Ted Cruz gives exceptional speech touting conservatism . . . but the crowd wanted something else

Remember, Donald Trump personally asked Ted Cruz to speak last night at the RNC. Cruz said he would be delighted to do so. Both surely expected that the speech would be about the virtues of conservatism and not about the virtues of Donald Trump. It was, and the crowd loved that. If you were watching it with a will-he-or-won't-he mindset concerning an endorsement of Trump, you were bound to be disappointed. Cruz was always going to focus on the differences between the two parties, and did so very effectively by covering everything from respect for law enforcement to the proper role of the courts to the overall meaning and value of freedom. In fact, Cruz asked an especially good question when talking about the recent inclination of federal courts to strike down any state law not to the liking of the liberal establishment. If states can't pass their own laws, "What's the point of having states at all?"

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In the big scheme of things, that is a much more important question than whether Cruz "endorsed" Trump. But as you can see starting around the 20-minute mark, the crowd lost interest in Cruz's themes and started shouting, "Endorse Trump!" Cruz had no interest in varying from his speech to give them what they wanted, and he walked off to boos (See Below): I will be glad to defend everything about Cruz's speech and fault the crowd here. To start with, I am quite sure that not even Donald Trump thought Cruz was going to give an explicit endorsement during the speech. That's not why Trump asked Cruz to speak. He asked Cruz to speak because few are more gifted at reminding people of the strength of conservative ideas. By offering such a stemwinder at the convention whose purpose is to nominate Trump - and by making clear that these principles would not be upheld by Hillary Clinton - Cruz provides Trump with the association he needs to bring conservatives on board. But political-type people are obsessed with things like endorsements, as if they really influence anyone. And the news media gleefully put the focus on such questions rather than telling you about the meat of his speech. But it was the crowd that created the uproar here, not Cruz. He gave an excellent speech, and if you assess it strictly on what it was, it was one of the best of the convention. It's not Cruz's fault that the crowd wanted something very explicit from him that he was not prepared to give.

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You can say that Cruz broke his word because he said during the primaries that he would support the nominee. But how are you not supporting the nominee when you stand up there and go through all the reasons Hillary must not be allowed to become president? Apparently the use of the phrase "vote your conscience" was seen as code for sticking it to Trump, because that same phrase was the one used by people who wanted to unbind the delegates. You can see it that way if you want, but everything in Cruz's speech argued that a conscience vote is a vote for Trump and against Hillary. You cannot demand from a man what it's not in his heart to give. If Ted Cruz simply isn't feeling it to stand there and "endorse" (whatever that even means) the man who suggested his father might have been involved with the JFK assassination, and continually referred to him as "Lyin' Ted," then no one can stand there chanting and make him do it. What you ought to do is go back and re-watch the speech, not for what you wanted and didn't get, but for what was actually said. It was an excellent presentation of what's wrong with this nation and of what needs to be done about it. If none of that interests you because you're obsessed with "endorsements," then you're the problem. Not Ted Cruz.

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