Ted Cruz Has a Problem

From Leon Wolf, at Red State:

Up until last night, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%‘s refusal to attack Donald Trump was defensible. Without question, it was smart politics, as his rise in the polls would attest. But it was also defensible on the merits as a guy who is a solid conservative in good standing, who was just refusing to criticize any of the other Republicans in the race, preferring rather to point out, like a good white knight should, how much better all the Republicans were than Hillary Clinton.

Last night, though, what the country watched was a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% who called Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 94% a liar several times to his face, and also on more than one occasion treated him like someone who was ignorant of the issues. After the way Cruz has treated Trump throughout this contest, that’s a major prolbem.

Prior to last night, Cruz had engaged in substantive disagreements with some of the other candidates (including Rubio), but he had always kept it on an above the fray level. Even when Trump came after him personally, he responded with a tweet that was positively fawning towards the Donald in response.

Listen, this is all fine and good, and as I acknowledged, it’s smart politics. It earned Donald Trump a rebuke from Limbaugh and Levin, which probably contributed to the fact that last night, Trump was back praising how great Cruz was on stage. For people who are sympathetic to Trump, they no doubt like to see the way that Cruz refuses to tangle with Trump no matter what.

For the rest of us – including the ones who grudgingly accepted that it was necessary for Cruz to do this for political reasons – last night’s sparring with Rubio was borderline infuriating.

It’s not just that Cruz disagreed with Rubio. It’s that his disagreement was laced with biting sarcasm and personal attacks. For many (if not most) of us who are not already in Camp Trump, Rubio is considered to be an acceptable choice for the nomination (if not our first), and only a fool would not concede that he presents the best chance in the general to defeat Hillary. Watching a guy who’s turned turtle repeatedly to a fake conservative insult comic, only to turn around and show some fighting spirit against a guy who is actually conservative was a little hard to stomach.

I know that many of Cruz’s own supporters consider him to be a slightly better choice between the two good choices of Cruz and Rubio. I think that’s probably where a good portion of the editorial staff here at RedState stands. Watching the two in nuclear war last night was more than a little vaguely unsettling.

It would be different if Cruz had been been in attack mode against all the other candidates equally. Cruz has a legitimate claim to the mantle that all the other candidates – especially Trump –  have been trying to wear since day one and he would have been forgiven (if not expected) to vigorously defend his claim to being the guy who has actually fought against the “establishment,” as opposed to Trump, who has given some speeches in which he insulted people.

But instead, people who realize that Trump represents an existential threat to the credibility and future existence of the conservative movement as a political force have been forced to grind our teeth as Cruz – who really has been a champion for our causes – held fire on this charlatan for months. Now we are treated to the spectacle of Cruz treating Rubio in the same way many of us wish he had treated Trump from day one? It’s frankly galling...

Well, I like Trump, but he's too crazy sometimes. I don't count him out at all for the nomination, but deep inside I really like Marco Rubio, despite his shady record on illegal immigration. So, I agree Ted Cruz is pretty craven in his selective attacks, and I say that notwithstanding my considerable respect for Cruz. I'd be happy to support him in the general as well. Frankly, all of this reminds me how much I hate the GOP primary season. It's the time when lots of folks on the right make a lot of enemies.

In any case, from last night, "Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz Battle Takes Center Stage at #GOP Debate (VIDEO)."