Ted Cruz will come in for much criticism, as losing candidates do. (So do winning candidates.) I want to take a moment to thank him.
He carried my beliefs — his beliefs, our common beliefs — into battle. It’s not easy to be the politician. The man in the arena. You get the cheers and the glory, yes. But you get the opposite too.
Ted announced for the presidency in March 2015. He has campaigned every day, tirelessly. I’ve seen him do a little of it. He has kept his cool and, in my opinion, rarely put a foot wrong. Every day, for all these months, he has been up and at ’em: shaking hands, making his case, asking for money, arguing with his opponents, maneuvering, thinking, taking all the slings and arrows.
What have I been doing? Lying down and typing, as I am now. That has value. But someone has to be in the arena. Someone has to have his name on the ballot. Someone has to be on the hook.
More than most conservatives, I think, I’m a respecter of politicians and political parties. Philosophy is very important. But, if you want something done — if you want a worldview enshrined in government — you have to do more than muse. Someone has to carry the banner.
And for me, that person has been Ted Cruz. Thank you, Ted. You were magnificent. You gave the voters a choice (not an echo!). They choose as they do. I wish you were taking the presidential oath of office next January. You would be superb. Carly would, too. Regardless, bright skies will soon be o’er us.
P.S. Loved your update on the Reagan/bear ad: the scorpion in the desert. Thanks for that, and everything else.