Since the spokes are directly in line with the main force vectors that shape the wheel, a radially laced wheel is stiffer and has greater lateral strength than any cross pattern. First off, the spokes are not bent by any spoke they touch, since they don't touch any. When two spokes cross and give each other a slight bend, it results in a situation where the spoke with the greatest tension will be straighter than the spoke with the least tension. When a shock stress affects these spokes, the spoke that recieves the greater ammount of stress will try to straighten out, the other will bend more. This slight flexing of the spoke does ammount to an increase in the distance from the hub to the rim on the section of the rim that is anchored by that spoke. This also absorbs some of the shock, thereby 'softening' the ride of the wheel. Stresses cannot lengthen a radial spoke like this because it is already as straight as it can be. Since the radial spoke doesn't have the slight bend it can't mechanically absorb any of the shock or stress.
Secondly, in regards to lateral strength, a radial spoke is anchored at the hub as close as it can to where it anchors on the rim (the spoke is as short as it can be). This results in the angle of the spoke at the rim being as large as it can be. The greater this angle the greater the lateral strength. A small ammount can make a big difference. More discussion of these concepts is given on the TRIG page.
http://spokeanwheel.110mb.com/lacingrl.htm