“I’m not saying what Cruz says here is wrong - just that using this as some kind of measuring stick for Cruz (or anyone, for that matter) is silly.”
It’s a probability consideration. Kind of like the bottom of the ninth, team is down by 1, man on 2nd base, and Trump is hitting .275 and Cruz is at .345. Who do you want at the plate knowing neither might get a hit?
Here’s the thing: Cruz may want a more conservative, more traditionalist nominee than Trump. However, once that person gets on the Court history tells us it’s a complete coin flip on whether that person remains conservative, remains traditionalist.
To borrow your analogy, we may have a better chance at getting a traditionalist ONTO the Court with Cruz. History says once that person is on the Court, they have a 50/50 shot at REMAINING that way.
That’s why using this as a litmus test is silly. We don’t care about what they say to get onto the Court. We only care about what they do when they’re there.