Rush Limbaugh tries to convince skeptical Fox host that Cruz is just like Reagan: 'He's a likable guy!'

Making a rare appearance on a show not his own, Rush Limbaugh joined Fox News on Sunday morning to make a pitch for surging GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, insisting to a skeptical Chris Wallace that Cruz is "likable."

Noting that Limbaugh had previously said Cruz is "the closest we're going to come to Ronald Reagan in out lifetime," Wallace grimaced before adding, "Now, I didn't know Ronald Reagan as well as you did, but I did cover him for eight years as president. I've got to say that I felt that Reagan was more inclusive than Cruz is. More about trying to soften the edges to get more people inside the tent."

Limbaugh stated his belief that Cruz has "limited his appeal" by going after evangelicals and hardcore conservatives who sat out the 2012 election because they didn't feel Mitt Romney was conservative enough.

"He's just in a different league, he understands conservatives, uh, conservatism because he is," Limbaugh insisted. "And he is a nice guy, he's a likable guy. He's not crazy, he's not nasty, he's certainly not a liar. He's a down the middle guy that anybody can trust, with plenty of integrity."

"The establishment doesn't like him either, it's not just Trump. And that's because he is who he is," Limbaugh added.

Limbaugh's endorsement of Cruz's likability flies in the face of multiplereports from the Senate where his colleagues describe him as arrogant and a self-promoter.

Watch the video below from Fox News Sunday: