Larry Flynt - Politics

Politics

Flynt is a Democrat, though he once attempted a presidential run as a Republican. He is a staunch critic of the Warren Commission and offered $1 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assassin of John F. Kennedy. He once tried to link the attempt on his own life to the Kennedy assassination. In 2003, Flynt was a candidate in the recall election of California governor Gray Davis, calling himself a "smut peddler who cares". He finished 7th in a field of 135 candidates.

Flynt has repeatedly weighed in on public debates by trying to expose conservative or Republican politicians with sexual scandals. He did so during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton in 1998, offering $1 million for evidence and publishing the results in The Flynt Report. These publications led to the resignation of incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston. In 2007, Flynt repeated his $1 million offer and also wrote the foreword to Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer's The Brotherhood of Disappearing Pants: A Field Guide to Conservative Sex Scandals, which contained some cases published by Flynt.

In 2003, he also purchased nude photographs of Private Jessica Lynch, who was captured by Iraqi forces, rescued from an Iraqi hospital by US troops and celebrated as a hero by the media. Flynt stated he would never show any of the photographs, calling Lynch a "good kid" who became "a pawn for the government". Flynt has supported activist groups opposed to the war in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, and is also a strong supporter of gay rights and gay marriage.

On September 7, 2012, Larry Flynt offered a $1 million reward for information on Mitt Romney's unreleased tax returns. On September 10th, 2012, two full page ads appeared in USA Today and The Washington Post to promote the offer.