Whoops! New Senate nominee Carly Fiorina (R-CA) was caught in an unfortunate open mic incident today, mocking her rival Sen. Barbara Boxer’s hair, complaining about Fox’s Sean Hannity and even talking about cheeseburgers she wished she’d eaten the night before.
Fiorina, who won a 3-way primary last night, was preparing for an interview with CNN affiliate KXTV this morning and chatting with her aides. In a several-minute chat with the camera rolling that CNN posted online, Fiorina mocks Boxer’s hairdo. Laughing, Fiorina tells her staff that someone had seen Boxer on television and “said what everyone says, ‘God what is that hair?’ So yesterday!” But she also questioned a decision by fellow Republican Meg Whitman to appear on Hannity so soon after winning the GOP nomination for governor.
“I find it really surprising that on the first day of the general Meg Whitman is going on Sean Hannity,” Fiorina said, while reading her BlackBerry. “I think it’s bizarre … I think it’s a very bad choice actually. You know how he is.”
Fiorina alluded to Whitman avoiding the press during the primary, saying, “Why after saying no to all these people would you go on Sean Hannity?” Later she added, “Sean Hannity is not an easy interview.”
She also talked about the cheeseburgers some campaign folks had been eating on election night, noting, “I didn’t eat last night.”
In a statement to CNN, Fiorina’s campaign dismissed the comments as “early morning small talk.” It would seem like sort of a no-no for a Republican to speak ill of Hannity, but Fiorina is trying to win in California, after all. It’s hardly the worst thing that’s been caught on an open microphone, though not what you want to have happen your first day as the party’s standard-bearer. Watch:
Late Update: Fiorina apologized to Sean Hannity last night:
h/t ThinkProgress.
