It’s hard to figure this out.
I'm telling you, it's not the message, it's the messenger.
More to the point: It's the messenger's campaign staff.
Look, think objectively about what I'm about to write. It's not meant in a meanspirited way:
His campaign has made one blunder after another. The robocalls and push polls, the Carson incident, the "voter violation", the photoshopped Rubio thing on the website, the sleezy campaign spokespeople on TV. On and on.
Now, individually, these things may be defensible, but collectively they paint a picture.
Think on it: Two fellow candidates called him a LIAR on the national debate stage. Not, "I disagree" or "you misstated the facts" or something soft like that. LIAR. That's harsh.
And, yet, there wasn't any widespread public outcry or condemnation. You know why? Because the public believes the charge to be justified.
So, the campaign has maneuvered this evangelical candidate, a good man, into a position where the public in general thinks he's a sleezy, dishonest politician.
That's why I think it's been an awful campaign staff. In a perfect world, Cruz would clear out the whole lot of them. But I think it's too late now.