Posted on 03/27/2016 1:51:48 PM PDT by drewh
Phil Houston is CEO of QVerity, a training and consulting company specializing in detecting deception by employing a model he developed while at the Central Intelligence Agency. He has conducted thousands of interviews and interrogations for the CIA and other federal agencies. His colleague Don Tennant contributed to this report.
The eyebrow-raising story that appeared earlier this week in the National Enquirer, citing claims that Sen. Ted Cruz had engaged in five extramarital affairs, drew a sharp response from the Republican presidential contender. Sharp as it was, however, it was strikingly weak in terms of denial, and strong in terms of attack. And that combination is a telltale sign of deception that leads us to conclude that this is a matter that warrants further investigation.
The statement that Cruz released on his Facebook page on Friday immediately drew our attention:
I want to be crystal clear: these attacks are garbage. For Donald J. Trump to enlist his friends at the National Enquirer and his political henchmen to do his bidding shows you that there is no low Donald wont go. These smears are completely false, theyre offensive to Heidi and me, theyre offensive to our daughters, and theyre offensive to everyone Donald continues to personally attack. Donald Trumps consistently disgraceful behavior is beneath the office we are seeking and we are not going to follow.
Subsequently speaking about the matter, Cruz echoed that sentiment, with even more intensity (you can watch below). He said:
The National Enquirer published a story. It is a story that quoted one source on the record: Roger Stone, Donald Trumps chief political advisor. Let me be clear, this National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear, and it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen. It is attacking my family, and what is striking is Donalds henchman, Roger Stone, had for months been foreshadowing that this attack was coming. Its not surprising that Donald Trumps tweet occurs the day before the attack comes out. And I would note that Mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. Hes a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent. Well let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics. The National Enquirer has endorsed Donald Trump, has said he must be President. And so Donald, when hes losing, when hes scared, when Republicans are uniting against him, decides to peddle sleaze and slime. You know, Donald is fond of giving people nicknames. With this pattern, he should not be surprised to see people calling him, Sleazy Donald.
We should note that these two statements constitute the only material that we currently have at our disposal to analyze, which is far from ideal. Obviously, the more material available for analysis, the greater our confidence in our findings. With that said, however, we were struck by the volume of deceptive behavior that we identified in these statements.
Behaviorally, when the facts are the ally of an individual, he or she almost always tends to focus on the facts of the matter at hand. In this case, if the key fact was that he had not had these affairs, Cruz would almost certainly have been much more strongly focused on the denial. That is, he very likely would have made a point of explicitly stating something along the lines of, I did not have these affairs.
Yet at no point in either statement did Cruz say that. He implied it by saying the allegations are false, and that theyre lies, but behaviorally, such statements are not equivalent to saying he never had the affairs. Even if we were to overlook that fact and consider his statements to be a denial, there is an overwhelmingly higher proportion of attack behavior compared to the effort expended at denial. This type of lopsided attack-to-denial ratio is very consistent with what we have historically seen with deceptive people when allegations are levied against them.
Given the lack of additional information upon which to conduct a more comprehensive behavioral analysis, this is nothing more than our initial opinion and assessment, and we will continue to follow this matter very closely. At the same time, we cannot help but conclude at this point that its not looking good for Sen. Cruz.
By the look on Heidi’s face in a recent picture she is plotting to dissect his body parts and they will never find the body.
Oh dear. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath otherwise known as perjury, not for having sex ( oral or otherwise) with Monica. To my knowledge Ted Cruz has not had to testify in court about his sexual escapades. Adultery is morally repugnant and tears families apart but it is not illegal.
What women publicly say, and how they feel, are often two different things.
Exhibit A: Bill Clinton. It didn't matter. If anything, it made his female fans' vaginas tingle even harder.
I wanted cruz, but then when I saw that hand shake and how Rubio and he partnered up it made me think about my decision, since then and all these dirty tricks and seeing his sleazy campaign and lies I am convinced I made the right decision to switch my vote
What we are seeing by cruz and his supporters is exactly the same thing we saw Clinton and Edwards and their supporters.
A definite denial is something along the lines of, “I HAVE NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR. I HAVE NEVER BEEN UNFAITHFUL TO MY WIFE, HEIDI!” That is clear, distinct and unequivocal.
Everything Cruz has said to date has been vocal ScotchGard spray.....merely intended to deflect the accusations; to make them run off without leaving a stain; not to categorically deny that ANY of it EVER happened.
Cruz is cracked up to be “the smartest lawyer to ever come out of Harvard”. Even if Cruz had been caught off guard when this broke on Thursday or Friday and the deflection words he used were only the first thing he could think of to blurt out. It’s now 48 hours later, and on the Sunday morning news shows, he’s still exclusively DEFLECTING, and blaming Trump, in broader and more imaginative deflective terms. NO unequivocal denials whatsoever.
What total BS from these “experts.”
Exhibit A for why our CIA is totally useless and incompetent.
>> Thats one of the worst affronts to logic Ive ever seen <<
Didn’t you know? Classical logic is now passé. It has been replaced by the new Trumpistic logic. The foundational axiom of this new system is that Mr. Trump can do no wrong. All subsequent postulates, lemmas and theorems follow effortlessly, as if they were the purest and most refreshing water from a cold mountain spring. Alleluia!
>> Politics is downstream of culture <<
Yep, that’s why the next POTUS will probably be a man who honed his acting skills on “reality” TV.
>> Ted Cruz has not had to testify in court about his sexual escapades <<
Maybe that’s why he’s not threatening to sue NE and Roger Stone?
(Or, if the employees are so bound and determined to flout Catholic doctrine, they can just swallow.)
‘Appears’ and ‘seems’ are words that liberals use. Liberals and Trump supporters. But I repeat myself.
Not quite. Nice try.
Really? I still suffer PTSD from the mother of all flame-wars that went on back then.
I am suggesting maybe your post be deleted or you issue a rapid apology, unless perchance you have some evidence for that fact.
“Why is everyone concerned who Cruz is suspected to be screwing and no one is concerned that Trump is married to a porn star?”
Maybe for the same reason none of us are concerned about you being full of well, chit. :-)
You only know what you think you know...
In which states is cheating on your spouse illegal?
Adultery isn't just a crime in the eyes of your spouse. In 21 states, cheating in a marriage is against the law, punishable by a fine or even jail time.
What else do you not really know and only think you do?
The Ted Cruz story is in its infancy. I fear we will be seeing this on the tabloids for months, not weeks.
The video of Ted leaving hotels with other women is coming next, but not yet published.
Affairs are tough to prove. John Edwards was in denied it until the kid was nearly walking.
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