Waiting to be interviewed by affiliate KXTV Wednesday morning, Fiorina is clearly heard taking a dig at her rival for the California Senate seat, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California.
"God, what is that hair?" a laughing Fiorina said, while quoting a friend who had recently seen Boxer on television. "So yesterday."
Fiorina also questioned why Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman had decided to go on Sean Hannity's show the day after winning her party's primary.
"It's really surprising that on the first day of the general [election], Meg Whitman is going on Sean Hannity," she said. "I think it's bizarreā¦I think it's a very bad choice actually. You know how he is."
Contacted by CNN about the comments, a spokesperson for Fiorina downplayed the remarks. "This was nothing but early morning small talk," Fiorina campaign press secretary Amy Thoma said in an e-mail to CNN.
–CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart contributed to this report.
Some of you people need to be educated about what you are writing about: Carly lost all her hair last year undergoing chemo for cancer. Her hair is just now coming back in fully. You should be ashamed of yourselves to criticizing a breast cancer survivor.
Being from Wisconsin I don't know either candidate, but Fiorina sure doesn't come across well as a candidate on this clip. Rather she comes across as a self dotting gabber of trivia!
"...But Sean Hannity is not an easy interview."
In a way, Carly is actually complementing Sean Hannity in this video.
And Fiorina is the benchmark for beauty? And intelligence? I don't think so.
I believe it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said "Intelligent people talk about ideas, mediocre people talk about events, dumb people talk about people." Hmmmm.
Um, Carly, take a look in the mirror...
LOL you people are hilarious! is this how america votes? based on what someone thinks of someone else's hair? give me a break.
this must be why we're in the spot we're in, with a congress so detached it passes laws it has not read, and a president so clueless that he spends his time hawking the new health care law instead of devoting his time and energy to cleaning up the worst oil spill in history. YES WE DID! YES WE DID! lol
How is this news? So what if she is talking about her counterpart like that. Isnt that what politicians do? With that said, why do so may political figures just start talking loosely as soon as a mic is in their face? Don't they know that the spongy black thing was made to record sounds? SMH, just stupid
This woman is another rip-publican LOSER. Fired from a great job.
Do the super rich really believe they can SCREW AMERICANS all the time?
With stupid, ignorant racist bigots like the whole rip-publican party, the Democrats are sure to win in November.
Good god CNN, an open mic catches a quip from one woman about another's hair – the comment on Hannuity was probably right – Sean is farther to the right than Fiorina
Just how in the world is this news?
I see people on the board already tearing into Fiorina
How pathetic is this....goodness
She and Sarah Palin think alike then. California...see what the true Republican agenda is all about???
She obviously doesn't have any more important issues to worry about than another woman's hairdo. Besides, does she think her own do looks good?????
How amusing. Fiorini who brags about shipping American jobs abroad and also nearly destroying Hewlett Packard AND Compaq Computer. That Fiorini? Evil Corporate America at work again.
What's more amusing is that the also admits Meg Whitman has poor judgement and that Sean Hannity is a bigot. Well at least some part of her is honest.
She's no different than any other Republican, and decent Americans are done with that.
I don't care about her looks or hair. What worries me the most is that the shrilla' from Wasilla endorsed her. Granted that it was after this woman put $7M of her own money.
So much for the quitter's family and friends. As if she has any.
Poor results at HP along with outsourcing 30,000 US jobs to overseas, then fired as CEO of HP and still got paid $21 million severance package to get rid of her. She clearly isn't that stupid, but certainly not qualified for public office.
I think it is a shame that professional production people would be so unprofessional as to use "off-air" audio against anyone for any reason.
Whoever leaked this media should be fired and blacklisted in the industry. There has to be some integrity.
Carly's comments were snarky and personal "digs." Carly Fiorina
was a terrible executive and would be a lousy Senator. Politics isn't
about hair...It's about values and ideas. Fiorina appears to be stale
and totally establishment. Shame on her for making such snide remarks. I am urging all my friends to see this video so they can see for themselves how small-minded she is.
Hey Carly
Have you looked in a mirror lately?
what a shameful comment, especially coming from a cancer survivor like Fiorina. Can you imagine the faux-outrage the right would be whipping up, if Boxer had made such a comment about Fiorina's hair?
Her hair is so short because she just completed cancer treatments.
Which in no way changes the fact that she single-handedly nearly drove HP into bankruptcy, then tried do get herself out of the hole by firing literally several thousand HP employees. This ignited one of the most bitter stockholder battles in history to get rid of her, and she waltzed away with millions in severance pay.
Carly Fiorina couldn't manage a convenience store let alone manage to be any kind of Senator except a rotten, corrupt, incompetent one.
Is that all? That's hardly damaging. I would not be surprised if this was all orchestrated by Fiorina - the Hannity bit especially - to prove some genuine centrist credentials to left leaning voters.
Fiorino is not stupid. But she is rich and arrogant. For someone at this level to be dumb enough to speak so freely when a mic is pinned to her blouse and a camera is pointing at her is either, a) stupid or b) (more likely) a sly maneuver on the part of Ms. Fiorino and her consultants to trash her opponent.
On the other hand, I can return to my original "arrogant" posit. Someone who managed to nearly take HP down the drain, and walked away with a potload of money, just might think that she is invincible....
Either way? She's a loser.
Hair is the problem in the USA and Hair is the solution.. so says Carly Fiorina........Notice how Carly has HER hair slicked down.... Where is her bikers jacket?...
As a woman who had cancer and went throughloosing her hair and making a point of NOT making her hair an issue...WHY would she know make another woman's hair a topic of conversation. VERY disengenuous.
God forbid we should elect someone with bad hair. Forget about intelligence or experience or ability.
Get out the teasing combs and hairspray!