Posted on 03/20/2024 10:38:08 AM PDT by RandFan
EXACTLY ONE WEEK before the primary election, the Associated Press dropped a bomb on the Senate campaign of Ohio Republican Bernie Moreno.
The AP told Moreno’s campaign that it confirmed a profile on the “sex-and-swingers” Adult FriendFinder website had been established in 2008 by someone using Moreno’s email account from his car dealership. The Moreno profile was set up to search for “Men for 1-on-1 sex,” the AP reported.
The subject matter and timing of the story were terrible for Moreno, a 57-year-old married man and father. He was about to appear on stage with Donald Trump to get a needed boost in a tight and vicious three-candidate GOP primary against Matt Dolan, a state senator, and Frank LaRose, the Ohio secretary of state. The campaign has already seen $50 million in TV ad spending. For about a month, Moreno’s campaign had kept the Adult FriendFinder story out of the press and largely off social media by: (1) denying any knowledge of the Adult FriendFinder profile; (2) accusing opponents of pushing a smear; and (3) arguing that the profile in question had never been activated with Moreno’s email from one of his Ohio car dealerships.
But the AP checked the Adult FriendFinder metadata—which became public after an infamous 2016 data breach—and used the expertise of a cybersecurity researcher to determine that someone had activated and authenticated the Adult FriendFinder profile by using Moreno’s email.
The AP ultimately couldn’t say whether Moreno himself established, or knew about, the Adult FriendFinder account, which he continues to deny. The AP told Moreno’s campaign it was publishing its story soon.
(Excerpt) Read more at plus.thebulwark.com ...
Completely missed this story.
However, it didn't work. He overcame these dirty tricks and the smears and won well.
That could be a sign of Moreno's strength as a candidate.
Maybe Sen. Sherrod Brown should be a bit more worried after all ...
The spin in this story is slanted to make you think Moreno is guilty. I don’t know this for sure, but I don’t think Moreno is stupid enough to create such an account that could be easily traced back to his company. For that reason alone I doubt the truth of the allegation. The other reason I don’t think it’s true is because the Democrats support it. I’ve learned over the years that if a Democrat’s lips are moving, the audio is a lie.
Thanks!
Actually, I’m glad I didn’t see it because it means the baseless, idiotic smear gained little traction
The AP involved I’m not surprised.
So why would the Bulwark want to defend Moreno?
Doesn’t bother me a bit. Am I supposed to be upset? The communist have just been a couple of decades telling me that faggotry is just fine. And now they want me to be upset when it suits their purpose? No dice. I think Marino is gonna be a pretty good guy, and President Trump likes him.
Filthy rotten Democrats and GOPE
I thought anonymous gay sex was a badge of honor for leftists?
Did he dress in drag and molest children? Even better!
That should be worth at least 20% of the democrat cross-over vote.
Probably an excuse to write about it and perpetuate it a little bit.
But the story didn’t go anywhere really from what I can tell.
Hell, even if it was true, sounds like he’s gone straight in life, and found the pleasures of a female body and had some kids. I’m glad for him. Sounds like Jesus got into his life!
I love a good redemption story!
(And redemption stories are even more fun when it annoys the living hell out of the GOP and the uniparty in DC.. i’m pretty sure that’s some kind of sin on my part to take pleasure in their anger, but I guess that’s just one more thing my redeemer took care of for me)
One persons smear campaign is some asclown’s truth. I.e. bloodbath!
Sounds kinda judgmental
“But the AP checked the Adult FriendFinder metadata—which became public after an infamous 2016 data breach—and used the expertise of a cybersecurity researcher”
Amazing what lengths the AP went to in their investigative journalism here. When they were reporting on things like the Russian collusion hoax, they weren’t interested in going this far, with these kind of tools, in order to discover the true story.
American Pravda.
They probably think this is the hook to take down Moreno in the general in November.
The Dims think they have a better chance against Moreno in the general election than any other GOP candidate, and so much so that a PAC formed by Schumer spent $2.5 million to help Moreno get the GOP nomination.
The Bull...what?
I live in Ohio. I was appalled by this smear job, which I have associated with the Matt Dolan campaign (Dolan’s family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team). Dolan is a uniparty dullard who sits in the Ohio Senate but is termed out (I think) in 2026.
Dolan is Jeb! lite. He finished second yesterday, losing by 17 points. At least he can have the satisfaction that he is lower than a snake’s belly in a tractor tire rut. Good riddance!
I think the last polls had Dolan up by a few points. That means there was about a 20 point difference between the polls and the election results. Interesting.
Maybe Moreno could have a multi-million dollar “defamation” Lawsuit (like was done to Trump vs. Carrol) and bankrupt the Fake News?
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