Cruz's splash at the GOP convention

In a nutshell, Ted Cruz, the runner-up in the GOP primary, was slated to speak at the convention. The big question was would he or wouldn't he endorse Trump. Or maybe that wasn't the big question. Maybe no one knew what he was going to do. Cruz has been overshadowed by other events lately: many ghastly shootings of and by police, the countdown to Trump's VP pick announcement, and plagiarism and clumsy denial by the Trump campaign.

So perhaps Cruz was flying under the radar, and people weren't thinking that he might do something dramatic. However, Cruz is Cruz, and he is a drama queen. His speech (per reports--I won't risk vomiting by watching it) was long and full of this usual appeals to righteous conservatism. The delegates, expecting an endorsement, were getting restless. Some started shouting for the endorsement. When Cruz finished the speech without giving an endorsement, he was widely and loudly booed.

It was interesting to me to read various speculations about this incident. Megan McArdle (whom I don't like) thinks that both Cruz and Trump will be hurt by this. Allahpundit at HotAir has a detailed analysis. Key people in Trump's campaign are going to wreak vengeance on Cruz, and it started with the show of him being vociferously booed. Today there are stories that Ted Cruz will be primaried for his senate seat.

I've read a bunch of opinions, and I can't remember them all. I certainly don't agree with those who think it was a masterful turn by Cruz, showing how he's brave and principled. It's certainly believable that Cruz was still angry over Trump's accusations against his wife and his father (the ludicrous story that Cruz's father was involved with Lee Harvey Oswald). I wouldn't forgive insults like that, but then I'm not an opportunist politician.

However, Cruz will suffer because he has again been aggressive and insufferable. He spit in the eye of the GOP delegates, and smiled as he walked away. He's done that before. (At a conference of Arab Christians, he ordered them to support Israel, and then ran out to thunderous booing.) With that kind of character flaw, Cruz will probably never round up enough support to win the presidency. Thank God for that!

Image: kwwl.com

Extras. All the links above are well worth reading. Here are a few others. The Federalist luvs Ted Cruz. Bernstein writes mostly about the chaos at the convention, but this is a great observation:

"Trump doesn't want to unite his party. He wants to bully it into submission. As Ted Cruz's performance showed, the Texas senator yields to no one in the bullying department."

Short: A conservative rejoins reality

It's a week after the reelection of Obama, and I'm checking in on HotAir. They don't have any stories on secession or the preliminary tax negotiations, but those gaps are for another post. This headline catches my eye: 

Rasmussen: 54% now call themselves pro-choice, 38% pro-life

It's followed by a reasonable analysis of the shift to pro-choice. Basically, whackos on the right pushed moderates into the pro-choice camp, at least temporarily. 

The next article has a headline about Dems wanting to go over the fiscal cliff, but the point is that some GOP might prefer it too because it gives them cover for not raising taxes.

What is going on here? Two articles in a row that challenge typical conservative thinking--that's amazing. Both are by Allahpundit. I look at an archive, and it doesn't look particularly insightful before the election. A dose of reality seems to have helped at least one pundit. I'm hoping that plenty more reality-based medicine is delivered during the next three months, and other conservative pundits recover too.

Be sure to read the comments. The HotAir audience hasn't joined Allahpundit in reality yet.

Update 11/21/12. Allahpundit is back to nasty. It was highly likely if not inevitable.