Fox News host Andrea Tantaros said on Monday she believed Iowa Republican Senate nominee Joni Ernst was “feigning a little bit of outrage” over being called attractive by outgoing Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA).
Tantaros was on Fox’s “Outnumbered” discussing an appearance Ernst made on the news channel earlier in the day, where the candidate blasted the comments as sexist.
“He called her attractive,” Tantaros said. “She was feigning a little bit of outrage. There’s worse things he could say about her, right? That sounds like a very liberal woman’s response. Like ‘How dare he call me hot!’ Like every woman secretly likes to be acknowledged for their looks, I believe.”
Co-host Jedediah Bila agreed that Ernst was over-reacting.
“When she responded,” Bila said, “my instinct was ‘Ugh, why didn’t you just laugh it off? Why did you play offended?’ But I think she was capitalizing on a moment.”
During her Monday appearance on “Fox and Friends,” Ernst said Harkin wouldn’t have commented on her looks if her “name had been John Ernst.”
Harkin originally made the comments during a Democratic Party barbecue last week.
“She’s really attractive and she sounds nice,” Harkin said. “I don’t care if she’s as good looking as Taylor Swift or as nice as Mr. Rogers, but if she votes like Michelle Bachmann, she’s wrong for the state of Iowa.”
