Everybody Is Angry at Ted Cruz's Speech for the Wrong Reasons

In his speech Wednesday at the RNC Convention, Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump for President sending a sizable portion of Republicans into an uncontrollable and ongoing hissy fit, and though I personally like Ted Cruz and supported him in the primary, I have to admit that I too am a bit perturbed though not for the same reason as everyone else.

I have no objections with Cruz’s message to the RNC. Anyone who actually listened to his speech would know that Cruz spent the entire time articulating small government, Constitutional, conservative values and encouraging the audience to vote for candidates who upheld those values. If that’s taken as anything less than an endorsement for the GOP nominee, then it’s the Trump supporters who should be doing some soul searching about now. 

I’m also not particularly upset that Cruz broke his promise to support the winner of the GOP primary. Yes, he broke his word, but Cruz erred not when he violated his word but when he gave his word in such a foolish pledge in the first place. You’d have to be a partisan hack who blindly supports any Republican or a shortsighted nincompoop incapable of foreseeing the possibility that someone bad could win the nomination to make such a thoughtless promise, but having placed himself in an ethical bind, I think Cruz did the most honorable thing possible by refusing to endorse a man he believed would be bad for the country while struggling to articulate the most unifying message he could under the circumstances.

My frustration with Cruz isn’t that he refused to support Trump but why he refused to support Trump.

When asked Thursday about his violated pledge, Cruz responded, “The day that was abrogated (rescinded) was the day this became personal…I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father. And that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog…”

Really, Cruz? That’s the reason you won't endorse Trump?

You didn’t refuse to endorse because of Trump’s long progressive record, his constant flip-flopping, his complete lack of Constitutional moorings, his narcissistic tendencies, his omnipresent stream of lies, his vast ignorance on political matters, his corrupt business practices or his awful polices? You withheld your endorsement not because any of the things that affect the country but just because your own personal vendetta? Really?

I agree that Trump’s low class and deceitful smears against the Cruz family should disqualify him for office, but these disgusting tendencies have been observed in countless instances long before Trump ever tweeted nonsense about Ted’s nuclear family, and yet I can’t read Cruz’s comments without getting the distinct impression that Ted would have forgiven everything if Trump hadn’t hit him personally, and that’s a shame.

I still think Cruz is one of the few good people in Washington DC, but perhaps it’s time he reevaluate his priorities and make sure he’s still in it for the good of the nation rather than the good his own ego. 

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