Thanks to the (few) rules governing campaign Super PACs, candidates aren’t technically allowed to coordinate with them. Which means candidates can’t technically feed them hours and hours of raw video footage for future campaign ads. Candidates can however, casually leave them on a neglected YouTube account for Super PACs to find. And thank god they can, because Ted Cruz did.

Buzzfeed originally uncovered the 16 hour-long videos on an old YouTube account belonging to Cruz’s Senate campaign, to which the videos were quietly uploaded about four months ago.

The footage is, as CNN noted, deeply painful to watch. Long periods of coaching and silence are followed by clearly scripted word of praise for dear Ted. Hugs are repeated.

We’ve compiled the best worst bits of raw Cruz we could find. We’re sorry.

Contact the author at ashley@gawker.com. Video by Nicholas Stango.