Porn Industry Fears Bush Victory on Tuesday
by James L. Lambert
October 29, 2004
(AgapePress) - While it may not a clear endorsement of John Kerry, elements of the porn industry are voicing their concern over the possibility of another four years with George Bush in the Oval Office.
It has been become painfully clear to adult industry publisher Dave Manack that if George W. Bush is re-elected next Tuesday, it would not be good for the pornography industry across America. "It's not to say our industry loves John Kerry or anything like that," the publisher of E.D. Publications told the Chicago Sun-Times, "but George Bush, if he's re-elected, it would be very damaging to our industry."
Adult Video News, the adult industry's trade magazine -- which has labeled Attorney General John Ashcroft as "the American Taliban" -- also has come out forcefully against President Bush. In an op-ed piece earlier this year, AVN told its readers "that President Bush is a fundamentalist Christian, arguably as radical in his beliefs as al Qaida is in theirs, and as such has a seriously unhealthy view of human sexuality."
In the op-ed, AVN criticized Bush for his statement calling for a fight to protect "our children and families for a safe and decent society." The AVN article further encouraged porn industry producers, distributors, talent, retailers, trade groups, attorneys, media and consumers, telling them they should "actively ... open their checkbooks to elect a Democrat to the White House."
In pockets around the country, strip club owners are venturing into the political debate as well. Strip club owner Jim Halbach, discussing a possible Bush election victory, says, "I'm actually fighting for my survival -- that's the way I am looking at it" (USA Today). And CBS News reports that Michael Ocello, president of the Association of Club Executives -- which includes adult businesses -- said his group believes the president's brand of conservatism is bad for the strip club business.
The criticism of President Bush and the fear of his re-election is also joined by the Free Speech Coalition, which defends all types of extreme porn -- even those types that could be prosecuted under existing federal obscenity statutes.
This reaction and accompanied fear tactics by publications and groups that support the porn industry appear to be calculated. Yet the rhetoric does not match the efforts by Ashcroft's Department of Justice to limit the industry, especially when compared to the DOJ's successes over the last 12 years.
Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, says the porn industry's apparent paranoia of a second Bush term beginning in 2005 is a good thing.
"Evidently the porn industry is afraid that the president is going to enforce child pornography laws, uphold obscenity standards, and make sure [like other businesses] that they pay their taxes," Wildmon says. "We think this is good for America. They think it is bad to enforce laws that are already on the books."
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