Ted Cruz and Beto O' Rourke had their first debate on Friday night and, as would be expected as the race moves to "toss-up" territory, it got heated. The race has been vacillated between tense and ridiculous already, with Ted Cruz claiming his opponent would ban barbecue and Texas Republicans accidentally touting how much cooler O'Rourke is.

Friday's debate at Southern Methodist University was mainly focused on domestic issues, with Cruz saying O'Rourke wants to get rid of the Second Amendment (which isn't true) and O'Rourke accusing Cruz of being more interested in becoming president and missing half of the Senate votes in 2016 (which is).

When the debate moved to police violence though, Cruz promptly changed the subject. Instead of directly answering yes or no to the question of whether he thought police violence against African Americans was a problem, Cruz gave a response that basically amounts to "all lives matter" then follows it up with a "but," saying he's been to too many police funerals.

It's worth noting that the question was inspired by the death of Botham Jean, who was killed when a police officer reportedly mistook his apartment for her own and gunned him down. There are no accounts of Cruz attending Jean's funeral.

Beyond that, Cruz's point is disingenuous at best, since this is one of the safest times in U.S. history to be a police officer, and, in fact, the profession doesn't even crack the top ten most dangerous jobs in the country. Cruz also told on himself via social media Friday evening. His Twitter account posted a video of O'Rourke, captioned "In Beto O'Rourke's own words." It shows Cruz's opponent speaking in a packed church, decrying Jean's murder and the Dallas Police Department's decision to release a report that he had marijuana in his apartment, as though that had some relevance to a cop killing him in an alleged moment of confusion. Apparently Cruz thinks this point is somehow damning enough to not need any explanation.

In the many accounts of cops killing unarmed black people, Jean's murder should be the lowest possible hanging fruit, the example that no amount of sophistry or mental gymnastics can justify. But apparently Cruz is trying. Unfortunately for him, all he's doing is yet again making O'Rourke look better by comparison.