Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum admitted Sunday that Sen. Ted Cruz’s actions, while admirable, were ultimately harmful to the nation.
“I would say that in the end he did more harm,” Santorum said on Meet the Press. “I think it was not his objective. I think his objective was a laudable one.”
He added that Cruz’s main failure came in not having a well-thought out plan to help him reach his goal. “It’s one thing to have a goal, and another thing to have a plan to get you to that goal. He didn’t figure that out.”
Throughout the government shutdown, Santorum had been vocal about his support for the freshman senator. In September, during an interview on CNN’s New Day, Santorum said, “I can say I have been accused of putting my party in a bad spot repeatedly when I was in the Senate and sometimes you have to do that. You have to make people uncomfortable because people do get too comfortable in sort of cutting the deal.”
Cruz continues to stand by his attempts to derail the Affordable Care Act, despite putting his party–and Congress–in danger ahead of the 2014 midterm elections. “We elevated the national debate over what a disaster, what a train wreck, how much Obamacare is hurting millions of Americans across this country,” Cruz said on Friday at the Iowa Reagan Dinner GOP fundraising event.
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Traci Lee