After Hillary Clinton laughed at a questioner who said he wanted to “strangle” Carly Fiorina, Fox's Andrea Tantaros attacked Clinton so the Republican candidate didn’t have to.
On last night’s O’Reilly Factor, Fiorina declined to go after Hillary Clinton when she laughed, instead of correcting or challenging a man at a campaign event who said he was laid off by Fiorina and that when he sees her on TV he wants to “reach through and strangle” her.
“I can understand why someone who was laid off might feel badly about it,” Fiorina said. “I don’t take umbrage with him, I don’t even take umbrage with Mrs. Clinton. I do take umbrage with the clear double standard that exists in the media. I mean, if this had happened with a conservative candidate, the liberal media would be all over us to correct him, to apologize and all the rest of it.”
A quick Google search reveals the incident was reported by NPR, ABC News, CNN, The Hill and CBS News, e.g.
But that was just not anti-Hillary enough for the “fair and balanced” panel of all conservatives on Outnumbered today.
First, cohost Harris Faulkner praised Fiorina for not playing the victim - while Fox did so on her behalf:
FAULKNER: One of the things that gets her so many points with people is the fact that she doesn’t play victim. You know, that she accepts that she’s in the arena. So I’m not surprised that she wouldn’t look – not to deflect but to take some of the air out of that balloon and say, “You know what? It wasn’t right but I’m not looking” – she’s said it many times, she’s not looking for an apology.
She said that to the women of The View. She’s been attacked before. This isn’t her first rodeo, so to speak. But what people have said they like about her is, she can be strong. She doesn’t have to play the victim.
Tantaros took it another, viler level. While she was at it, Tantaros suggested that the questioner was a plant.
TANTAROS: Carly Fiorina isn’t a whiner. She’s not a professional victim like Hillary Clinton. She knows that, isn’t it weird – an employee that was fired by HP just happens to be in the audience of Hilary’s event? Isn’t that odd how that happened? What a coincidence!
So I think what’s happening is, Carly Fiorina knows that if she speaks out and she makes this an issue, she’s gonna get ink. She’s gonna get earned media on it, which is tempting. But she doesn’t want to look like the victim. She also knows there’s a double standard. I applaud her! I applaud her for coming out. You know, sometimes you reach a point where you go, “You know what? My inclination is to ignore this because I’m not a victim and there is a double standard. But I’m not a whiner or complainer. And sometimes, you know what? You just stand up and you go, “I’m gonna stick it right in their face. ‘Cause Hillary is not a girl’s girl, she’s a gutter girl and it’s time that someone called her out on it.”
And who better to decide who’s a gutter girl than the woman who asked her radio show listeners to “do me a favor” and punch an Obama supporter “in the face?”
Cohosts Melissa Francis and the show’s #OneLuckyGuy Scott Brown seconded the idea that the questioner was a plant.
As for “playing the victim,” nobody plays the victim better than Fox News and nobody has proved it better than Jon Stewart.
Watch “Punch” Tantaros take the low road below, from the November 12 Outnumbered.
The “incident” with Hillary is far less damning when seen in FULL context. The man was obviously NOT really threatening Fiorina and the rest of the crowd was laughing as well. But, bear in mind the man was among those people whose jobs were destroyed by Fiorina, so he’s got a reason to get a bit hyperbolic with his language. We’ve ALL been there at some point but very few (infinitesimal really) ever actually follow through on the “threats.” Because, you know, they’re not crazy.
On the other hand, I’m not too happy with Hillary either. That was inexcusable on her part.
Well, that’s very big of her.
She’s got the personal experience, after all.
