Hardball host Chris Matthews's disdain for Sen. Ted Cruz is so palpable he can't resist making a snide comment when noting a rare instance in which the Texas Republican praised the first lady, and that in the context of standing up for women's rights.
"What do we make of First Lady Michelle Obama not wearing a veil over in Saudi Arabia?" Matthews rhetorically asked as he teased a segment on the January 28 Hardball program. "Some say she was not respectful enough. Some women's activists, rights activists, are praising her. And actually, this is unfortunate, she got a kudo from Ted Cruz, but what does that tell you?"
[As far conservative pundits have been concerned however, the real controversy was not Mrs. Obama's not wearing the hijab (head scarf) but rather a video which purports to show Saudi television blurring Mrs. Obama's face in protest of her not doing so. For their part, the Saudis now deny that they blurred out Mrs. Obama.]
In the actual panel segment on the matter, Matthews read from Cruz's statement, this time avoiding additional smarmy commentary:
And some are saying the first lady was making a political statement instead of a fashion statement. Even Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, an unlikely ally of Michelle's, cheered her in a post on Facebook this afternoon saying, "Kudos to First Lady Michelle Obama for standing up for women worldwide and refusing to wear a Sharia-mandated head-scarf in Saudi Arabia. Nicely done."
