It isn’t often that anyone sings the praises of the modern pornographer, that purveyor of filth and despoiler of many a young romantics vision of physical love.

Hugh Hefner aside, most skin mag publishers are pretty creepy people with little if nothing to add to the political landscape.

In the last few weeks, Larry Flynt has taken it as his personal mission to punish Republicans he feels have been acting in a hypocritical fashion by attacking President Clinton for his womanizing while pretending to be above sin and suspicion themselves.

Many have been arguing lately that Flynt is simply an opportunist who is stirring up the beehive known as the “politics of destruction.”

Whatever his reasons, Flynt is simply playing by the rule of “turnabout is fair play.”

For months, political pundits warned that Republicans should be as concerned as anyone about opening the Pandora’s Box of political sex scandals.

That is not true.

They should be more concerned, and here is why.

For the most part, Democrats have never denied the very human possibility that people like to explore sex outside of marriage sometimes.

Republicans, on the other hand, got into the habit of claiming their party was all about family values.

They tried to align themselves with all that was good ,decent and Godly in the world; to wrap themselves in the flag and win elections with the Lord on their side.

In so doing, they made themselves targets.

Some would argue that Larry Flynt should be “fair” in his exposure of the foibles of all politicians.

But why?

Larry Flynt is a private citizen and a liberal with huge sums of cash at his disposal.

He is also a man who has been set upon by the religious right for most of his career, and he has always made it his personal mission to attack those who attack personal freedoms, no matter how disgusting those personal freedoms to the country at large.

He isn’t a saint, but that is the point — no one is.

But once you’ve made your point, Larry, do us all a favor, and stop beating this horse.