The Republican presidential campaign has reached new lows.
Posting images of another candidate’s wife is beyond lame. So is responding in kind. I am not going to repeat the images but you can easily find them.
The National Enquirer entered the fray with this claim on March 23: Pervy Ted Cruz Caught Cheating — With 5 Secret Mistresses!
Cruz responded to reporters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Friday, stating “Trump and his henchmen” planted the seeds to what he called a “garbage” story and “tabloid smear.”
The story progresses with a Trump counterattack, then a claim by a Washington Times columnist that the Enquirer is correct on at least two counts.
I comment only because this story could easily change the national election.
Trump Denies Cruz’s Claim
Politico reports Trump Denies Cruz’s Claim, noting three Trump counter attacks:
- “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.”
- “I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman (sic) and then pretend total innocence”
- “I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz. I look forward to spending the week in Wisconsin, winning the Republican nomination and ultimately the Presidency in order to Make America Great Again.”
Washington Times Columnist Claims “Enquirer Correct on At Least Two Cases”
The story then took a strange twist when Washington Times columnist Drew Johnson Tweeted “COMING CLEAN: From what I know, at least 2 of the women named as Cruz mistresses by the National Enquirer are accurate.”
In response, Washington Times erased Johnson’s pages, then claimed Johnson left a year ago.
I reordered the following Washington Times’ tweets so they appear in order in which they were made.
Google Archives vs. Washington Times
Was Johnson a Washington Times columnist or not?
Let’s see what the Washington Times has to say about that, from a Google Archives Search.
Johnson last wrote for the Washington Times on March 4, 2016. His post was called Al Gore’s New Inconvenient Truth.
He was listed under Staff Members.
He also wrote a post on February 25, Obama’s proposed crude-oil tax has sucking sounds.
From April to September he wrote at least seven other columns for the Washington Times. That’s not a prolific amount, nor is it nothing.
I pieced together much of the above from a Reddit Thread on Drew Johnson.
A Proper Washington Times Response
If that was an “old” archive page, then why did it take the Washington Times over a year to yank it?
Given that Johnson was “not a columnist, and not an employee, and parted over a year ago” why was it necessary to remove old columns?
A simple “Drew Johnson’s views do not represent the views of the Washington Times” should have been sufficient.
Johnson Responds to Washington Times
Johnson made these Tweets in response to the Washington Times’ actions:
- “I have respect for the @WashTimes, so IDK why they would disassociate from me via Twitter (no email/call) for saying a scandal may be true.”
- “Though the @WashTimes is bashing me,I’ve enjoyed working there as an editorial writer, gov’t waste reporter &,recently, an online columnist.”
- “I look forward to finding a new home for my columns & continuing to advance liberty by exposing gov’t waste, abuse of power & hypocrisy.”
- “I now see the need for a platform to hold politicians/preachers/teachers/media & others w/power accountable. I promise to create such a site“.
I welcome any site that lives up to the promise Johnson made in points three and four above.
Still, Johnson needs to explain this Tweet:
“COMING CLEAN: From what I know, at least 2 of the women named as Cruz mistresses by the National Enquirer are accurate.”
What does Johnson know?
Monkey Business
Anyone recall Gary Hart’s escapades on his yacht “Monkey Business”
1988: Gary Hart and Donna Rice
As a popular Democratic senator from Colorado, Gary Hart was a front-runner to be the party’s presidential nominee in 1988. His campaign was dogged with rumors about his infidelity almost as soon as it began, prompting Hart to tell the New York Times, “If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead.”
Several newspapers did just that, finding, among other things, this photo of Hart with model Donna Rice on a yacht named Monkey Business. Needless to say, Hart did not last much longer in the election. Rice became an anti-pornography activist.
This entire campaign is truly a sorry state of affairs from many angles. Like it or not, another sex scandal could easily tip the election.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Politicians are a dish best served cold. Room temperature is good enough in the case of Cruz and Clinton.
Ted Cruz appears to be trying to salvage things by blaming on Trump while a much more likely source is the Rubio campaign as has been suggested elsewhere.
In Gary Hart’s defense I would have done Donna Rice too. Repeatedly and then some more.
FYI: If they rob Trump ………. I’ll be voting for Trump no matter what happens whether by tick box or write in. Any usurper should consider that most of the Trump supporters will be doing this and thus they will end their political careers on an ignominious and embarrassing note forthwith. The usurper will lose in a 35-65% split. This is non negotiable. Play fair or go down in flames.
First, the respected (or disrespected) group Anonymous apparently is the origin of the infidelity/prostitution part of this story, and Anonymous has given Cruz a deadline – a matter of hours – to exit the race or it will release the entirety of the information … names, faces, facts, dates … immediately.
Second, if you ask ten married male friends what they would do if some person published naked pictures of the wife do not be surprised to find that the majority would put the malefactor on his ass, literally and not figuratively.
I suspect that this ends the way it usually does, with Cruz “suspending” his campaign, his wife appearing in a joint press conference in which she agrees to “stand by her [discredited] man,” with the pair limping off and trying to save the now-destroyed “marriage” and Cruze asking for forgiveness from the evangelical community and attempting to save his Senate seat.
Hart … Edwards … Wiener … Cruz. ( And Client #9 … or was it #7?)
Sigh.
Client #9. Like the song “Love potion number 9”
Gary Hart lost because he was an idiot. He denied the allegations, and then actually had the temerity to challenge the newspapers to catch him; which they did. A complete idiot, totally unfit to be president. Another notorious womanizer handled it much better, and was elected twice and survived impeachment; I’m speaking of Bill Clinton.
If you can’t handle the heat and the campaign slings, then you cannot handle the presidency; Trump has shown his mettle by even facing down Fox News. There was a southern Senator named Bilbo many years ago who acknowledged all the women, and won election with the motto “Bilbo the Man.” If you can’t handle it or spin it in your direction, you are too lightweight to survive in high office. Politics was even more brutal in Andrew Jackson’s time; Jackson faced charges of murdering 17 people (mostly true) and renouncing his USA citizenships at various times (also true), and was elected president twice. If Cruz cannot handle charges of 5 mistresses, he is more a Gary Hart than an Andrew Jackson. BTW, no way Cruz’s wife would not know if it were true. If he takes that wimpy family route out of the race, Cruz is finished forever in national politics. This is a true test of his character, in how he handles it, not whether or not he did it.
I would not put it past the National Enquirer (NE) to turn a hug into an innuendo indicative of intercourse. In the Cruz case, I would suspect a campaign insider; a mole or a disgruntled employee, as being the source. Even if later proved false, the story will be a success for NE in financial and publicity terms. One must remember that the NE is driven almost exclusively by the profit motive, needing those supermarket checkout sales to survive. No one cares about their credibility, anymore than they care that the Rolling Stone publishes false stories about frat rapes. It is about magazine and newspaper sales, first and foremost. BTW, I side with the Washington Times 100% on this one, as the former employee was apparently working freelance (independent contractor; I’ve done a bit of that myself and know how it works) with his column. Eventually, Mish will learn that people get sloppy with their Internet archives and that dates appended to articles by computers often do not accurately reflect publication/posting dates. But a great summary of the info, Mish; really enjoyed it.
There are reportedly videos of Cruz leaving hotel or hotel restaurant with pretty campaign staffer. When they are released we’ll find out more.
Mish the Repubs and it did indeed start with Cruz just make me sick. A Cruz ad is run with Trump’s wife almost nude. The pic was an Ad by the way when she was modeling and the original is not in poor taste as far as Ad’s go in my mind. This is my biggest problem with politicians trying to woo evangelical voters. I believe in God and Jesus but none of this needs to be brought into an election. NONE OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have found most politicians go to church because they are politicians not for spiritual growth or forgiveness. One must be seen there to woo the evangelicals. Instead of discussing how to create jobs in this country we are still on abortion and quite honestly I am tired of it. Instead of talking about ending war we are still discussing plan parenthood. Instead of actually working on lowering the deficits and cutting some spending we want to talk about a fence on the borders. All frigging distractions to the real issues and I could go on and on but you get the drift.
Trump had every right to defend his wife I sure would have. Cruz just states he had nothing to do with it but in the end his remarks were derogatory and he did not care about the ad. Totally tasteless in my mind. We now have hired protestors in both the dem and repub gatherings causing trouble and when electee’s state this, it is ignored.
The media and the republican party are imploding and it demonstrates how our political process has left you and I, and the voters for that matter, do not matter. I am waiting for the real convention to see if they just appoint their own candidate. At least the Dems were smart and anointed Hillary before the game begun.
The Republican party is about to destroy itself from within.
Already has destroyed itself.
Something about Cruz I don’t trust. He is despised by his fellow senators. Trump on the other hand is personally liked by republicans but they just don’t want him to be the nominee. If Cruz had these affairs it would not surprise me.
Trump is liked? Aren’t his unfavorable ratings in the high 60s? 2 out of every 3 people don’t like him. Granted that’s all US not just republicans.
Looks like Cruz really pulled the wool over the eyes of the poor Mormons in Utah last week. Bet they are pi**ed off now.
I too felt that there was something about Ted Cruz that stirred a deep distrust and I finally put my finger on it. The man has the looks and mannerisms of none other than Joseph McCarthy right down to his self-righteous sneering innuendos.
Cruz has too nasally of a voice for me. He’s annoying to listen to. He’s not got the X factor it takes to be a strong candidate. He’s too egotistical to see it obviously but his lack of X factor slaps you in the face. He has next to 0 chance to win against Shrillary.
Cruz’s PAC used advertising with semi-nude pictures of Trump’s wife in Utah and AZ. This is beyond the pale, and Trump rightly defended his wife, for which I totally respect him. The Trump campaign didn’t cause NE to publish the Cruz expose, which a fair number of people must have known about. NE did it because it was a good story, and they have solid backup. I won’t give any credence to Cruz’s denials until he is under oath in a lawsuit, where lying could cost him his law license. So he will never try that…..
If the allegations aren’t true, this is a very clear cut case of libel, isn’t it? If so, we should be immediately expecting a lawsuit to save Cruz’s campaign. If there isn’t one, what should we think?
Gary Johnson 2016
Austin Petersen 2016
Repugs reaching new levels of lows that is satire right? Hell between them and the demodogs will do everything they can do to pure stupid. It get the govt. you vote for. I’m the left I’ll be voting Green.
Thanks for the post
Green is even more stupid than Dem or Rep. Heck they believe the globull warming hoax.
As a scientist I can tell you the greens get way too much wrong for it to be an accident. Green is just another way of being communist with the environmentalism the smoke screen
Mish, seems to be a confusing typo with the “Financial Times”
Tip the election? Ha! TPTB have already selected the next POTUS. It remains to be seen if they engineer a landslide, or keep it believable by making it closer. Either way, she will take the helm in January.
Those who count the vote decide, not those who cast it. But all this scandal jive generates a lot of clicks in the penny press blogosphere, doesn’t it?
Oh, well, something to do while we await the predetermined outcome.
This will be shown to be nonsense, just like the Canadian citizenship issue. Americans are too easily diverted from the real issues by Tabloid crap like this. Maybe the public can’t understand issues more complex than a reality show. So Cruz is responsible for his Super Packs but Trump isn’t responsible for his buddy/shill who owns the Enquirer? Notice how most media is ignoring this completely, because it’s just meant to manipulate the small brained voter (and it’s working)? Continue to be played by Trump and his establishment and be ready to welcome Hillary to the Presidency.
The Canadian citizenship issue? Cruz is NOT a US citizen. His mother renounced her US citizenship before he was born so he was only a Canadian citizen. He has no right to live in the US and should be deported immediately. In fact he should be prosecuted for fraud and put in prison with all the other illegals.
Mish,
You forgot to mention that Donald Trump is very good friends with the owner of National Enquirer, which has endorsed Donald Trump and not printed anything negative about him since he entered the race. You also forgot to mention that one of the women alleged in the article is the Trump campaign’s national spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, who has vehemently denied the story. By the way, what is their accuracy percentage on their stories? I would guess less than 5% (anybody seen a three-headed monkey lately). A recent story had Antonin Scalia murdered by a hooker and an October article had Hillary Clinton dead in 6 months from brain cancer. It should happen soon if that is the case
You also forgot to mention that Trump’s pattern of attacking his opponents, who get close to him in the lead, with lies (Carson, Fiorina, Rubio and now Cruz) continues again in the Enquirer. You also forgot to mention that It was not a Cruz PAC (candidates don’t associate with PACs), but an anti-Trump PAC that put out the picture of Trump’s wife.
I think this article and those who believe this crap says a lot more about the people who take it as truth than the Enquirer itself, which has been trash for many years.
Thanks,
Rick Sandberg Fresno
“I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz…”
The full quote according to ZeroHedge:
“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.”
I will add here that I, too, hope the Enquirer is not right about Cruz. As much as I want him to lose, I would not wish the effects of a such a scandal on his wife, Bush operative or not.
Perhaps Drudge Report should run one of its PollDaddy (or is it SurveyMonkey?) polls to determine whether we should refer to Cruze as Lyin’ Ted or Cheatin’ Ted.
Cruz impresses me as concept more suited for the series Better Call Saul that the real world, with James “Slippin’ Jimmy” McGill as his lead counsel.
And although John Kasich … “that moral and decent man” … would never say such a thing, you just know that he is repeatedly thinking, “yes, there is a God.”
Jimmy McGill is a decent individual. How dare you compare him with a politician!
The Melania Trump started it all. That was cheap. Anything to win elections?
If Cruz stuff is true, I for one is all for retaliation though it is cheap way to go about winning elections, when you should be talking about what you are going to do for people and why they should vote for you. Politicians…oh my what a clan!
What woman would spread her legs for Ted Cruz? Clearly our schools need to teach culture better.
We need the clean, sober, intellectual elections like we had in 1800 when John Adams’s running mate Charles Pickney was accused by the Jeffersonians of procuring four English mistresses for Adams and himself. Adams quipped that Pickney must have kept all four for himself.
Voters do not care how many mistresses Trump has. Evangelicals will vote for Trump. Cruz set himself up as a man of God.
We are not just talking about “monkey business” it is fair to say politics is a dirty business. People should realize the protest at Trump’s rally in Chicago were not all of his making. If the cake being served was made by Trump it would also be fair to say it was stirred by anti-Trump forces within and outside the Republican party. Obama even stepped into the fray icing the same cake with several over the top and unnecessary statements during the last several days.
In a country already politically polarized it is not surprising to see strong reactions from those who feel under pressure or assault and it is not unreasonable they react with annoyance or anger. The article below titled, “Presidential Election 2016, The Decent Into Political Hell” explores who is responsible.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2016/03/presidential-election-2016-decent-into.html
….busTED
Chilling retribution for Drew Johnson, soft totalitarianism in action. Powers that be have only Cruz to stop Trump.
Despise obvious fraud Ted, his faux Christianity and posturing needed to be shown up. Trump will be up against the Clinton machine, will need to play rough.
A couple of weeks ago, Trump said he would “change the libel laws” in order to “make it easier” to go after reporters who published slanderous accusations.
Just how close to the NE publisher is Trump ?
Voters demand “proof” that a candidate will protect them as an elected leader. That is why political attacks are so mean, vicious, and necessary.
I feel like the media industrial complex is laughing at voters and seeing how much they can make fools of people. It is a single party country and even republican insiders know hilary is going to be the next president. The backup seems to be Joe Biden. Looks like the rest of it is the circus part of bread and circuses.