Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said of fellow GOP candidate Donald Trump “I think I know when someone’s flirting with me” on Friday’s “O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel.
Fiorina was asked if she believed Trump’s explanation that he was talking about her persona, when he reportedly remarked on her face in a Rolling Stone profile. She answered, [relevant remarks begin around 4:25] “No. But I do accept his comments that he was speaking as an entertainer. And, you know when I was in 3rd grade, Eric, there was a little boy that really liked me, and he said mean things about me and, you know, pulled my pigtails all the time. And my husband and I have been together for over 30 years, but I think I know when someone’s flirting with me.”
Fiorina then talked about the upcoming presidential debate, stating, “My first objective, honestly, is to introduce myself to the American people. You know, half that audience doesn’t know my name, and doesn’t know I’m running for president. And so, I know it seems hard to believe, particularly, maybe if you’re a celebrity like Donald Trump, everybody knows who you are. But I still have the lowest name ID in the field, by a wide margin. And so, I need to introduce myself.” And “my principle objective is to make sure that people know who I am, and what I have done. I have a track record of leadership, of problem solving, of challenging the status quo. I’m not an entertainer. I’m someone who started as a secretary, became a chief executive, and the only way you do that, to go from secretary to CEO, is to deliver results, to solve problems, and to lead. And so people need to do that. I’m sure there will be opportunities for me to respond, to Donald Trump, or to others, and I won’t shy away from those opportunities. But fundamentally, I’m running for president because I think our nation needs the kind of leadership I will bring to the Oval Office.
She added, “this isn’t entertainment. This is serious. This is serious. Our nation is at a pivotal point, and Americans know it in their bones. So, it’s very entertaining for us all to talk about Donald Trump, and by the way, the media seems to talk about nothing else but Donald Trump, in many cases, but voters never ask me about him, never. What voters ask me about is how do we get the economy growing? Why is America’s leadership waning in the world? How do we cut this government down to size. Voters know this is a pivotal point. And so I think most people are tuning in because they actually want to know what candidates are going to do.”
Fiorina concluded by saying she wasn’t “necessarily” surprised by Trump’s numbers among female voters, and “I think if you look at all of the outsiders, together, the outsiders are pulling over 60% of support, but I’ll tell you something else, there is one outsider moving up in the polls, and gaining on Donald Trump, and I’m one of them.”
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