Fiorina to ‘The View’: ‘Man Up!’ and Debate Me
excerpt]
HASSELBECK: “Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina joins us now. Good morning Mrs. Fiorina.”
FIORINA: “Good morning, Elizabeth. How are you doing?”
HASSELBECK: “I’m well, thanks. We’re hearing this meeting took place just outside D.C. to sort of rein in, bypass the RNC when it comes to the debates that are coming up and setting up regulations that would be more pleasing to Republican candidates. We just had Governor Chris Christie on, presidential candidate as well, who said the Republicans need to stop whining about these debates. How do you feel about it?”
FIORINA: “Well, I wasn’t there and my campaign wasn’t there. We were in Iowa talking to voters instead of being in D.C. talking debates. We’ve had no trouble negotiating. That works and policy remains what it has always been. I will debate anyone, anytime, anywhere. We need to understand that the media is not going fair.”
HASSELBECK: “So you just take that as an understood. Speaking of the media not being fair, you eventually have a big announcement. Last week, Michelle Collins at ‘The View’ dug into your appearance at the debate saying your face was demented. Watch this for anyone who missed it.”
[clip starts]
COLLINS: “She kicked off her thing saying, people tell me that I didn’t smile enough during the last debate. She looked demented. (Laughter) I mean, her mouth did not downturn one time." [crosstalk]
BEHAR: “It looked like a Halloween mask. I love that."
COLLINS: “A smiling Fiorina? Can you imagine?”
[clip ends]
HASSELBECK: “So Mrs. Fiorina, I found that too, it lack both courage and kindness so I threw out a challenge to ‘The View’ and said why don’t you invite Mrs. Fiorina to your program and have the courage to either say those comments to her face about her face, or apologize, but at least be courageous and do it with her there. You have an announcement to make today.”
FIORINA: “Yes. I will face the ladies of ‘The View’ for the second time on Friday. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t need an apology, Elizabeth, but I think what this points out is that liberals, and unfortunately that includes liberal women, when they don’t like the message, they attack the messenger. So, my message to the ladies of ‘The View’ is man up. If you want to debate me policies -- the Obama administration, for example has been bad for women; Planned Parenthood is harvesting baby parts. If you don’t like these facts and those messages man up and debate me on them. But don’t sink to talking about my face. My candidacy has been called offensive to women by women. I have been told that I hate women because I am prolife by women. This is what liberals unfortunately do too often. They attack the messenger instead of dealing with the truth of our message.”
HASSELBECK: “I can guarantee you that Whoopee Goldberg will give you a fair shake. She is a good friend of mine. As for the others, I can’t have any guarantee there. But there is a movement when it comes to Secretary Clinton. When Hillary Clinton is running, people want a woman, they want to get behind this woman. But I do, as you are indicating here, sense a faux feminism when it comes to Republican women. So how do you overcome that moving forward with this election?”
FIORINA: “Well, first of all, you run into it headlong. I mean, Hillary Clinton doesn’t scare me. None of these liberal women scare me. We have to lay the facts out and introduce the American people why our principles and policies work together. The last time I was on ‘The View’ Rosie Perez asked me a very important question. She asked me why I was a Republican. And I said because I know that no one of us is better than any other of us. Each of us are gifted by God. All of us can live lives of dignity and purpose and meaning. And I know that our policies, our principles, our values work better to lift everyone up, men and women. That actually is the debate we have to have to win. Hillary Clinton is going to continue to say that her platform is — she is going to be the first woman president. What I will force her to do is debate her principles and her policies and her track record, and on that ground, I will beat her.”
HASSELBECK: “Wouldn't that be great. Mrs. Fiorina, can I ask you just this before you go. Donald Trump on one [indecipherable] says we are in a crippled America. Jeb Bush says this is a great America. Where do you stand, quickly before we go?
FIORINA: "Well, this is a great America but we need a president in the Oval office who will lead the resurgents of this nation because we have managing its decline to a government that's grown too big, and bloated, and powerful and corrupt and the political class that hasn't done much about it. We have been managing its decline for too long now. We need a leader who will lift this nation. That's why I am running for president."
