Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina complained on Fox News about being the victim of a “liberal media” double standard because of sneers about her looks on The View. But host John Roberts never told viewers about a few points that undercut her claim.
From the transcript:
ROBERTS: Let's go back to the debate on Wednesday. In your opening statements, you joked in the Ronald Reagan library debate, that you didn't smile enough, and the ladies of "The View" decided to take issue with that.
Let’s listen to Michelle Collins said about your performance at the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE COLLINS, "THE VIEW": She kicked off her thing, you know, people tell me I didn't smile enough during the last debate. She looked demented. I mean, she did not -- her mouth did not downturn one time. She was like --
JOY BEHAR, "THE VIEW": She’s on Halloween mask. I love that.
COLLINS: Smiling Fiorina, can you imagine?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Demented, Halloween mask, is there a double standard here, Ms. Fiorina, for Republican women? I can't imagine they would say things like that about Hillary Clinton?
FIORINA: Oh, you think? Yes, I think there’s a double standard. It’s funny, you know, I was on "The View" several months ago. They said none of that to my face.
There is nothing more threatening to the liberal media in general and to Hillary Clinton in particular than a conservative woman. So, of course, there's a double standard.
Conservative women from Sarah Palin to Michele Bachmann to Carly Fiorina are long used to this. It will not stop me. It will not scare me. Maybe the ladies of "The View", if I come back on again, let's see if they have the guts to say that to my face.
ROBERTS: You know, they said something similar about Miss Colorado after the Miss America pageant on stage in a nurse's uniform. I had a chance to meet Kelley Johnson last weekend in Denver. She is a lovely woman, committed to her profession.
Are these women out of touch?
FIORINA: Well, I think what these women represent is a set of liberal feminists who believe that if you do not agree with them on their liberal orthodoxy that you don't count, that somehow you're not a woman. You see, I know that women represent half the nation, so, of course, our views are going to be as diversion as men's.
I also know that unless and until women's potential is fully unlocked in this country and women have been crushed under the Obama economy, that we will not be as good a nation as we can be, and frankly I’m tired of being insulted by liberal feminist who talked about women’s issues when the reality is every issue is a woman's issue, from the economy, to ISIS, to Russia, to health care, to education, to the national debt. Women care about all of it.
So I am sorry I don't agree with the women of "The View." Nevertheless, I’m going to continue to stand up, stand strong, talk about what I believe in, and I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare as a result.
Let me say that I thought the comments in The View clip were offensive. However, let’s not forget – though Roberts seemed to have forgotten - that Donald Trump, Fiorina’s rival for the GOP nomination, said something much worse about her looks, as Rolling Stone reported in September:
“Look at that face!” he cries. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!” The laughter grows halting and faint behind him. “I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s’posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”
When asked about that on Fox & Friends Trump tried to play the male conservative victim of sexism.
Furthermore, last month, Fox’s own Megyn Kelly “suggested” Fiorina needs “to be warmer in order to connect better with the voters.”
Also, there’s Fiorina, herself, caught unwittingly on camera in 2010, during her senate race against Barbara Boxer, saying, “what everyone says, 'God what is that hair?' So yesterday!"
As Raw Story pointed out – but Roberts somehow “forgot” – “The history of sexist attacks against Clinton is well documented. A recent analysis found that “bitch”, “c*nt” and “slut” were the three most common insults directed at Clinton on social media.”
Finally, Roberts avoided the larger question raised by his highlighting of The View: Did Fiorina make a conscious effort to smile more and, if so, is that a burden a male candidate like, say, Trump – who does not come off as particularly congenial – does not have to bear? And wouldn't that signal that Republican voters are just as sexist as liberal voters?
By the way, this was another in our ever-growing list of Fox News Sunday shows without any interviews with Democratic guests.
Watch it below, from the November 1 Fox News Sunday.
That would be the crowd of know nothing, arrogant, ignorant, lie spewing right wing freak show harridans who never stood a chance of being elected to higher office.