Bring on the advice.
On Tuesday, conservative media mogul Glenn Beck (who declared that he’s done with the GOP) did an “interview” with 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz. The Republican Texas senator announced his candidacy Monday after an evening of bedtime stories with Breitbart News‘ Matthew Boyle. (RELATED: Breitbart News Snuggles Up To Sen. Ted Cruz)
I use the word “interview” loosely because it was light on journalistic questions and more like a crazy personal plea from Beck for Cruz to not fuck things up for the other Republican candidates (read: more viable candidates) that Beck would really like to see advance in the race.
What it amounted to was a public embarrassment for what passes for journalism in 2015.
And good for Cruz — he made no real promises.
Glenn Beck: “So, Ted, let me ask you this, and this is a hard question. I like Rand Paul. I like Scott Walker. I’d like to see those guys advance. There are progressives in the Republican Party, i.e. Jeb Bush, that just need to be stopped. Or we’re just going to end up with Jeb Bush. Is it at all part of your strategy or will you consider not going after Rand, and Scott Walker, Rand in particular, to keep the guys who love the Constitution in play so focus your energy on the people who are the progressives?”
Sen. Ted Cruz: “I very much like and respect Rand Paul, I very much like and respect Scott Walker. They’re both good guys. My focus is not going to be going after anybody. My focus is going to be making the affirmative case that number one … what I think primary voters are looking for is someone who is a consistent conservative who said the same thing yesterday today and tomorrow and who will stand up and do what he said he would do and I think to win, the only way that we’re going to win is if you have a full spectrum conservative who has a proven record standing for principle — whether it’s on Obamacare, whether it is stopping the debt ceiling, whether it is stopping Obama’s executive amnesty. Whether it is defending the First Amendment, free speech, religious liberty, defending the Second Amendment, defending our privacy, defending the Tenth Amendment and stopping Common Core, standing with the nation of Israel, standing up to Iran and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. And I’ll tell you as I look at the potential field, I see a lot of people who I like and respect who are friends of mine. But as you look at those issues that I listed off, and you ask of all the senators and governors looking at this field, looking at this race, how many of them have actually stood up and led and engaged meaningfully on the great issues today?”