Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz argued in a recent interview that the United States would be better off -- and he would be more liked -- if the White House moved to Texas.
On Sunday's edition of State of the Union, CNN host Dana Bash pointed out to Cruz that he was "not the most popular person" among Republican lawmakers.
"But again, when you are president of the United States, you have to have some level or measure of liability in order to reach out and get things done," Bash explained. "How will you overcome that?"
According to Cruz, there was an "inverse relationship" between being "reviled in Washington and appreciated back home."
Sticking to the claim that it had actually been Democrats who shut down the government when he filibustered over President Barack Obama's health care reform law, Cruz recalled that he had been hailed as a hero in Texas.
"You were in Texas when I came home to the State Convention of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, and you saw the reaction of, in that case, the women back home who enthusiastically appreciated someone who was standing and fighting for them," he opined.
"But the White House isn't in Texas," Bash reminded him. "It's in Washington."
"And that's part of the problem," Cruz quipped.
"If you want to be president of the United States, you're going to live in the White House and work within the confines of the government," Bash said. "You're asking people to text message about the Constitution. So, you obviously don't want to change the system that much."
"How do you get to a place where you would be likable enough and have relationships enough to actually get things done?" she pressed.
Cruz argued that "there have been more than a few rocks tossed my direction from Democrats and Republicans."
"And yet in my entire time there, I haven't reciprocated," he insisted. "You have never heard me speak ill of any senator, Republican or Democrat. And I don't intend to start."
"I'm not going to engage in the personal mudslinging, in the negative attacks on people's character."
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