Posted on 03/31/2016 2:34:53 PM PDT by drewh
When is an affair just an affair? And when is someones private sex public business? Those are the questions of the moment following two sets of high-profile allegations involving Republican politicians engaging in extramarital relations. Last week, the National Enquirer alleged that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz had been caught cheating with five mistresses, choosing not to identify the women by name. Earlier in the week, a story broke that Robert Bentley, Alabamas virulently anti-gay governor, was having an affair with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, his married chief of staff. As Neal Broverman reports for the Advocate, rumors of their affair had been circulating in Washington for years. Both deny the allegations.
Many believe that what takes happens in the bedrooms between consensual adults should stay there, even when its politicians whose policies we disagree with. My colleague, Mary Elizabeth Williams, argued that this is hardly the worst misdeed Cruz has ever committed; however, in our extremely sex negative culture, it may be the one that ends his White House run. [O]f all the reasons that Cruz shouldnt be president, is an accusation that he slept with other women really the one he ought to go down for? Williams asks. She astutely notes thatgiven the possibility that the report was leaked by a Trump stafferthe story is intriguingly timed, to say the least.
Should it prove legitimate, inquiry about Ted Cruzs sex life is more than just gossipas Politicos Jack Shafer likewise suggested. Cruzs alleged affairs are worthy of inquiry for the same reason that its news when closeted Republicans like Larry Craig foot-tap for sex in an airport bathroom or Randy Boehning is caught on a gay hookup app: Their lies hurt people. Their duplicity, often cloaked political rhetoric, profoundly affects the populations against whose interests they consistently voted, even while engaging in the exact behavior they deemed despicable.
Exposing the hypocrisy of legislators not only makes our political system more honestit can actually change behavior. After Boehning was outed by Dustin Smith last year, following a chat between the two men online, the North Dakota politician actually told reporters that the leak was a relief: The 1,000-pound gorilla has been lifted. To hold politicians accountable for their infidelities is to hold them to the same standard that they do millions of Americans across the country.
There are a number of reasons Ted Cruzs sex life matters. Aside from his platform, reports indicate that a Super PAC associated with the candidates campaign donated $500,000 to former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina last July. Why would a pro-Cruz PAC give money to the competition? Media sources have suggested that the reason for the contribution may have been that Cruz was allegedly having an affair with a staffer on Fiorinas failed presidential campaign. If Cruz coordinated with his PAC to bribe Fiorinas camp with what amounts to hush money, thats not only sleazy. That could amount to a federal crime. A GOP operative was sentenced to two years in prison last year for breaking campaign finance laws, which stipulate that candidates and their political action committees cannot communicate.
Word.
Yes, because Salon has the best interests of GOP voters in mind
I can’t remember this much concern over the sex lives, and extra marital affairs of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, TED Kennedy. Chris Dodd, Barney Frank,.......
Would this not also apply to the ‘charade’ that is the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton?
Its just a matter of time, with all of the tabloid for pay news sources out there, the Cruz mistresses are coming like Tiger Woods...and getting paid!
I agree, but after months of Cruzlims and Trumpbots submitting lib sources when it suits their candidate, I’ve given up complaining about it. All I can do is not do it myself, and in that I have been successful!
This is something we need Huckabee to handle. He’s never like Ted anyway, and would certainly ‘frown upon’ on reports from last week.
you quote from Salon for BARF ALERTS or SATIRE.
Not to back an argument.
“When is an affair just an affair? And when is someones private sex public business?”
Basically, Salon’s answer is “When they’re a Democrat, it’s just an affair, when they’re a Republican, it’s public business”.
I didn’t even read the article, but I would bet money that is what their conclusion boils down to.
I am sitting with frustration wondering when the next foot will drop on the Cuban Mistresses scandal. I thought that this week it would be a tsunami rolling through the Cruz campaign, permanently swamping it in hypocrisy.
Has anyone seen anything new on this case?
The old double standard is still at play here.
When it’s a liberal politician who is caught with his pants down, then oh well. It’s nobody’s business.
But when it’s a conservative? What a loser hypocrite, right?
But the truth is - democrats are expected to be liars and cheaters. Conservatives are expected to adhere to the higher standard.
Perhaps it really is a giant nothing burger.
“When is an affair just an affair?”
When it’s a Democrat. STFU Saul Alinsky
As soon as Ted derails Trump on the 1,237 delegates, Cruz is going to be destroyed. It will leave Cruz “toxic” at the convention.
I really don’t know how much the sex thing is going to matter but, as a Trump supporter, I don’t put much stock in what Salon has to say.
This again. It amazes me that people believe the stories in the National Enquirer.
The National Enquirer told us that Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patients Brain! (October 7, 2015). They also informed us that Homewrecker Carly Fiorina Lied About Druggie Daughter (Sept. 23, 2015).
And there’s this: Trump and Enquirer CEO David Pecker have been friends for years. Theyre very close, said a source close to the Enquirer. I’m not saying that Trump got these stories written, but I’m sure that the CEO is doing his part to help his friend Donald Trump.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/trumps-alliance-with-the-national-enquirer.html
Weren't they the people who said at the beginning of October that Hillary Clinton had only six months to live?
Well, now it's the end of march. Time! *click*
Liberals know who the liberal in the race is and will print any thing to destroy his opponent.
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