, there are all kinds of ripple effects to all this. In addition to be a sitting US senator, he is Southern regional chairman of the Giuliani campaign. Smart readers will remember that Giuliani's South Carolina fundraising chair was busted for cocaine problems and had to step. Having another prominent campaign member step down might actually kill Giuliani's chances, which is impressive since he's the frontrunner for the Republican party. McCain's about to suck out of the race by Halloween (if not then, Christmas), Thompson will be a darling for a while, but people will look at his record in the Senate and lobbying and see he's not the far rightish guy he's portraying himself to be. And, well, no other Republican is capturing the imagination or the attention. One disgraced campaign head is a fluke. Two is a serious problem, especially for a guy who has problems with being divorced, having affairs and being a New Yorker in the South. Sure, he did his best by appearing all over Florida last week but this will not help with voters in the Panhandle, who tend to be more conservative. And who tend to not like these kinds of drug and sex shennanigans.
Unless of course the other guy is doing it.
So it is written, so do I see it.
Messalina not withstanding, the entire history of the Roman emperors had all kinds of great sex stories involved. Servilia Caepionis was the mistress of Gaius Julius Caesar and the mother of his assassin, Marcus Junius Brutus. There were graffiti all over Rome shaming Culpurnia (wife of Julius Caesar) by showing pictures of the conquering hero with Servilia. Of course, in the modern era, we have prided ourselves, at least in the last few years, on having elected officials who are above these kinds of things. IF someone has an affair, we publicly chastise them for it. (odd aside, why is chastise correct but criminalise is the British spelling?) Clinton practically got impeached for his extra-marital affair (yeah, yeah, lying to Congress, but let's face it, he got busted for an affair). The congress elected a new Speaker of the House after Gingrich resigned (for, among other things, an affair). The man they were going to elect, Bob Livingston, was taken out of consideration after it was discovered he had an extra-marital affair. The affair was discovered after Larry Flynt offered money in 1998 for extra marital affairs. Livingston stepped down from his seat and the man who was elected to the Speakership was Dennis Hastert and the man elected to his Congressional seat was. . .David Vitter. He served in the seat until 2004 when he was elected to the Senate. Hustler giveth and Hustler taketh away.
What Larry Flynt is doing is a blatant attempt to get readers and publicity for himself. He's a multimillionaire and can afford to pull such stunts. This is a way for Flynt to compete in the growing world of homemade porn on the internet, and it will probably work. Of course, that doesn't mean this won't work and isn't a good thing to maintain some kind of honesty in our elected officials. After all, if Republicans are gonna keep running on morals, religious values and hating gays, then they deserve this kind of scrutiny even more than any other politicians usually do. Sen. Vitter was one of the major sponsors of the anti-gay marriage amendment (excuse me, defense of marriage amendment that did nothing about rising divorce rates, marriages arranged by television shows or sham marriages with lots of affairs by both parties). If people are going to claim the highest standards, then they should have no problem defending themselves against men like Larry Flynt.
Larry Flynt is no one's idea of an ideal moralist. Even he doesn't claim that. He KNOWS he's a pornographer and not the next George Washington. But what he's doing should be easy to defend against. Your average senator should be able to say "I ran on being a moral person, please, examine everything you can. While it is possible for a cheap person to come forward, I can defend all this". To his credit, Sen. Vitter did come out and admit once his phone number was found on the phone records of the madam. Ahem, alleged madam. He said he asked his wife and God for forgiveness and they both gave it. He says he made a terrible mistake and he and his family have dealt with it and are dealing with it still. He's being all kinds of forthright and magnanimous about all of this in an effort to stem the damages that may have been done to Republican chances in 2008.
Yes, there are all kinds of ripple effects to all this. In addition to be a sitting US senator, he is Southern regional chairman of the Giuliani campaign. Smart readers will remember that Giuliani's South Carolina fundraising chair was busted for cocaine problems and had to step. Having another prominent campaign member step down might actually kill Giuliani's chances, which is impressive since he's the frontrunner for the Republican party. McCain's about to suck out of the race by Halloween (if not then, Christmas), Thompson will be a darling for a while, but people will look at his record in the Senate and lobbying and see he's not the far rightish guy he's portraying himself to be. And, well, no other Republican is capturing the imagination or the attention. One disgraced campaign head is a fluke. Two is a serious problem, especially for a guy who has problems with being divorced, having affairs and being a New Yorker in the South. Sure, he did his best by appearing all over Florida last week but this will not help with voters in the Panhandle, who tend to be more conservative. And who tend to not like these kinds of drug and sex shennanigans.
Unless of course the other guy is doing it.
So it is written, so do I see it.