There will be people who watch this and decide that Cruz is their man for the GOP nomination in 2016, and in this hour-long speech he gives them all the ammunition they need to defend their choice.

You will not find a more complete exposition of the current situation in Washington, a more thorough takedown of the Republican leadership and the political ruling class he calls the Washington Cartel than what Cruz offers here. It is a speech straight out of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and he holds nothing back.

Cruz uses the failure of the GOP leadership to fight on Planned Parenthood funding, the Iran deal, executive amnesty and Obamacare to indict Mitch McConnell and John Boehner for cowardice and mendacity, and to illustrate the disconnect between the political class in the GOP and the party’s base of voters.

And he makes a prediction by way of explanation of Boehner’s resignation effective on All Saints Day – namely that Boehner will send a continuing resolution to fund the government with Planned Parenthood, the Iran Deal, executive amnesty and Obamacare all funded at least until next year if not possibly through the end of the Obama presidency. Boehner cannot survive as Speaker if he does so, because the motion to vacate the chair which is already on the table will be voted on and Boehner dispatched if he does. He would have to pass that CR with Democrat bloc votes and a smattering of his loyalists. Which, Cruz says, he will do on his way out the door as Speaker – having made a grand betrayal of the values he says he holds.

This, after McConnell has already completed such a betrayal without having been forced to give up his leadership post.

You might not even like Ted Cruz. You might think he’s a grandstander. But there is nobody else in Washington speaking truth so clearly and courageously. Ted Cruz has made himself a pariah in Washington, in order to defend the American people from its rulers.

Consider this before you continue flirting with reality TV stars as candidates to lead us.