All this talk about grandstanding for his base to gear up for a 2016 POTUS run, misses the point. Ted Cruz will indeed run for President. He will lose, either in the primaries or in the general. He already knows that. Cruz doesn't care. All this showmanship, hot air, blathering on for 20+ hours and subsequent visit to Rush isn't really about becoming President. They are merely more ways to build his brand.
Cruz's idol is obvious. You can see it in that picture above. Look at him give Sarah the puppy-dog eyes. That coy slightly timid way he reaches out to touch her waist as if to ask, "Is this really okay? Are you really choosing me?"
His queen has reached down and annointed him and Ted couldn't be happier. He's going to do everything he can to become Sarah Palin. He'll run for POTUS in 2016 and, heck, I wouldn't be shocked if he quit the Senate sometime after 2014 to "focus full time on running for POTUS." Then he'll lose and then the fun (and the real reason all this glitz) begins.
Ted's gonna get PAID!. He's already due for a payday of epic proportions. He'll make millions if he quits today, but in 2-3 years when his "ambitions are dashed" and he finally gives up his run, the money is going to roll in just like it did for Queen Sarah, but in even bigger numbers because after all Ted is "smart". He went to Harvard. So the rubes are going to be convinced even more than they were by Sarah's wink that they've found their true leader, one that cannot be dismissed as stupid by the evil left and they will demand his slot on FAUX news and buy his books and go to his talks and shower him with obscene amounts of money.
And Ted will laugh and roll around in his huge money pit and hire some firm to figure out how to suck even more money out of the rubes. Ted's moment in the Sun starts now. He's ready for his close up. He's got the star appeal. He's got the bluster. He's got the ears and eyes of the dumbest part of the rightwing voting bloc and soon he'll have their heart and after that their wallets will open and the money will roll in.
That's all Ted really wants and if he can just find a way not to do anything to horribly stupid these next few years his dream will come true and he will become the chosen one and laugh, laugh, laugh all the way to the bank.