During a live interview with Carly Fiorina on Wednesday, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell fretted over the Republican presidential candidate’s attacks on Hillary Clinton: “You were really the breakout star according to all reports from Iowa last weekend, the biggest crowds, especially when you went after Hillary Clinton. Is that because you’re the only woman in the Republican field, that you feel enabled to go after her?”
Fiorina explained: “I think when 82% of the American people now believe that there is a professional political class more interested in preserving its own power and privilege than it is in serving the American people, people expect basic questions to be asked of anyone running for president. ‘What have you done? Are you trustworthy? Are you transparent? Will you answer questions?’”
Mitchell desperately tried to defend Clinton:
She's had a lifetime, though, in public service. Going back to before she was first lady in Arkansas. She can argue that she's got a record on women's issues, from the Beijing Women's Conference to all of her work with the Children's Defense Fund going up through the Senate, senator from New York, that’s a record. Secretary of state. How do you compare yourself to her?
Fiorina slammed Clinton’s record as secretary of state:
It's also true that as secretary of state she took women's rights and human rights off the table for discussion with China. It's also true as secretary of state that she called Bashar al-Assad a “positive reformer.” It’s also true in 2011, when she was secretary of state, she said that Iraq was a “free, stable, sovereign nation” and now we have a nation falling apart, Iranian influence growing, ISIS growing. It’s true that she said that she could reset our Russia – our relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin is on the march. So I think all of those things I just named go fundamentally to what is her track record.
Mitchell attempted to turn the discussion back on Republicans: “You could also argue that a lot of Republicans in the White House and in Congress supported those policies, waged the war in Iraq.”
Fiorina replied:
And by the way, every single Republican candidate has been asked about their vote for the war in Iraq. The one person who's not been asked that question, because she won't answer the question, is Hillary Clinton. The one person who was on the job in 2011 when Iraq started to fall apart was not the Republican nominees or candidates for president, it's Hillary Clinton. She hasn't been asked yet. What would she do now Iraq?
Minutes later, Mitchell concluded the exchange by suggesting the Republican National Committee was being sexist against Fiorina: “Are you being discriminated against by the Republican National Committee trying to keep you and others who haven't run before, perhaps, and don't have the name identification and the poll results yet – are you being discriminated against by being kept out of the initial debate?”
Fiorina brushed the question aside: “Why do you assume I'm going to be kept out? The debates are not for another 11 weeks. I’m actually glad to have a goal. I'm glad to have clarity about what it takes to get to that stage and I will work very hard to meet the goal.”
In reality, Fox News set the terms of how candidates would qualify for its August 6 debate.
Here is a full transcript of the May 27 interview:
12:00 PM ET TEASE:
ANDREA MITCHELL: Southern strategy. Hillary Clinton is in South Carolina for the first time since an epic defeat to Barack Obama in 2008. But she's being shadowed by the only woman in the Republican race.
12:17 PM ET SEGMENT:
ANDREA MITCHELL: And joining me now is Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who is here in South Carolina as well today. Ms. Fiorina, thank you very much for being with us.
CARLY FIORINA: It's great to be with you, Andrea.
MITCHELL: You were really the breakout star according to all reports from Iowa last weekend, the biggest crowds, especially when you went after Hillary Clinton. Is that because you’re the only woman in the Republican field, that you feel enabled to go after her? Or what is the strategy here?
FIORINA: You know, it's interesting. I come from a world where titles are just titles and talk is just talk. You know, it's only in politics where titles and words mean a lot. In the rest of the world, it's actually about, “What have you done?” Actions speak louder than words. People want to know are your words and your actions consistent and are they consistent over time?
And so, I think when 82% of the American people now believe that there is a professional political class more interested in preserving its own power and privilege than it is in serving the American people, people expect basic questions to be asked of anyone running for president. “What have you done? Are you trustworthy? Are you transparent? Will you answer questions?”
MITCHELL She's had a lifetime, though, in public service.
FIORINA: Yes, she has.
MITCHELL: Going back to before she was first lady in Arkansas. She can argue that she's got a record on women's issues, from the Beijing Women's Conference to all of her work with the Children's Defense Fund going up through the Senate, senator from New York, that’s a record. Secretary of state. How do you compare yourself to her?
FIORINA: You know, first I would say that, yes, she did – she said many wonderful things at the Beijing Women's Conference and she has without a doubt been a role model and a woman to be greatly admired by many women around the world.
It's also true that as secretary of state she took women's rights and human rights off the table for discussion with China. It's also true as secretary of state that she called Bashar al-Assad a “positive reformer.” It’s also true in 2011, when she was secretary of state, she said that Iraq was a “free, stable, sovereign nation” and now we have a nation falling apart, Iranian influence growing, ISIS growing. It’s true that she said that she could reset our Russia – our relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin is on the march.
So I think all of those things I just named go fundamentally to what is her track record.
MITCHELL: You could also argue that a lot of Republicans in the White House and in Congress supported those policies, waged the war in Iraq.
FIORINA: Absolutely, and – that’s right. And by the way, every single Republican candidate has been asked about their vote for the war in Iraq. The one person who's not been asked that question, because she won't answer the question, is Hillary Clinton. The one person who was on the job in 2011 when Iraq started to fall apart was not the Republican nominees or candidates for president, it's Hillary Clinton. She hasn't been asked yet. What would she do now Iraq?
MITCHELL: Well, she actually was asked and she did say last week in New Hampshire that it was a mistake, her vote Iraq, she wrote that in her book. So she’s spoken of that in New Hampshire and in Iowa. You know, you're absolutely correct that she hasn't had a news conference-
FIORINA: She hasn't said what happened from 2011, when both she and President Obama declared victory in Iraq. They declared victory in Iraq in 2011. She was the secretary of state. No one is declaring victory in Iraq now. What happened? What would she do? What would she have done?
MITCHELL: What would you do now against ISIS?
FIORINA: I would do very specific things. First, instead of having a Camp David conference to talk our Arab allies into a bad deal with Iran, I would have had a Camp David conference to talk with our Arab allies about how we can support them to fight ISIS.
Let me give you very specific examples. The Kurds have been asking us to arm them for three years, we still have not. The Jordanians have been asking us to provide them with bombs and materiel. We know King Abdullah of Jordan, I’ve known him for many years, he took the appropriate leadership steps when a Jordanian pilot was burned alive. He was here in this country asking us for bombs and materiel, we haven't provided him with any of them. He's now looking to China for that. The Egyptian president, a very brave and pious Muslim, who has said there's a cancer in the heart of Islam, has asked us to share intelligence. We are not. The Turks have asked us to help them topple Bashar al-Assad, we are not. There are a whole set of things that we've been asked to do by our allies who know this is their fight and we're not doing any of them. So I would hold a summit and talk with them about that.
MITCHELL: And what about the issue of Hillary Clinton saying she represents everyday Americans? Here she's talking about equal pay. Do you support equal pay for women?
FIORINA: Of course I support equal pay for equal work. And that's why in 1963 when a law was passed guaranteeing that, if a woman is being discriminated against in the workforce purely because of her gender she should take every advantage of the law.
But I also know this, a seniority system which exists in federal government that allows a man to watch pornography all day long in the federal government and earn the same pay, pension, and benefits as a woman sitting next to him trying to do a good job, that is not equal pay for equal work. And the seniority system in the federal government that promotes that seniority system, and the unions as well, they're not willing to talk about that.
So before federal government or Hillary Clinton – who by her own measures is not paying women equally in her own office, nor is President Obama – before they lecture others, maybe they ought to look into their own offices or look into the seniority system in the federal government.
MITCHELL: Are you being discriminated against by the Republican National Committee trying to keep you and others who haven't run before, perhaps, and don't have the name identification and the poll results yet – are you being discriminated against by being kept out of the initial debate?
FIORINA: Why do you assume I'm going to be kept out? The debates are not for another 11 weeks. I’m actually glad to have a goal. I'm glad to have clarity about what it takes to get to that stage and I will work very hard to meet the goal.
MITCHELL: Thank you very much, Carly Fiorina.
FIORINA: Thank you, Andrea. Great to be with you.
MITCHELL: Thanks for being with us.
