Reid: 'I've never had to prove my manhood to anyone'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fired back at his Republican opponent Sharron Angle Thursday for telling him to "man up" when it comes to Social Security reform. 

Reid, who is in a deadlocked race with the Tea Party-backed GOP nominee, said that people know where he stands on the issues, while Angle is a mystery to Nevada voters.

"People in Nevada know me," he said on the "Ed Show" on MSNBC. "From the street to the ring to the Senate chambers, I’ve never had to prove my manhood to anyone."

Angle's comment last week raised eyebrows during her only debate with Reid, during which she lobbed several pointed barbs at the veteran senator.

"Man up, Harry Reid," Angle said. "You need to understand we have a problem with Social Security." 

The Nevada race has been one of the most watched Senate contests in the country. Democrats are hoping that their leader in the Senate can stave off a tough challenge from Angle, a dark-horse candidate who won her party's nomination, which would also help preserve their majority.

Reid and Angle both have fiercely criticized one another on the campaign trail. The senator on Thursday criticized Angle for avoiding the press, likening her media strategy to former Vice President Dick Cheney's.

"And for this woman, who is — you’re fortunate to catch her, you know, she doesn’t do interviews … I mean you had to catch her on the run because she doesn’t do interviews," he said. "She spends most of her time in her bunker. I don’t know if it’s Cheney’s bunker but it’s some kind of a bunker someplace, and I would be in that bunker myself if I said that I wanted to phase out Medicare, get rid of Social Security, do away with the Department of Energy, the Department of Education."

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