DAVE "Doctor" GONZO
October 22, 2000
Hats off to two astute American Politics Journal readers.
Within minutes of each other, they emailed our editors this evening with the news that they had discovered that CNN's "official" transcript of the Friday, Oct. 20th broadcast of Crossfire at
CNN transcripts had been -- well, for lack of more polite term, redacted.
Missing from the transcript was the following exchange between resident Crossfire conservative Bob Novak and one of their guests, publisher Larry Flynt.
Note the irony of Bob Novak's comment concerning CNN never censoring its guests ... also, please note that the source for the transcript which follows 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.
STILL ON THE CNN SITE
[ IN THEIR SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TRANSCRIPTION ]
Ms. [Donna Rice] Hughes : ... But the commission did hear testimony from schools and libraries who had effectively used technologies with their acceptable use policies, and that it did work well, Bill, so you'll have different viewpoints on that.
Mr. Novak : Mr. Flynt, NEVER let it be said that we CENSOR any of our guests here on CROSSFIRE -- and you said you wanted to talk about the election. Tell me what you wanted to say.
Mr. Flynt : 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 [sic] aware of this story, won't ask him that question, when they were able to ask him the drug question without any proof at all -- and we've got all kinds of proof on this issue.
Mr. Novak : Well, you're ...
Mr. Flynt : You know, the guy ADMITTED he was a drunk for twenty years, and if the abortion issue is true, then that puts him lower on the morality scale than Bill Clinton!
Mr. Novak : Mr. Flynt, you said IF it's true and you have no proof of that. I gather you are a very strong ...
Mr. Flynt [ smiling, mind you] : THE HELL WE DON'T HAVE PROOF!
Mr. Novak : Sir, I gather you're a very strong Gore supporter. Is that correct?
Mr. Flynt : I'll vote for the lesser of the two evils -- I don't like either one of them!
Mr. Press : All right! Larry Flynt -- a man who speaks his word. But we remind you, they are Larry Flynt's words and not ours. Larry Flynt, thank you very, very much for joining us ...
Gosh -- we really, really hate to break the news to Mr. Novak, but a comparison of CNN's "official" circumcised transcript to the labors of our own Ms. Callahan are at somewhat strong odds with his assertion that "NEVER let it be said that we CENSOR any of our guests here on CROSSFIRE."
Because CNN did.
But we're more than glad to make sure that the full record of Flynt's hard-hitting allegation remains available to the public despite CNN's attempt to muzzle Mr. Flynt.
'Nuff said.
Novak : Mr. Flynt, never let it be said that we censor any of our guests here on CROSSFIRE, and you said you wanted to talk about the election. Tell me what you wanted to say.
Flynt : 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 when they were able to ask him the drug question without any proof at all, and we've got all kinds of proof on this issue.
Novak : Well, you're ...
Flynt : You know, the guy admitted he was a drunk for 20 years, and if the abortion issue is true then that puts him lower on the morality scale than Bill Clinton.
Novak : Mr. Flynt, you said if it's true and you have no proof of that. I gather you are a very strong ...
Flynt : The hell we don't have proof.
Novak : Sir, I gather you're a very strong Gore supporter. Is that correct?
Flynt : I'll vote for the lesser of the two evils. I don't like either one of them.
Press : All Right, Larry Flynt, a man who speaks his word, but we remind you they are Larry Flynt's words and not ours. Larry Flynt, thank you very, very much for joining us.
This was followed by an online chat, in which Flynt went into greater detail :
CNN : Mr. Flynt, I would like to know how you plan to protect yourself from a law suit by claiming to have the goods on GWBush.
Flynt : Because we have them and the truth is an absolute defense.
CNN : When and where are you going to publish information about George W. Bush?
Flynt : When I said that we had the proof, I am referring to knowing who the girl was, knowing who the doctor was that pereformed 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 should she say it never happened, then we've got a potential libel suit. But we know we have enough evidence that we believe completely. One of the things that interested us was that this abortion took place before Roe Vs. Wade in 1970, which made it a crime at the time. I'd just like the national media to ask him if abortion is okay for him and his family, but not for the rest of America. We're not looking at it as a big issue, we're looking at it as a situation of people not being told the truth. I think the American people have a right to know everything there is to know about someone running for President.
Note : Apparently, the source of this story was due to go public this week via publisher Larry Flynt, but found out that Flynt was planning to make a tabloid sale, and changed her mind. Like George W. Bush's intervention in commuting the sentence of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, this is a story that is circulating in the press packs, but that few people want to touch at the eleventh hour of the 2000 U.S. presidential election.
In the winter of 1971 George W. Bush was dating a woman named Robin Lowman (now Robin Garner). Miss Lowman became pregnant by Smirk and he arranged for her to have an abortion - which in the great state of Texas in 1971 was very illegal! Not to mention that George W. is running as a pro-life candidate for the presidency.
The unnamed source of this story, was a friend of Robin Lowman's and the girlfriend of the man who arranged the abortion. His name is Robert Carl Chandler. Chandler is a Bush friend and supporter from way back and he made the arrangements for Miss Lowman's abortion at the Twelve Oaks Hospital in Houston, TX (now the Bayou City Medical Center). The source overheard the call by Mr. Chandler to arrange the abortion and the source visited Robin Lowman at the Twelve Oaks Hospital after the procedure.
The source meanwhile, is afraid of coming forward, saying that she was threatened by Chandler and another Bush friend and supporter named Jim Bath. Bath has longstanding intelligence connections, and played a role in the BCCI scandal. Robin Lowman (now Garner) is married to Jerry Lee Garner who is an FBI agent.
So, that's the story : an illegal back room abortion arranged by the Republican party Presidential candidate who is running on a pro-life ticket.