Today Show Cares More About Fiorina Gaffe Than Sestak Scandal
Published: 6/11/2010 1:21 PM ET
Interesting to note that the reporters and producers at the Today show care more about a GOP Senate candidate mocking a Democrat's hairstyle than the White House attempting to manipulate a Senate race in Pennsylvania with a job offer.
The following takes on the Fiorina vs. Boxer open mic incident were aired on the June 10 Today show:
MEREDITH VIEIRA OPENING SHOW: And ay, Carly! California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina caught on an open mic making a joke about her opponent's hair.-Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here
(Begin clip)
CARLY FIORINA: Lauda saw Barbara Boxer briefly on television this morning and said what everyone says, "God! What is that hair?!" So yesterday.
(End clip)
VIEIRA: And her campaign is calling it nothing more than small talk, today Thursday June 10th, 2010.
...
MEREDITH VIEIRA: And now to that open mic incident for California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina. Take a look at what she was overheard saying just before a television interview on Wednesday.
(Begin clip)
CARLY FIORINA: Lauda saw Barbara Boxer briefly on television this morning and said what everyone says, "God! What is that hair?!" So yesterday.
(End clip)
VIEIRA: That's the risk of those open mics. You never know. So-
MATT LAUER: I can only imagine what would happen if someone heard what you say-
VIEIRA: Oh my gosh!
LAUER: -before the show here.
VIEIRA: Zip it!
...
HODA KOTB: Speaking of a big gaff-a-rooni.
KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Yes!
KOTB: Alright so Carly Fiorina was getting-
GIFFORD: Gaffarina.
KOTB: Gaffarina. Carly Fiorina was getting ready to do a, an interview. She, again, is getting ready to run against Senator Barbara Boxer for the seat-
GIFFORD: A hotly contested seat, yeah.
KOTB: Very. So what you don't realize sometimes is when you're waiting to do an interview, you have a mic on, and as they're prepping you, sometimes you're so comfortable, you're not thinking about the fact that a mic is on and people are listening-
GIFFORD: Over and over and over again this happens.
KOTB: -around the globe. So this is what Carly Fiorina said about Barbara Boxer's hair.
(Begin clip)
CARLY FIORINA: Lauda saw Barbara Boxer briefly on television this morning and said what everyone says, "God! What is that hair?!" So yesterday.
(End clip)
KOTB: Doh! Doh! That's when you realize it's on.
GIFFORD: Busted! Busted!
KOTB: Now those kind, we were asking our Facebook folks about is it, are women, I hate to say this but, yeah. Can women always remain to be catty no more matter where you are in your life?
GIFFORD: If anybody videotaped our little morning thing upstairs-
KOTB: Or here, in the commercials.
GIFFORD: Just during commercial breaks.
KOTB: No it would be, we'd be fired.
GIFFORD: Let's be honest. We all say things that, in context, we don't mean to be hurtful.
KOTB: No. No.
GIFFORD: They're just truthful. You know what I'm saying? Just true.
KOTB: And Carly Fiorina, by the way, went through breast cancer. She, 'cause her, her hair has actually changed. She went through chemotherapy and the texture changed.
GIFFORD: Right, right.
KOTB: I know she's also sensitive about, about that as well. But anyway it was an interesting-
GIFFORD: It's gonna be interesting to see how it affects the race, if at all. Politics is ugly. It's just ugly, anyway. But this is, this is like a little window into a soul, you know? And people, it affects people.
KOTB: Do you remember when [John] Edwards was joozing his hair in the, remember he was like, and they played that song? Breck Girl, the Breck Girl song or whatever. When he was doing - like it's funny when little things can change people's perceptions of you.
GIFFORD: Well when people are struggling to put food on their table nobody wants to hear about a $400 hair cut.
KOTB: No they don't, they definitely don't.
