Kristol on Cruz and His Senate Colleagues: 'More Whining About Him Than Is Really Warranted'

On Thursday’s Hugh Hewitt radio program, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol downplayed any potential consequences of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) use of parliamentary tactics in this week’s Senate vote to raise the debt ceiling.

“[I] think people are overreacting to Cruz and his last few days in the Senate,” Kristol said. “Someone called me from someone other’s senator’s staff and said, ‘What do you think – should we go for the 50-vote or 60-vote requirement and I don’t see much point in doing 60 votes. They’re going to get it through, so just let it go through. Why make it an awkward vote for some other Republicans?”

“But Cruz wanted to do it, so he did it,” he continued. “So 12 of them voted for cloture. It went through and they all got to vote against the debt ceiling increase in the end – 12 of them voted for cloture. I don’t think it’s honestly a big deal. And the idea that this is like a moment where the establishment Republican senators are just going to sit around whining to each other about how could Ted Cruz make us cast this tough vote, I mean as if it was such a tough vote for most of them who are up in four years, five years and many of them with safe seats that have been elected two or three or four or five times—I don’t know, I feel that there has been a little bit of — Cruz doesn’t always do it the way I would do it but there is more whining about him than is really warranted.”