So, that Charles Murray quiz was interesting, wasn’t it? I thought, as a kind of get-to-know-the-host exercise, that I would tell you all my answers and give you a little background. I encourage people who took the quiz to tell us more details as to how you arrived at your result. No need to go full Patterico and give every answer, unless you’re inclined to — but consider sharing the more interesting answers. Many of you have already, and I enjoyed it, which is what motivated me to do this.

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[guest post by Dana]

The National Enquirer is alleging that Ted Cruz has had extramarital affairs with five different women. It has been suggested that two of the five women include Donald Trump’s spokeswoman Katrina Pierson and Amanda Carpenter, former communications director for Ted Cruz. Both have denied the allegations.

Here is Carpenter pushing back:

Here is Pierson’s denial:

Katrina PiersonVerified account
‏@KatrinaPierson
Of course the National Enquirer story is 100% FALSE!!! I only speak to myself, however.

Carry on…

Ted Cruz has also denied the allegations:

He also posted this on his Facebook page:

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.

Trump has had a cozy relationship with the CEO of the tabloid that has endorsed his candidacy :

Trump and Enquirer CEO David Pecker have been friends for years. “They’re very close,” said a source close to the Enquirer. In July 2013, Trump even tweeted that Pecker should become CEO of Time magazine, which at the time was being spun off from its corporate parent, Time Warner. “He’d make it exciting and win awards!”

Whether or not Trump has been a source for the Enquirer, his friendship with Pecker has paid dividends. At key moments during the GOP primary the Enquirer has helped boost Trump’s campaign by attacking his rivals and fawning over him. Two weeks after Trump launched his campaign in mid-June, the Enquirer reported that Jeb Bush was “involved in the drug trade in Florida” in the ’80s and that, as governor, he was plagued by “sleazy cheating scandals … [with a] Playboy Bunny turned lawyer.” In September, the Enquirer published an unflattering photograph of Bush’s adult daughter apparently taking cigarette breaks at her office. The article hit just days after Jeb told Americans they needed to work longer hours.

…

Meanwhile, Trump has been exclusively celebrated in the Enquirer’s pages. As talk of a Trump candidacy heated up last winter, the tabloid published an article headlined “Trump’s the One!” that reported him leading in the polls. In September, the Enquirer published a three-part series by Trump himself under the headline “The Man Behind the Legend!”

Trump claims that he had nothing to do with the National Enquirer hit job:

“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…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.”

–Dana

I’m sick of politics right now, so here’s something different. It’s a variant of a quiz Charles Murray had in a book of his. It’s designed to see whether you live in a bubble or are part of mainstream America. (I’m a fan of Charles Murray’s and I found it linked on his Facebook page.) Scores are 1-100; the lower your score, the more of a bubble you’re in. I got a 27, which makes me fairly but not ridiculously bubbilicious. It puts me in about this category, according to the results:

11–80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33.

That’s about right, I think.

Things that took me out of the “bubble” were things like having worked jobs for months that made my body ache; knowing and being close to evangelical Christians; attending Kiwanis club meetings; and eating and Chili’s or T.G.I. Friday’s. Most of these things (not the last) are from my younger years: for example, I would go on occasion to my dad’s Kiwanis club meetings as a child — but went only once as an adult, at his urging, and didn’t really like it.

Things that put me inside the bubble include things like living in large metropolitan areas; not caring much for television or most movies; or not having ridden long-distance buses or hitchhiked (though this is a bit unfair, since the family regularly engaged in days-long car trips when I was young, and we never flew anywhere).

It would be interesting to see where you folks fall. I have a feeling most readers’ numbers will be higher than mine. Many of you don’t live in big cities, and I think you probably watch more television and movies than I do (though I could be wrong). Take the quiz at this link and let me know!