The Rachel Maddow Show   |  January 29, 2013

Cruz thinks he's qualified to judge Kerry, Hagel on military support

Rachel Maddow notes the nerve Senator Ted Cruz must have to question the loyalties to the military of decorated veterans Senator John Kerry and former Senator Chuck Hagel given Cruz's lack of military service.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> before his nomination to position of secretary of state was put to a vote in the u.s. senate today, before he was a senator from the great state of massachusetts , john kerry was an officer in the united states navy . he served in vietnam, where pretty famously he was awarded three purple hearts and a silver star and a bronze star . before he was the senator from the great state of texas , before he was a lawyer, ted cruz , on the other hand, went to princeton, and then went to harvard law school , where he did very well in school. it was therefore pretty breathtaking when senator ted cruz voiced his opposition to both senator kerry's nomination at the state department and to the nomination of chuck hagel to run the defense department . chuck hagel received two purple hearts in vietnam and walks around every day with shrapnel in his chest. it was pretty remarkable when we heard the reason why senator ted cruz says that those two wounded combat veterans are not going to get his vote in the senate.

>> we've got two pending nominations, john kerry , chuck hagel . both of whom are very prominently anti-us. less than ardent fans of the u.s. military .

>> they don't love the military. not like he does. he is the junior senator from texas. there are no medals for a declaration like that, but technically speaking, i think what we're supposed to say is that is some brass, senator. we'll have more ahead, including from hillary clinton . stay