Posted on 03/25/2016 6:49:29 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Oh dear, the National Enquirer has come out with a story claiming evidence of multiple sexual trysts by presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz.
Worse yet for the Cruz camp, the framework within the article is structurally very concerning:
The National Enquirer is indeed a tabloid and as such there are various grains of salt that should be applied when reviewing anything they present.
However, that said, they have been unfortunately accurate for more than a few presidential hopefuls: Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson and John Edwards to name a few of the more infamous examples.
Beyond the story itself there's a few presenting elements which point to a high degree of confidence, and as a consequence 'legal avoidance', on the publishers' part.
Firstly, they post pictures of the collective mistresses. NE would never legally "go there" if they did not hold a very reasonable certainty the outlined players were factually part of the story.
Secondly, there's at least one face in the group that is easily identifiable.
When you accept the NE editorial/legal requirement for research and attributed comment prior to publication, you recognize there is more than a strong probability each of the outlined group (pictured) was contacted prior to publication; and one of those is very close to the Donald Trump campaign. Ergo, it's entirely likely presidential candidate Donald Trump knew this story was coming out.
Which puts candidate Trump's prior discussion and opinion of media libel in a strangely much larger, and more substantially prescient, aspect. 3-D political strategy not withstanding.
The National Enquirer has essentially baited the hook in a typical manner and one famously utilized by Andrew Breitbart.
So now they wait and see if, and how, the Cruz campaign responds. It is entirely possible the story could explode exponentially depending on the severity of any denials or admissions therein.
UPDATE 1: Since the publication first hit the newsstands (depends on region) the Twitter-sphere has lit up with conversation about the scandal. It appears many political followers believe they have identified two three of the blurred out images within the National Enquirer story.
If these people on twitter are correct, this story is not soon to be easily dismissed by the Ted Cruz presidential campaign:
https://twitter.com/Fleet_Forest/status/713147569170292736?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://twitter.com/Wadded_Panties/status/713149536814833664?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Amanda Carpenter is the conservative activist, CNN contributor, and writer for Mark Levin and the Conservative Review who recently published a "BLACKLIST" targeting anyone who supports Ted Cruz's primary opponent, Donald Trump.
UPDATE#2 It appears three of the pictured mystery women from the National Enquirer article have now been identified.
3 of Cruz's alleged mistresses have been identified: Katrina Pierson, Sarah Isgur Flores, and Amanda Carpenter. https://t.co/GUF55Kli31 Joel Luther (@joel_luther) March 25, 2016
LINK https://twitter.com/joel_luther/status/713192498617827328/photo/1
Interestingly Sarah Isgur Flores, in addition to being a well known political operative, was also the campaign manager for Carly Fiorina. And that little factoid brings an earlier discovery into question; where the Super-PAC for Ted Cruz (Keep the Promise) actually sent the Super-PAC for Carly Fiorina (Carly for America "CfA") $500,000
That distribution from one candidate's Super-PAC to another, raised the eyebrows of the Federal Election Commission who inquired about the rather unusual transaction.
UPDATE #4 The Plot Thickens. Apparently, at least part of this story was very well known amid the political circles (pundits, columnists, reporters etc.) who swirl around the various presidential campaign camps.
It appears the sexual exploits of Ted Cruz was the story many were curious about back in late February and early March.
A Breitbart reporter held the information but never released it; according to most common speculation because the owners/operators/editors of the outlet determined it was not in alignment with their political affiliations:
For those of you less familiar with Twitter and "Hashtags" there was a considerable amount of apparent discussion under the hashtag "#TheThing", where "The Thing" was knowledge of the Ted Cruz affairs.
If you look up #TheThing and go back to March 10th March 14th, what you'll find are multiple conversations about finding someone, anyone, to report on the Ted Cruz affairs. The group pushing for the requested articles were seemingly all supporters of Marco Rubio.
The apparent thinking was if they could get the media to pick-up the story prior to Super Tuesday, it would finish off Ted Cruz and allow Marco Rubio to win in several key elections and states.
UNFORTUNATELY, the TRUTH-TELLERS ran into the corporate side of the media enterprises. Breitbart owned by pro-Cruz Super-PAC funder Robert Mercer was one of the roadblocks. The editor, Ben Shapiro, also now being named as one of the political advocates who would not allow his chosen candidate to be "OUTED". Shapiro is also the Editor of The Daily Wire, which is also owned by a Pro-Cruz Super-PAC team, The Wilks Brothers.
It appears Shapiro buried and blocked the story because he, along with others, didn't want to see Cruz negatively impacted. Unfortunately, this is brutal confirmation of the type of media bias we have discussed before.
Pro-Rubio and Pro-Cruz corporate media intercepts refusing to allow sunlight upon their preferred candidate(s). (Salem Communications: Hugh Hewitt et al, NRO, Human Events, Twitchy, etc) and Pro-Cruz sites like Conservative Review (Mark Levin, and unfortunately Amanda Carpenter), Right Scoop, Red State, Insurgent etc. with an obvious reason to bury or not allow the story to surface.
This obnoxious Cruz gaggle is making me even more excited for #TheThing
Maggie Cucci (@maggie_cucci) March 12, 2016
Once Senator Marco Rubio lost Florida, the incentive for public airing of the Ted Cruz marital affairs was immediately diminished.
Those within the #StopTrump campaign now preferring the sexual trysts did not surface because the damage only benefits Donald Trump, a candidate they despise and are working actively to defeat.
Many of the former political types who wanted to see the story surface have now joined Team Cruz and would prefer the story have stayed hidden.
Ambition for Two [ ] They'd met on the 2000 George W. Bush campaign, when they worked three cubicles apart, and in the years since, they'd gone from an apartment in Northern Virginia to a 19th-floor condo in Houston to a series of three-star hotels in early-primary states. Heidi had taken an unpaid leave from her lucrative job at Goldman Sachs to join Ted on the trail.
But in the earliest days of their marriage, they weren't always together. At a time when Ted Cruz felt unsatisfied with his track in Washington, he made a decision to take a high-profile job in Austin as Texas's solicitor general that provided a testing ground for his conservative arguments but also forced him to move 1,500 miles from Heidi, who continued working at the Treasury Department in Washington.
The job ultimately helped to launch Ted Cruz's political career. It also nearly backfired: He and Heidi weathered several years of strained, long-distance commuting. And when Heidi finally moved to Texas, the strain only grew. She fell into a depression, what Cruz calls the couple's "difficult chapter."
Cruz, now 45, looks back on that decision 13 years ago to leave Washington as an essential part of his rise as a top-tier Republican presidential candidate. The choice bore the Cruz hallmarks: ambition, a willingness to take major risks and confidence that he could pull it off. In an interview with The Washington Post, Cruz also said that the move also shows how he and Heidi work in tandem. They both held aspirations for their careers, and they were willing to live apart to chase their goals.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2016/01/29/deciderscruz/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_cruzdecider-150pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Earlier today Ted Cruz spoke mightily and angrily on the campaign trail: VIDEO: SNIVELING COWARD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cPgdMGf2Pk
GGG.... I think this scandal means Get Going Guy.
Mosey on down the trail. You just lost when Cruz was nuked from orbit. Did not even have to be Trump. Makes me laugh. Little Rubio did it. Fat man and little boy. Trumps nukes.
Just let the wind dessicate you and blow you out of here. Stay away from any punch bowls or shoes please.
Nope...not gonna happen. Trump may feel like hes destroying Cruz, but hes actually destroying any hope he ever had at becoming president.
Cry me a river. Trump & his supporters have been nuked nearly non stop since the Tapper David Duke interview. Your boy Cruz has gleefully piled on to the media and GOPe hit job. He has absolutely no moral high ground to stand on.
There is no winner here MORON....we all lose! You MORONS just elected Hillary!
Oh, death by a thousand cuts awaits. How long can Ted pretend he’s not a Lying cheat?
I totally agree with all you have posted.
In all of this, nobody even cares if their candidate can win.
Just so whoever it is isn’t picked by the people.
We no longer have a voice or a choice.
Really, the problems facing us are no longer going to be fixed at the ballot box. That has been taken away from us.
Our sovereignty will be over soon and our vote will be lost in the muck of foreign influence.
Just take a look at the people running this country and the media. All of them are horrible scum. How can you have a good country run by liars, cheats and dirtbags?
“At one time I thought I could possibly seeing myself voting for sTrumpy,. but after this latest stunt, if he is the nominee I won’t pull the lever for him no matter what”.
Agree...you...me and millions more.
Maybe Cruz attacking Trump every day was his way of warning Katrina to keep her mouth shut.
Yeah okay... If you say so
So, by your logic Ted is absolved of any possible wrongdoing in the Melina Ad, but Trump is to blame for Ted not being able to keep his pants zipped up (although it was Rubio op research)? Maybe Ted should have controlled his hormones better.
I am wondering if Heidi, is like Hillary, who perhaps knew, but said nothing because it was for the goal, to be President.
I wonder if her melt-down on side of the road was perhaps she found out about “affairs”.
I just don’t what to think at this point except that I am so embarrassed by the Republican. It’s been nothing but non-stop insults, jabs, slams, circus all the while I watch Hillary and Sanders talking about the issues at their debates.
If it is true, Cruz runs, knowing his affairs could be found out and cost him the campaign? Why? String folks along the campaign trail, put folks through all of this knowing the opponents could break the “affairs.
I am just sick of it all.
I’m starting to think Theo is actually Beck.
I’m starting to think Theo is actually Beck.
The rag. I believe Katrina could swear she invented the telephone and pass a lie detector test. It's part of why she works for Donald. She's smart, tough and convincing.
You are spot on. The elites, and I include the government operatives as well as the media, are like some giant incestuous family. All sorts of political favors are owed from this one to that one, and as a result the truth is often lost in reporting.
I think it has gotten worse over the years. Way back when, the media was on the “outside” of government with the great unwashed, and as a result, they had the concerns of the everyday citizen. I think of the old time investigative reporters like Mike Royko. Now, with a few exceptions, the media and government are far too cozy with each other.
“Ted Cruz is smart enough not to run for the presidency if he had skeletons in his closet. Trump has a whole bone yard in his closet, but it is expected of him, and excused.”
A friend and I were discussing that very point this afternoon...the problem is the super inflated ego it takes to run for President. Not just Cruz, but anyone. They don’t think like “normal” people. They generally are seasoned campaigners, tough, and believe they can control most of what is around them as they often do. That is their weakness when it comes to women, drugs, money.
Uhuh. We have had it with the jackasses in the party. You apparently qualify. Don’t worry. We will not be needing you anymore. We will have a very very very large crossover vote. You people are done. We would be happy to welcome you but on our terms. NOT ON YOURS!!
A very good rant.
So if not Trump to blow the lid on Cruz, do you really think Hillary’s people wouldn’t have found the dirt on Cruz?
After all I have pondered, I will proudly vote for Trump. Despite all, these revelations... TRUMP did NOT attack Cruz... they just tried to make him the scapegoat for Cruz & moguls foolishness!
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