Seattle- Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt told a crowd in Seattle Monday night that he wrote his latest book, “Sex, Lies & Politics: The Naked Truth,” to eliminate some of the apathy of the American public.
“If you read my book and you like it, chances are you’re going to hate [President] Bush,” he said. “But if you read my book and you hate it, chances are you’re going to hate me.”
Flynt spoke to about 140 people in Town Hall Seattle as part of a two-month-long tour promoting his new book, which arrived in stores Sunday.
Based on the number of Hustler T-shirts, most in the audience at Town Hall were Flynt fans. He answered questions about his feelings toward John Kerry (“The mode I’m in now is anybody but Bush”); his opinion of Milos Forman’s movie about Flynt, “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” (“Woody Harrelson plays me better than I play myself”); and his preferred reading material (biographies).
Flynt spoke for 20 minutes, then took questions from the audience and signed copies of his book sold by the event’s sponsor, Elliott Bay Book Co.
“I wanted the lay person to be able to understand what’s going on,” he said, referring to the political events he covers in his book. He also wanted voters to “start thinking about the political process again and to realize that their vote can make a difference.”
“Sex, Lies & Politics” is Flynt’s second book; the first was his autobiography, “An Unseemly Man: My Life as a Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast,” published in 1996. Flynt has been paralyzed since 1978, when he was shot outside a Georgia courthouse where he was being tried on obscenity charges.
The new book covers the years since 1998. Flynt said he was tired of seeing only “Clinton-bashing” on TV every night; he believes that President Clinton made significant achievements.
Through a million-dollar advertisement in The Washington Post, Flynt began collecting information from anyone who could provide substantiated evidence on government officials who had “committed (sexual) indiscretions.” His objective, he said, was to “expose (the Republicans’) hypocrisy” for attacking Clinton’s sex life while hiding their own flaws.
“Whenever a public figure says one thing and does another,” Flynt says in his book, “it is a public service to bring that hypocrisy to light.”
He says he believes the right to privacy is earned through respecting others’ rights. Clinton’s opponents, Flynt writes, were not playing by the rules. Flynt’s criticism shifts to the current President Bush, whom Flynt called “the occupant of the White House” in his speech last night.
Flynt says in his book that to support his claim that “George W. Bush’s whole life has been a series of hypocrisies, lies and delusions,” he was compelled to provide readers with evidence.
As the publisher of 33 magazines and the owner of a casino and a chain of erotic boutiques, Flynt says he had the resources and the staff to find the evidence.
The publication of “Sex, Lies & Politics” comes shortly after the release of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the controversial film that does its own analysis of the Bush administration, specifically its response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the build-up to the war in Iraq.
In an interview before yesterday’s book-signing, Flynt said he doesn’t believe his latest book and Moore’s movie will play a significant role in the upcoming election. Most voters depend on less extreme media sources for their information.
“There’s only a handful of us out there still lobbing grenades at Bush’s camp,” Flynt said, laughing.
Flynt has book signings scheduled in San Francisco today and Thursday.