More troubling, I am not aware of George W. Bush criticizing Barack Obama as intensely as he has criticized his Republican Senator in Texas.

What President Bush is doing is signaling that he thinks Ted Cruz is the major threat to the Republican Establishment and the candidate the Establishment fears the most. In a election year where the outsiders are beating the insiders, this will only help Cruz. In the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll — the same one showing strong anti-Jeb sentiment — Cruz had made no gains over last month. I expect this news will help him tremendously.

I also think this is another data point in why Jeb Bush walking away from the race would profoundly shake up the race in ways no other candidate leaving would.

Ted Cruz could not pay money for this kind of publicity in this kind of election year.