Porn Valley- About four years ago Larry Flynt was peddling a George Bush abortion story on radio shows like Howard Stern, and Flynt’s still sticking with it. According to the N.Y. Daily News, Flynt says he plans to market the Bush abortion story as genuine – in a book to be published this summer by Kensington Press.

“This story has got to come out,” the wheelchair-bound Hustler magazine honcho told the Daily News’ Corky Siemaszko. “There’s a lot of hypocrisy in the White House about this whole abortion issue.”

Flynt claimed that Bush arranged for the procedure in the early ’70s.

“I’ve talked to the woman’s friends,” Flynt said. “I’ve tracked down the doctor who did the abortion, I tracked down the Bush people who arranged for the abortion,” Flynt said. “I got the story nailed.”

Flynt wouldn’t disclose whether he plans to name the woman.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie was unavailable for comment on Flynt’s charges.

But RNC spokesman Yier Shi said: “The Democrats will do anything in this election, judging by their campaign tactics, to smear without any evidence or background. This is just another one of those cases.”

Background, October, 2000 including some Flynt conspiracy theories: Allegations that Texas Gov. George W. Bush was “involved” with an abortion in the 1970s have percolated throughout internet news groups and web sites in recent days, but have yet to hit mainstream media. Curiously, the claims which surfaced last week, come amidst charges that Bush and congressional Republicans are doing all they can to downplay the contentious issue of abortion rights, a policy stance which could sway undecided voted in time for the Novermber election. There are also allegations that key web pages related to the possible Bush bombshell, including an interview on CNN, have disappeared.

At the center of the controversy is Larry Flynt. Flynt is no stranger to political controversy; he was the subject of a popular movie starring Woody Harrelson, and last year, he had Washington pols and insiders sweating when he published a dirty laundry list of beltway scandals, peccadilloes and improprieties involving some of the most powerful politicians on capitol hill. Many were GOP stalwarts of the Christian Coalition.

Rep. Bob Barr, for instance, showed up in Flynt’s Report as asking his wife-secretary to arrange lunch dates with his mistress, Heri Dobbins, who became the next Mrs. Barr. Barr drives his wife to an abortion clinic, picks up the tab, all while maintaining the facade as a pro-life poseur in the Congressional well. The divorce transcripts could have taught Jimmy Hoffa lessons on avoiding questions; Barr and Dobbins responded to queries over their affair during a bloody divorce proceeding “by repeating ‘I decline to answer.'”

Now, Flynt says he has the goods on George W. Bush. Dubya was working on his dad’s campaign when the deed supposedly took place in Houston in 1970. It would be an embarrassing — and perhaps politically explosive — revelation were it true, and the current Bush campaign is likely to have an interest in making sure that the allegations do not reach mainstream media.

On Thursday, October 19 (2000), Washington, D.C. television station WJLA carries an “I-Team” investigative story produced by Suleiman Wali and reporter Del Walters. It noted that the station’s news bureau “has learned that — like him or not — pornographic publisher Larry Flynt is preparing to once again enter Washington’s political fray. You may recall two years ago Flynt placed an ad in the Washington Post promising to pay one million dollars for dirt on members of congress … This time, Flynt says he’s set his sights on the two major presidential candidates…”

Halfway into the interview, Flynt discussed the Bob Barr revelations, then is asked by Walters: “Are you currently seeking information or do you have information on him (G.W. Bush)?”

Flynt responds: “Yes we do … It depresses me to see this nation get so excited about somebody like him. We know a lot about Bush, some may be coming out before the election, but I don’t know.”

On Friday, October 20 (2000), Flynt appears as a guest on CNN’s popular “Crossfire” program. Flynt turns the discussion to the year 2000 campaign and George W. Bush.

At this point, the story seems to go down a Winston Smith memory hole. Flynt remarks:

“Well, during the impeachment debacle, we did an investigation which resulted in the resignation of Bob Livingston and others and we have continued this investigation and for eight months we’ve been looking into George W. Bush’s background. And we’ve found out in the early 1970s he was involved in an abortion in Texas, and I just think that it’s sad that the mainstream media, who’s aware of this story, won’t ask him that question … We’ve got all kinds of proof on this issue… If the abortion issue is true then that puts him lower on the morality scale than Bill Clinton.”

Crossfire host Bob Novak replied: “Mr. Flynt, you said if it’s true and you have no proof of that. I gather you are very strong…”

Flynt: “The hell we don’t have proof!”

Novak then cuts to a commercial, and following that wraps the show up without ever returning to the Flynt accusations.

Another tantalizing piece of evidence came after Crossfire, though, during an on-line chat session. When asked where and when he would publish the Bush abortion story, Flynt replied:

“When I said that we had proof, I am referring to knowing who the girl was, knowing who the doctor was that performed the abortion, evidence from girlfriends of hers at the time, who knew about the romance and the subsequent abortion. The young lady does not want to go public, and without her willingness, we don’t feel that we’re on solid enough legal ground to go with the story, because she would say it never happened… One of the things that interested us was that this abortion took place before Roe v. Wade in 1970, which made it a crime at the time. I’d just like the national media to ask him (Bush) if abortion is okay for him and his family, but not for the rest of America…”

On or about Tuesday, October 24, Flynt appears on the Bernie Ward program on radio KGO-AM in San Francisco. He repeats the abortion story involving George W. Bush, and claims that he has affidavits from four witnesses — allegedly contradicting an earlier report from the BBC that Flynt was basing the story on one person.

At this time, the story is also percolating on the internet, thanks in part to a an expose on bushwatch.com. The site says that an unidentified “Bush watcher” says that BBC will run with the new version of the story, as will the London Times.

Internet journalist Matt Drudge jumps into the Bush-abortion imbroglio with his spin on the Flynt allegations. Drudge, of course, has had his credibility problems, but yesterday morning (Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 11:12 ET) led at the top of his website — www.drudgereport.com — with a story marked “Exclusive.” It declared:

“Friends and family of a woman at the center of Larry Flynt’s investigation into Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush blasted the porn king for spreading abortion allegations and challenged Flynt to ‘put up or shut up,’ the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.”

For a story which had been characterized by unidentified accusers, the Drudge counter was vexing. An anonymous “close friend of the Texas woman” told Drudge, “Mr. Flynt better start naming names!”

The woman reportedly claimed that she had never slept with George W. Bush, and her husband — “a government employee in law enforcement” — was purportedly mulling legal action.

“Investigators working for Flynt launched their investigation after the woman’s college roommate came forward and offered to sell information that dated back thirty years,” said Drudge.

The Flynt-Bush story also contains several bizarre facts.

One involves the mysterious case of the missing transcripts. It seems that the episode of “Crossfire” with Larry Flynt’s allegations has been sucked down the electronic memory hole. As of Sunday evening, October 22, 2000 select portions of Flynt’s remarks on the official, CNN-Crossfire website had been mysteriously edited out of existence. The transcript at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0010/20/cf.html was flushed.

The American Politics Journal was apparently first to notice the missing Flynt transcript, and posted a notice to that effect on its own web site at http://www.american-politics.com. APJ did obtain a full copy of the original discussion of “Crossfire,” though. “Note the irony of Bob Novak’s comment concerning CNN never censoring its guest … also, please note that the source for the transcript which followers is not CNN, but our own indefatigable staffer Liz Callahan, who transcribed the exchange from a videotape of the original live CNN broadcast as seen in near-real time on Time Warner Cable in Manhattan…”

Equally disturbing is the CNN website, usually a reputable source for political news. Programs carried on the network are available through the “Transcripts” directory. A visit to http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/cf.html, though, shows a gap between October 19, 2000 (“Is the Economy the Biggest Issue in Election 2000?”) and October 23, 2000 (“Why isn’t President Clinton Campaigning With Al Gore?”)

The Flynt-“Crossfire” appearance is also absent from a list of transcripted programs dated October 20, 2000 itemized at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2000.10.20.html.