Ted Cruz's speech in Wisconsin Tuesday night—one of the best of his presidential campaign—only briefly mentioned his top rival for the GOP nomination, Donald Trump. Instead, the Texas Republican, reinvigorated by a series of recent primary wins capped off by the double-digit victory in Wisconsin, had his eye toward the general election and his likely opponent, Hillary Clinton.
"Tonight was a bad night for Hillary Clinton," he said, noting her loss in Wisconsin to Bernie Sanders. "It was a bad night in the Democratic primary, and it was an even worse night for her in the Republican primary."
Nodding toward Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who endorsed him last week and who introduced him Tuesday night in Milwaukee, Cruz argued he was uniting the "full spectrum" of the Republican party. He offered a rallying cry, "jobs, freedom, security," designed for a national campaign. He touted the women in his life, like his wife Heidi and his mother Eleanor, whom Cruz said "smashed glass ceilings by becoming a pioneering computer programmer." Perhaps in a bid to transcend partisanship, Cruz even quoted at length an icon of the rival party, John F. Kennedy.
"'I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high, to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future,'" said Cruz, quoting Kennedy's 1960 Democratic National Convention speech.
"Tonight, Wisconsin has lit a candle, guiding the way to the future," Cruz continued. "Tonight, once again, we have hope for the future."
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04.23.2024