GOP candidate Carly Fiorina Friday squared off with the women of "The View," telling them that she is very thick skinned and would prefer to have "civil conversations" about the important issues facing the United States, rather than respond to their attacks on her appearance.
"You know what, I've been called all kinds of things," the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told one of the show's hosts, comedian Whoopi Goldberg. "I've been called a bimbo from the time I was a secretary to the time I was a CEO. I think we need to be able to have civil conversations in this country about our differences, as well as the things that unite us. Far too often, we demonize the messenger, rather than the message."
Fiorina came to the show because after the last Republican presidential debate, two of the show's other hosts, Joy Behar and Michelle Collins, made fun of Fiorina's appearance and her own comments that she'd been criticized for not smiling, with Collins saying her smile looked "demented" and the two women saying her face was worthy of a Halloween mask.
Fiorina challenged the hosts to invite her back for a second appearance and to see if they had "the guts to say that to my face." However, she was not actually on the show, but instead did the interview from on the campaign trail, and Behar and Collins didn't offer any apologies.
Behar told her that she is a comedian who jokes about all politicians, including "Hillary Clinton's pantsuits" and "John Boehner's suntan," and Collins asked Fiorina if someone was coaching her to smile more.
"You know what Joy, you can say whatever you want. I'm not going to stop that," Fiorina retorted. "And don't worry, I have skin plenty thick enough to take whatever people throw at me. I think there are real issues in this nation that we ought to able to discuss in a fact-based conversation."
And to Collins, Fiorina said that she does not have coaches telling her how to act, and she loves to smile and laugh.
"If you meant [the] comment about my face being demented as a Halloween mask as a joke, so be it… I have a real thick skin," Fiorina told Goldberg, when she asked her if she'd be able to handle such jokes if elected.
Goldberg also criticized Fiorina for fundraising on her "fake feud" with the show, and another host, Paula Faris, told her she was "clearly trying to make lemonade out of lemons" with the squabble.
"Oh, so you are telling me you guys are lemons?" Fiorina shot back, drawing a few laughs.
But throughout the appearance, Fiorina insisted she wanted to talk about the important issues, but when she got a question about Planned Parenthood, all the women started to interrupt each other, until an exasperated Fiorina interrupted to ask, loudly, if she could "finish answering the question."
Fiorina also, during the back-and-forth, told the women their points were the "litany of the left," and tried to explain to them her opinions on feminism, over their interruptions.
The show hosts also attempted to poke fun at Fiorina about the complaints from Republicans about the debate questions they'd faced during the recent CNBC debate, until she reminded them that she had never participated in the protest and did not send a representative to a meeting held in Washington among candidates' representatives on Sunday.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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