Ted Cruz and the Porn Star

Yes, you read that right. The Twitter- and Yahoo-verses are all atwitter..because, apparently, a woman who was cast in a Ted Cruz campaign ad used to be a "softcore porn" model. After discovering this, the Cruz campaign yanked the ad and is doing "damage control."

Now, I am not at all in favor of porn - whether the "we're all naked here and doing things in strange positions" to (formerly) Playboy, to Maxim, etc. - I think it's all corrosive.

With that said, I think the Cruz campaign, caught in an apparent misstep, could well have spun this to it's great benefit, and done so in a way that would have given him a boost in many places, and cemented his moral reasoning as well.

Let me explain.

Let's begin with the idea that there is some truth behind the idea that some women go into porn because they are beautiful, but out of work, actresses. There are, likely, a myriad of reasons women go into porn, but let's go with this one for now. This particular actress, Amy Lindsay, is described, at least through Wikipedia, as "an American actress and former softcore pornographic film performer." If the titles at IMDB can be believed, it looks like her current focus is attempting to get out of softcore and more into other acting, though it's hard to say that with any specificity.

So, running with this idea, this was a perfect moment for Cruz to step up and say two important things. One, that actors should be encouraged as much as possible to avoid porn and focus on better projects, and that he's very happy to pay a woman to work in political ads rather than porn. And, two, that everyone deserves a chance to do good work, and that a person isn't "tainted" in some way that her appearance in the campaign ad could damage his campaign or himself in some metaphysical way.

Instead, Cruz reacted as everyone expected - as if the former pornstar's appearance somehow was embarrassing and problematic. A wonderful "hah! gotcha right winger closed minded bigot" moment for the media, and a scurrying fear for Cruz.

Step up, Mr. Cruz. Think through this.