During the Republican presidential primary, one of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’ biggest supporters was Richard Viguerie, the man referred to frequently as the “Funding Father of the Conservative Movement.”
But that doesn’t mean the senator is immune from constructive criticism.
“Failing to endorse the Trump-Pence ticket last night was not good for Ted Cruz, conservatives, Republicans and America,” he wrote on his blog at ConservativeHQ.com Thursday. “And most importantly for those of us who endorsed Ted Cruz and worked for him in the Republican primaries, he betrayed the trust we gave him that he was a bigger man than his attackers and that there was a cause greater than self in the hard-fought battles of the Republican primaries. And I think it was this sense that Ted Cruz did not live up to his own rhetoric that stung his former supporters and emboldened his detractors the most, because in his speech he laid out this case for forgiveness and greatness of heart that he then refused to embrace in his own life and political career.”
Viguerie said, instead of embracing the biblical principles of forgiveness and love in the face of hate, Cruz “engaged in a bit of too clever by half word play” with his “vote your conscience” comments. Everyone who heard them understood that was a “dog whistle of permission,” as he put it, to #NeverTrump members to not vote for the Republican presidential ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
He said the reaction to Cruz’ speech he received was “white hot, quick, and devastating to Cruz’ personal and political future.” He shared some of those comments before offering up his own assessment: that Cruz was “just another self-centered politician who walked back on a promise, failed to live up to his own biblical standards and, when the battle raged the fiercest, put his own petty hurts before the future of his country and the conservative cause.”
“I still like the Ted Cruz I thought I knew—the devoted family man, the loving father and husband, the talented lawyer, speaker, rhetorician and constitutional scholar,” he wrote. “But last night Ted Cruz pleased the 5 percent of #NeverTrump Republicans and disappointed and angered the vast majority in the conservative movement. In doing so Ted Cruz lost his chance to be the leader of the conservative movement, and effectively handed that mantle over to Mike Pence, in whom conservatives are now likely to invest their time, energy, resources and hopes to advance the conservative agenda.”
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