Cruz said that conservatives failed to make their case to the American people. Cruz: Mitt 'French-kissed' Obama

Sen.-elect Ted Cruz believes Mitt Romney got a little too close to Barack Obama in the third presidential debate.

“I’m pretty certain Mitt Romney actually French-kissed Barack Obama,” Cruz said in a speech at the Federalist Society’s annual conference Friday.


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Cruz said that conservatives failed to make their case to the American people, leaving Romney no choice but to move toward the president. “We didn’t win the argument, we didn’t even make the argument” throughout much of 2012, Cruz said.

But in the first debate, he argued, that changed.

“It was the one time we actually contested ideas, presented two viewpoints and directions for the country,” he said. “And then inevitably, there are these mandarins of politics, who give the voice: ‘Don’t show any contrasts. Don’t rock the boat.’ So by the third debate, I’m pretty certain Mitt Romney actually French-kissed Barack Obama.

“I have no doubt that there is a focus group somewhere of undecided Ohio voters who have been living in a cave for the last 30 years, who decided they liked that,” Cruz continued. “‘Don’t show any disagreement whatsoever with the president. Don’t rock the boat. Just be a nice guy.’”

The Texas Republican speech amounted to something of an alternative history of the 2012 election, in which Romney’s chances peaked after the first debate because he presented strong contrasts with Obama. Most observers have pinpointed the first debate as a moment where Romney moderated his rhetoric and policy proposals, claiming the political center.

Cruz said centrist strategies were doomed to fail Republicans, who should instead focus on a simple motto: “Our ideas work. Theirs don’t.”

The former Texas solicitor general and onetime clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist was greeted by a standing ovation when he was introduced.

In a brief interview after his speech, Cruz wouldn’t directly comment on Romney’s assertion that “gifts” from President Barack Obama to minorities and young voters won reelection for the president. Instead, Cruz repeated the idea that Republicans failed to present a compelling argument.