Please check the adjustments on your genuine Glenn Beck Blinders and stay tuned to Fox News!
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 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.”
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 Trump’s 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 Donald’s henchman, Roger Stone, had for months been foreshadowing that this attack was coming. It’s not surprising that Donald Trump’s 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. He’s 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 he’s losing, when he’s 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 they’re 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 it’s not looking good for Sen. Cruz.
Is someone still panning this story for ‘gold nuggets’?
There may be nothing more than pyrite, or the Fool’s Gold of innuendo. Ask Rubio why nobody took bought his story about this last Autumn? He sure shopped it around enough.
This is non-essential, or at most, a private matter between Ted and Heidi.
he is trying to salvage his gullible base
Well, he IS Lyin’ Ted after all.
Clinton denied.
Edwards denied.
They are all lawyers, they all lie and deny, it’s as natural as breathing.
Calling something “garbage” is not even a denial. It can be true or false, and still be garbage. Saying the “smears are false” is weasely because it’s based on the premise they are smears, not truths. And what if he only had sex with 4 of the 5 women, then he can say the “NE story is false” because it alleges five. And then we get into Clintoneque definitions of what constitutes “sex” if for example, he did not have intercourse, but perhaps just a closet Lewinsky.
Thank you so much Senator Cruz for being so Presidential! We haven’t had this kind of fun since President Clinton.
So let’s have Senator Cruz come put his hand on the Bible, look in the camera, and say without any weasel-words “I did not have sexual affairs with any of these women, I have never cheated on my wife”.
busTED
adulteraTED!
I'll bet I know more than you and none of them, including Trump supporters, have no such knowledge as to which msn actually cheats on his wife!
One man acknowledges he cheats on his wives, the other, no one knows.
Most women I know don't much care for men who cheat, especially those who openly brag about it!
Think back to when Cruz last year said he would not make Bill Clinton an issue in the election, and we were all wondering why the hell would he say that?
Well duh! Cruz knew that this was out there, and the Dems would play those cards hard the minute Cruz even mentioned Bill, so he wanted to make it clear to them that he would not go there in, I suppose, some attempt to stave off retaliation by the Dems with the one thing that will easily blow him right out of the water.
Cruz said they are complete and utter lies. I think that is pretty straightforward as a denial. Bogus conclusion in the article.
I had read at the beginning of primary season that it was Rubio with the woman problem.
Really had to imagine Cruz with this issue but there it is. No accounting for taste.
Oh come on.
Put up or shut up.
Where is a picture of Cruz and a Bimbo coming out of a No-Tell Motel?
Where is the jilted lover’s interview on TV?
Put up or shut up.
Reading these comments, I “seriesly” don’t know FR anymore.
Pathetic.
Ask Rubio why nobody took bought his story about this last Autumn? He sure shopped it around enough.
You are moving the goal posts....Shopping around in earnest in Feb/March..Rubio campaign wanted it out for SuperTuesday to jump into #2 pole position...MSM stalled..NE took longer to vet the story before releasing and parsing. After SuperTuesday Rubio people were trying to get everyone to drop it cause it would mean Trump stays #1
This is the reason that people develop a “gut” feeling about a person. It’s often right on the money, too.
“He’s an attorney. He parses words”
Exactly. Lawyer speak.
Who cares about this crap? I don’t care if Cruz was boffing half of Washington and all of Texas.
I care that when War came to Chicago Cruz joined the Enemy.
Much of my respect for the man evaporated thereafter.
I would vote for him with slightly more enthusiasm than I did McCain and Romney.
He would be destroyed by the Democratmedia which can be stymied by ONE man Donald Trump. It kicks the rest around like empty cans.
I’m not quite clear on the concept that Cruz phrases like ‘completely false’ and ‘complete and utter lies’ are not denials.
Donald says, “He holds the bible up and lies”. Just wonder what set Donald off to say that.
Donald was spot on with “Little Rubio and Low energy Jeb’.
Not my business on someones affairs really. I still think the real story isn’t about possible affairs but something much more damaging. I think its why the establishment has joined the Cruz outfit to steer the message that isn’t throw out yet. Its a warning that more is to come.
BUT what do I know? Zero.
The lawsuit was filed by Jill Harth who then went by Jill Harth Houraney on April 25, 1997. Harth, who was in her early 30’s at the time, alleged that Trump engaged in hostile and offensive sexual behavior towards her from 1992 to 1997 including “groping” her under her dress on several occasions, “forcibly” moving her to his daughter’s bedroom in an attempt to have sex with her, and repeatedly, aggressively and inappropriately propositioning her for sex. She called it “sexually abusive” and LawNewz.com spoke to her in an exclusive interview.http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/exclusive-inside-the-donald-trump-sexual-assault-lawsuit/
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