BREAKING: Ted Cruz National Enquirer Cheating Scandal Enters New Phase

“Ted is a smart enough guy to KNOW that if he has been dallying around, it WOULD come out in the national news if he ran for President.”

Why? He wasn’t smart enough to consider people might OBJECT when it came out that he was born in CANADA. Or that he FORGOT that TPA was an Obama boondoggle when he voted for it.

If he was smart (and HONEST) he would have known (or not LIED ABOUT) that he was a Canadian citizen when he was running for Senate. And in 2012 he stated, when asked the definition of a NBC, that it meant born on US soil to two citizen parents. So he’s either stupid or lying (not necessarily mutually exclusive of course).

Not going away?

Yeah, when (read the article) HUSTLER (FFS) has to jump in to add some “credibility” to this pack of lies non-story then fine - it’s not going away.

How embarrassing it must be to be a Trumper who actually believes this crap.

I’ve wondered why Cruz hasn’t sued.

Well, I think there are two "innocent" explanations for that. The first is that proof of actual malice is extraordinarily difficult. The NE article was very careful about skirting the line of reporting that rumors existed versus making a flat-out accusation. My guess is that he'd lose a libel case even if the affairs did not happen, and many lay people would then equate losing the case to "he must have done it." So there is little upside.

The other angle is that being involved in litigation is time consuming, and also headline-grabbing for a public figure. As plaintiff, he'd have to make appearances at conferences, be subject to depositions, etc., all of which would take time and which the NE would try to use to embarrass him. So again, it would do nothing other than keep the story in the headlines, with very little hope of winning.

If I was advising him, I'd strongly advise against filing suit.

Apparently.

I don’t know how they live with themselves — but maybe conservative principles are subject to convenience and shiny objects.

What if it’s Bill the bent one? Wouldn’t help Hillary at this point

How did Carol Burnette win against NE? She not only got a retraction but won a settlement. The story about Cruz is far more damaging than a Carol Burnette was drunk story. So yes he could demand a retraction or sue. Why not?

If that’s what you got out of his comment, English must be a second language to you.

My favorite is the “My 2 Year Affair with Erik Estrada”.

Must have been a REALLY slow news week if that made the front page!

Ack! I'm really not in the mood to write a memo, and a lot depends on factual specifics. But the shortest answer is that the NE made a very specific factual allegation against Carol Burnett that there was hard evidence was not verified. They made it worse by printing a retraction saying it was false that did not comply with the retraction rules that would have immunized them. So, they basically printed a false story and actually admitted it was false. Easy case.

With Cruz, they were far more careful and did not say that he had actually had affairs. They said there were "reports" than he had them, and that investogators were "digging into" them. Both of which may well be true. But they deliberately avoided flatly stating that such affairs had actually occurred. That makes it almost impossible for a public figure to win a libel suit.

The whole "it must be true if he hasn't sued" argument is just absolutely terrible for a legal perspective. There are a ton of downsides to suing, and almost no upside in filing a suit you almost certainly can't win.

I have tried very hard not to judge candidates based on the statements made by some of their supporters.

Unfortunately, that's getting more difficult to do. I start thinking it is all connected, and part of the same thought pattern/culture, and then think I don't want to endorse that....

I've actually posted here since 1999 (different screenname to preserve busted anonymity), and don't remember it ever being this irrational.

Yeah, sure... He was such a great customer that she kept his account open 4 years after he moved out of town.
(/sarcasm)
God, you Trump people are so desperate for some sliver to justify your hatred!

Was it Chili day?

Purchased by Breitbart, who supports Cruz? Wrong. Breitbart is practically Trump’s campaign mouthpiece. I don’t even bother reading their articles, particularly those written by ‘Sundance’.

No crap! Wayne Madsen is a turd.

The single biggest reason I dislike Trump is because I thought he turned the debates into smearfests devoid of substance. The way he ridiculed anyone who questioned him on substance -- without even addressing that substance -- really bugged me. Mocking other candidates because of where they stood in the polls was something I'd never seen before, and hope to hell I never see again. And I legitimately worry that a Trump victory will amount to an endorsement of such tactics in future primaries. We all lose, catastrophically, if that happens.

I don't think you understand that this was a "tactic" to handle the main battery of the Media DeathStar.

Look what happened to Trump when he let his guard down for a moment with that old $2500-an-hour poofter, "Tingles" Matthews.

The crew of the Media DeathStar are more dangerous than a box of water mocassins - and they're VERY well-compensated for dealing with threats to the Establishment like Trump & Cruz.

This smear mongering on Cruz, and the same stuff with Rubio, is just a continuation of that. It really bugs me that this is what the party is becoming, because that will be the death of ideas and intelligent debate.

Once again - there will be NO ideas or intelligent debate until the DeathStar is destroyed. EVER.

Who is the only one that is taking them on, head-to-head?

If Ted Cruz tried it, he'd be a burnt greasy spot in nothing flat.

We're on a thread that is just an afterthought from one of the Media DeathStar's secondary batteries.

Most of the crew are busy dealing with The Great Pumpkin just about now.

They wipe him out, Cruz's turn in the barrel is next.

You'd best thank your lucky stars that you have Trump taking the shots - otherwise you'd be throwing up in your mouth, thinking about the prospect of voting for Yeb in November.

Actually, I'm disappointed. This DC Madam stuff is distracting from the real infidelity issue:

His relationship with Amanda Carpenter.

The NE needs Ritalin to help it stay on task.

Pretty sure it was Dan Moldea. I was looking around for it, but I’ll have to do some deep digging in my archives.

It’s a great restaurant

Sadly you are probably correct. And this cycle we had what I consider two very weak Democrat candidates to run against. A poor campaigner under the cloud of investigation, and an avowed Socialist.
So dang sad.

Oh, geez, you two!

We're close to breaking the tyrannic stranglehold of the Uniparty Media Machine, and you guys are all "woe is me!".

Conservatism cannot advance until the Media is dealt with.

Otherwise, you have the highly-compensated Lefty mercenaries of the press pouring indiscriminate fire into whichever target on the Right strikes their fancy for that particular news cycle.

Like on this thread.

You want me to go down a list of how much these slimeballs get paid an hour to manipulate people?

AND FURTHERMORE. They're all fracking inbreds. The Washington Media types are all married to each other - but they have different last names, so's the rubes don't catch on.

Simple. You say all that right after flatly denying that your campaign had any role in it. Come out really hard against it, and even if Cruz chooses not to believe you, you still make your campaign look good.

This is what Trump said immediately on Facebook after the scandal broke:

"I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it.

“Likewise, I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence. Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”

Trump's comments were in response to the following coming from Cruz:

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 won’t go.

These smears are completely false, they’re offensive to Heidi and me, they’re offensive to our daughters, and they’re offensive to everyone Donald continues to personally attack.

Donald Trump’s consistently disgraceful behavior is beneath the office we are seeking and we are not going to follow.

What exactly has Trump said or done to try to unify the party? Winning votes isn't enough. You've got a try to assuage the concerns about yourself, show that you can work with other people without attacking them, etc..

Trump has said it many times at his campaign events and press conferences. It is very hard to unify a party where everyone else is part of the stop Trump movement. Hell, we had Romney intervening in the campaign supporting Kasich in Ohio and Cruz in Utah. The GOPe has become unhinged. They are not interested in unifying a party around Trump. They want him stopped.

I am not worried about Trump's ability to work with others. In the real world, he has had to make deals and compromises. He is not an ideogue. I am more concerned about Cruz who is a grandstanding gadfly and a pariah within his own party. It is more about his own political ambitions than anything else. He has spent almost his entire adult life in government. It is all about process to him.

Oh boy....so the best thing Trump can do is nothing -- it's up to other people?

Trump is the outsider running for elective office for the first time in his life. He is supposed to unify the party? Where are the party leaders in Congress? What are they saying? For the most part, they are anti-Trump because his candidacy represents a real threat to their power and control. They came up with the loyalty pledge, which Trump signed. Now you have Cruz and Kaisch backing away inferring that they may not back Trump if he is the nominee. And the list goes on with others in the party saying the same thing.

There are a lot of things Trump can do to unify the party, regardless of what Kasich and Cruz do. Stop sending stupid tweets, start talking about how we need a GOP Senate and House, call for civility, etc.. All he's been doing is pouring gas on the fire.

The fire was set a long time ago. Trump represents a movement that is based on a deep-seated disgust with the political class that ignores the interests of the country and the people. Mass immigration and bad trade deals are destroying the American worker. Trump has set the agenda for the campaign and the GOPe does not like it. Only the record numbers of voters seem to understand what is at stake. The status quo is not the answer. Nor are lying politicians who promise everything and deliver on nothing. The country continues to slide into a massive bankruptcy. We lack leadership at every level.