Cruz Explains His Speech To Texas Delegation: An Analysis

Many listeners of K101.7 may not know that I have a few years in the political world on my resume. In the first half of the new millennium's initial decade, I worked for a consulting firm in the heady world of campaigns and candidates. If you're wondering how successful I was, James Carville I was not, although my overall win/loss record is around 50%. In a world where we are taught you can't win 'em all, to knock a homer every other time at bat was rewarding. I knew that kind of luck couldn't last, so when the chance to go back into broadcasting full-time presented itself - four days before election day - I jumped at the chance, staying in that job until I came here last year.

I'm a big news junkie and still follow politics very closely. When it comes to this forum and on the K101.7 airwaves, I try to keep my overall views to myself. After all, why alienate listeners when you don't have to, and they didn't ask in the first place? Nevertheless, sometimes I feel compelled to say something about some of the shenanigans going on.

Between us, this has been one of the most frustrating political cycles for any thoughtful person with a moral code who tries to abide by a set of principles. I'm not holding myself up as a paragon of virtue but I am not in the habit of voting knee-jerk without vetting a candidate, and I hold them to what many would say is an impossibly high standard. The things most people presume politicians do everyday, like lie, cheat and steal, are things that are completely unacceptable to me. Dignity and decorum are huge with me. And I'm not fond of political egos. (I've seen candidates heads swell from the attention and politicians are far worse than most radio folks, I kid you not) Sometimes, the Junior Senator from the Great State of Texas comes across as a guy who likes himself a bit much.

Last night, I was enjoying Ted Cruz's RNC speech, with the numerous nods to individual personal liberty, all the while waiting for him to seal the deal and make the endorsement for Donald Trump. He was hitting all the high notes and I found myself in agreement more often than not.

In my head, I kept hearing Steven Hill, erstwhile D.A. Adam Schiff from Law & Order telling Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy, "Don't pussyfoot around, make the deal." Then it became apparent Cruz wasn't and the whole place started to go bonkers. It was like nothing else I'd ever seen and I've watched conventions since I was in single digits and Reagan was running. I thought immediately that his notorious ego was still out of control. How could he stand on that stage and do that to the nominee? Speaking of egos, how could Trump allow Cruz to take the stage without making a definitive statement of support as quid pro quo? Kinda makes you wonder if that's "The Art of The Deal," will Trump be as artfully lacking when negotiating treaties and trade agreements on the people's behalf.

Watching the sturm und drang unfold, I responded via text to an outraged friend of mine, not a Republican in the least but someone who believes turnabout is fair play. His comments are completely unprintable here, I told him what we just saw was a TDM. Total D Move. You get the idea. The reason why, I surmised, was the lingering sting of defeat and blind ambition for 2020.

Flash forward to right now. I just watched the Ted Cruz video from this morning where he explained himself to a room of incredulous Texas delegates. It was candid and direct.

I gotta tell ya: he convinced me 100% when he said he's not in the habit of endorsing someone who insults his wife or his father. Part of having an honor code is knowing when the other person has crossed the line and is not worthy of the protection of the code. Insulting someone's family is that time. Quite frankly, if anyone insults a member of my family, I'll do more than not give an endorsement. Indeed, action will be swift and syllables will be few.

As the meeting went on, Cruz did not buckle, even when delegates wanted him to play the game, since it's just politics. "This is not a game. This is not politics. Right and wrong matter in this country. We have not abandoned who we are in this country," he fired back emphatically.

He even took supporters of Trump to task. "What does it say when you stand up and say 'vote your conscience' and rabid supporters of our nominee begin screaming, what a horrible thing to say! If we can't make the case to the American people that voting for our party's nominee is consistent with voting your conscious is consistent with defending freedom and being faithful to the Constitution then we are not going to win and we don't deserve to win."

Wouldn't it be nice to see more principled candidates display a highly developed moral code? God willing, people entering public office will remember this election and recoil at the thought.