Bush endorses Cruz; what’s Rubio waiting for?

With the Florida primary in the rear view mirror and Marco Rubio out of the race, Jeb Bush has endorsed Ted Cruz for president. The endorsement comes a month after Bush dropped out of the race.

By waiting as long as he did, Bush accomplished two things — neither of them noble. First, he avoided endorsing Rubio, who “betrayed” him by running for president, while at the same time avoiding endorsing someone other his protege — the man who pushed for the vice presidency in 2012 — while Rubio was in the race.

Second, Bush avoided the embarrassment of seeing a candidate he endorsed trounced by Donald Trump in Florida — Jeb’s home state.

Jeremy Carl at NRO calls Bush’s endorsement of Cruz a “game-changer” mainly because it validates Cruz as acceptable to the establishment and will help him raise money. I hope Carl is right. However, I doubt that many are taking cues from Jeb Bush at this point.

Meanwhile, what about Marco Rubio? For at least a week there have be reports that he is “nearing” and/or “edging towards” a decision to endorse Cruz.

I don’t know what he’s waiting for. There isn’t much substantive difference between the two Senators and no one has made the anti-Trump case more forcefully than Rubio.

If Lindsey Graham can bite the bullet and back Cruz, Marco Rubio certainly should be able to. With early primary voting ongoing, sooner is better.

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