George W. Bush was our security president.  He kept us safe!  (Except for victims of the Boston marathon bomber.  And victims of illegal alien crimes.  And arguably victims of 9/11.)  So it pains me when my security president goes out on a limb and talks about his dislike of Ted Cruz.

George W. obviously wants another issue of George H.W. Bush's loins to rule us.  It's a natural urge to try to propagate your DNA into the presidency of a country.  But what does he have against Senator Cruz? Eli Stokols writes in Politico:

"I just don't like the guy," Bush said Sunday night, according to conversations with more than half a dozen donors who attended the event.

"The tenor of what he said about the other candidates was really pretty pleasant," another donor said. "Until he got to Cruz."

Bush took a harsh view of Cruz's apparent alliance with Trump, who stood with the senator at a Capitol Hill rally last month in opposition to the Iran deal. While Trump, the current GOP poll leaders, has attacked most of his competitors in the 2016 field, he has avoided criticizing Cruz.

One donor, paraphrasing the former president's comment in response to a broad question about how he viewed the primary race and the other Republican candidates, said: "He said he found it 'opportunistic' that Cruz was sucking up to Trump and just expecting all of his support to come to him in the end," that donor added.

Bush also cast Cruz's candidacy as an exercise in personal gain, not service. "He sort of looks at this like Cruz is doing it all for his own personal gain, and that's juxtaposed against a family that's been all about public service and doing it for the right reasons," a donor said.

Bush has hit it right on the mark.  Cruz is running for president for personal gain.  Jeb, on the other hand, is doing it for the good of humanity.  (And the Chamber of Commerce.  And the good of at least 10% of the citizenry from Central and South America who want to love-bomb our schools, hospitals, welfare offices, and 7-11 parking lots.)

"He's frustrated to have watched Cruz basically hijack the Republican Party of Texas and the Republican Party in Washington."

According to several donors, the former president said not to doubt Cruz's strength.

"He said he thought Cruz was going to be a pretty formidable candidate against Jeb, especially in Texas and across the South," a donor said.

So now we have the real reason George W. dislikes Ted Cruz: he fears him.

Donald Trump has been attacking Jeb and George W. Bush quite strongly, but George W. apparently didn't have an unkind word about Trump.  Ted Cruz, who hasn't said a word against Jeb, is the one who earns George's ire.

That's because George W. is afraid of Ted Cruz.  He knows that Ted is beloved by the base, and fears, justifiably, that Cruz will steal Southern support that should go to Jeb.  Cruz also has more cash on hand (not counting super-PAC money) than any other GOP candidate.

While Cruz hasn't been so strong in the polls, he could do well in caucus states like Iowa where organization counts.  And if Trump does falter at some point, Cruz is well-positioned to pick up his supporters.  That's the strategery that George W. fears.

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.