Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly on his program Tuesday night put forth that the conflict between Democrats and Republicans over the government shutdown boils down to one thing: Who's manlier?

"You know why you're not going to get President Obama to give much," O'Reilly said to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), "and this would have to come from the senate, it's not going to come from the President but he could be persuaded if Harry Reid and those people would say 'hey, you gotta do this' -- is Syria. See, he backed off on Syria and he looked weak. If he backs down from Ted Cruz, you know what's going to happen. He's not going to back down. It's you and him; mano-a-mano. This is a macho thing. You know what this is."

Watch: