Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly kicked off her new program on Monday night with a pointed question to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“What’s it like to be the most hated man in America?” Kelly asked the senator during the debut of “The Kelly File.”
Cruz initially eschewed the question, instead expressing how honored he felt to appear on the first night of Kelly’s new show.
“All right, so now answer the question,” Kelly said.
“Look, I think there have been more than a few Democrats who are throwing rocks my direction and to quote the Bard, ‘Methinks she doth protest too much,'” Cruz said.
“They are throwing every insult they can but the reality is most Americans don’t care about politicians bickering,” he continued. “They’re looking for people to solve the problems. What we need to do right now is what the House of Represenatives are doing. The House of Representatives is passing bills to fund vital priorities of government and unfortunately President Obama and the Senate Democrats are refusing to negotiate. They’re refusing to pass bills.”
In fact, the Senate did pass a continuing resolution to fund the government but that bill did not undermine the Affordable Care Act, a sticking point for Cruz and other tea partiers. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) insists that the Senate bill could not pass the lower chamber, despite media reports to the contrary.
Cruz has seen his profile rise during the budget showdown, but he may have burned some bridges along the way. He was rebuked by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for comparing those who were skeptical of the campaign to defund the health care law to Nazi appeasers. And Cruz was reportedly savaged by fellow Republicans last week during a closed-door meeting.
