This election season, Glenn finds himself in what he calls "a refreshing place." Why? He can finally fulfill a promise he's made to himself the last two election cycles: support a candidate in its purest form, without compromise or feeling like he's "carrying water."
"What I enjoy most about being a Ted Cruz supporter [is] I have not once had to make an excuse for something he has done. ...Not once," Glenn explained.
No justifying something stupid he's said.
No justifying something cruel he's said.
No justifying his voting record.
No reconciling his private behavior versus his public behavior.
No apologizing for indiscretions with interns.
No explaining away something he did five years ago.
"Man, it is nice to be able to sleep at night and feel good that I don't have to carry a bit of water for any man," Glenn said.
Refusing to serve someone's interests comes at a price, though.
"Why is this show one of the only shows that doesn't hold water for Ted---for Donald Trump? I'll tell you why," Glenn said. "We don't have any friends. And we've often said, 'That's a really bad thing. Really bad thing.' And the reason why we don't have any friends is because we won't carry anybody's water. We just won't do it. If they screw up, we won't carry water."
Where does Glenn place his loyalty? With his audience and the truth---simple, freeing and refreshing.
Listen to a program segment below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: I find myself in a very refreshing place. And it is a place I promised myself I would be in, but I have -- I promised myself for the last two elections I would be in this place. But I have faltered on that because I've been like, "Okay. Well, we have to get somebody in. Better than Barack Obama." And I said to this audience, "You stop me. If I get to that point, you've got to stop me. I will not vote for somebody who is just really bad. And I've convinced myself. Please stop me."
What I enjoy most about being a Ted Cruz supporter, I have not once had to make an excuse for something he's done. I have not once had to say, "Yeah, I know, but he's really good on other things, though." I have not once had to justify one of his votes. I have not once had to justify something stupid, something callous, something mean, or something cruel that he has said. I have not once had to dismiss or justify his behavior, either towards other people in private, in public. Not once have I had to justify that. Not once have I had to apologize for something he did to an intern. Not once have I had to say, yeah, but that's that was five years ago, he's a different man now. Not once. That puts me as a voter and as a supporter -- I'm not carrying any water for this guy.
The only water I have to carry is when somebody says, "Yeah, well, he's not really conservative." Have you read his resume?
"Well, he doesn't really know the Constitution." Again, have you read his resume?
"Well, he's not really a good dad." Where do you get that?
"Well, he's in with these people." How? How?
"He's part of the establishment." They hate him.
"He's inconsistent." In what way? Name something you can say about Ted Cruz. I don't have -- all I have to do is correct the errors. I don't have to justify what he has done.
Never before in my life -- and I will tell you, it was like this with Ronald Reagan until two things, he made the deal with amnesty and the Iran contra affair. The Iran HEP contra affair, I happen to believe Ronald Reagan, but I'm not sure.
Ted Cruz is the only candidate I have -- and we watch these guys. You know when he was first on. We didn't know if we should buy him. We didn't know if we should believe him.
And I looked him in the eye, and I said on the air, "We'll be your worst nightmare." Why is this show one of the only shows that doesn't hold water for Ted -- for Donald Trump? I'll tell you why.
We don't have any friends. And we've often said, "That's a really bad thing. Really bad thing." And the reason why we don't have any friends is because we won't carry anybody's water. We just won't do it. If they screw up, we won't carry water.
My bond, my loyalty is to you. You were my friend long before any of these clowns were my friends. You've done more for me than anybody else I know. My loyalty is to you and to the truth. And too many people in the either are friends of Donald Trump -- I play golf with him. I know him. I've been to dinner with him. I've had all these relationships with him. And so I excuse these things because I'm a friend of his.
If you were a judge, you would recuse yourself. You would say, "I cannot discuss him in any way because I'm a friend." You would be -- you would be recused.
I'm not saying this as a bad thing. I'm saying this is human nature. You don't want to piss off your friends. You know, and I'll do you a favor. And so you're either doing that candidate, whichever candidate it is, a favor because I'm going to excuse you on this one because we're friends. We've got a good relationship.
I told Ted Cruz, "We're going to be your worst nightmare. We are not carrying any water for you. We will not excuse -- when the thing with the TPP happened, what did we say? We didn't excuse him. We said, "I don't understand this. I don't get this at all." We were the first ones on board saying, "Wait a minute. What are you doing, Ted?" What, Stu?
STU: I was going to say, you guys more than me. I was more in favor than you guys were.
GLENN: But we weren't.
STU: No, you guys stepped in immediately.
GLENN: We don't carry water. And I have to tell you something. It is so unbelievably freeing. It is a pleasure to be -- and if you can find another candidate like this, go for it. But it is a pleasure to be a supporter for Ted Cruz where I don't have to apologize. I don't have to comprise my credibility. What's wrong with the conservative movement? What is the biggest problem with the conservative movement and the G.O.P.?
STU: Comprising principles.
GLENN: And? And how do you feel? Why are you so mad at the G.O.P.? Because you've been out there with your friends defending these clowns and saying, "We're not like that. We don't mean that. That's not what we do. It's your side that does that." And then you elect them, and then they get in. And then you're like, "Son of a bitch. I've just carried all that -- you've hurt my credibility."
I don't have to do that with Ted Cruz. So the reason why these attacks on Ted Cruz are not going to work, one, he's 66 percent everybody's second choice. So anybody who attacks him -- if Rick Santorum attacks him, there's a good chance half of his support really likes Ted Cruz. And it makes you go -- the only thing you don't like about Ted Cruz is, I don't think he can win. That's the only thing -- that's the only negative I've heard on Ted Cruz. I don't know, his personality. I don't know if he can really connect with the American people. It's never about his policies. It's never about anything of substance. It's about, I don't think he can win. So when somebody attacks him, you immediately go, "Wait a minute. Hang on just a second. He's the only guy out there that is completely solid. If he had the personality of Ronald Reagan, we would all be in the boat for this guy." If Ted Cruz had the personality of Marco Rubio, this would be done. It would be done.
And so when somebody, who doesn't have the record of Ted Cruz, starts to say, "Well, you know what, he's really not -- you go, "Hang on. That doesn't make sense." And so you immediately demote -- you give demoting points to your guy because you're saying, "Wait a minute. That doesn't compute. So something is wrong. You're part of the problem."
PAT: We all like Rick Santorum. Look how it affected us, when he started attacking Ted Cruz. It pissed us off.
GLENN: I have no -- because we know it's dishonest. We know it's dishonest.
Featured Image: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek on November 13, 2015 in Orlando, Florida. The summit brought Republican presidential candidates in front of the Republican voters. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
