Larry Flynt spoke to Alex Witt on Countdown Monday, and explained why he’s considering a run for California Governor. His motto? “A smut peddler who cares.” Scroll below to read what he said.
ALEX WITT, GUEST HOST: Larry, how serious of a run is this for you?
LARRY FLYNT, PUBLISHER, “HUSTLER”: Well, I’m very serious, because I’ve always been politically active. But what makes this a rather unique situation is, when the talk about the idea of them actually recalling the governor came about, and then when it became a reality, and it’s obvious that he’s not going to survive, even though some of the big-name Democrats are staying out of the race to try and give him a chance, the person who is going to win is the person with the biggest name recognition. And I don’t think there’s anybody out there with more name recognition than I have.
But not only that. I have a plan to fix the problem that Gray Davis is being recalled for. And that is the deficit.
WITT: What’s your plan? Give us the details.
FLYNT: As governor, I would expand the gaming regulations to authorize slot machines for all private casinos in California. That would provide a stream of revenue that would easily be enough to retire the deficit—or the budget.
And people will not have to worry about having their taxes raised, social programs that are presently being cut. That wouldn’t to have happen. Now, you may think a lot of people aren’t interested in Larry Flynt being governor. But there are a lot of people out there that are not interested in their taxes being raised and they don’t want to see important social programs cut.
WITT: Yes, but, Larry, don’t you think people are going to look at that idea and say: You know what, here we got porn and gambling going hand in hand?
FLYNT: Well, my slogan is going to be, “A smut peddler who cares.” And I do care. I care about the same social ills that bother all of us. People have to separate my profession from the issues involved.
WITT: Larry, does it seem to you that-anybody with $3,500 and 65 friends now to sign a petition can run for governor. You have to admit, there’s a certain level of absurdity to this election. So, as a voter, give us your advice. How do you separate the representative government from a free-for-all circus?
FLYNT: Oh, well, it’s obvious that most people are treating this like a joke and the rest of them don’t have anything better to do. But, when the smoke clears, there is going to only a handful of people that really matter in this race.
WITT: And you think you’re one of them.
FLYNT: I think so. We’re doing some polling. And we’ll see. If the voters are happy with my candidacy, I’ll go all the way.
WITT: All right. We at COUNTDOWN will be watching. Larry Flynt, thanks for coming on the program tonight.