GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Sunday said Donald Trump has "no excuse" for attacking debate moderator Megyn Kelly.
"I think presidential campaigns test character under pressure and over time," Fiorina said Sunday on CNN's
"State of the Union."
"It's a moderator's job to ask tough questions. All of those moderators asked tough questions of everyone," Fiorina told host Jake Tapper. "And so there's no excuse for personally attacking one of the moderators for asking a set of questions he didn't like."
Trump has been criticized as being sexist for saying after tough questioning from Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly that she had "blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever."
Trump has since said that the meant her nose or her ears and that "only a deviant" would think he was referring to menstruation because Kelly is woman. He pointed out that he made the same comment about blood coming from his eyes about another of the debate's moderator's Chris Wallace.
The phrase is a common one that refers to someone being angry, Trump said Sunday on four of the morning talk shows.
But Fiorina wasn't buying it, saying Trump's remarks "were completely inappropriate and offensive."
Fiorina pointed to her own past experience in the business world where she started as a secretary and advanced to the CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
"I met lots of men [who] implied that I was unfit for decision-making because maybe I was having my period," she said.
"When I started this campaign, I was asked on a national television show whether a woman's hormones prevented her from serving in the oval office. My response was, can we think of a single instance in which a man's hormones might have clouded his judgment?" Fiorina said.
"I can," Tapper responded.
"Yeah, me, too," Fiorina responded "Maybe in the Oval office."
Fiorina didn't make the main debate on Thursday, which featured only the top 10 candidates in the national polls. But she is widely said to have won the earlier debate between the other seven candidates.
Asked on
"Face the Nation" whether the comment revealed Trump's true character, Fiorina said that's a decision for the voters.
"But I think you cannot have a president who is thin-skinned," sh said. "If you think the question is tough, imagine the pressure of actually being in the Oval Office. That's why I think as crazy as this presidential campaign process is, it does in fact give voters a window into how people respond under pressure over time."
She said on
"Fox News Sunday" she has seen an uptick in support, both financially and otherwise, since the debate.
Since she went into the debate with only 40 percent name recognition among Republican voters, she said she feels people now know who she is.
Other candidates who have more experience in politics have email lists and other means of support from the get-go, and she began her campaign in May from a "standing start," she said.
She said she believes her track record of "getting things done" will work for her, again turning to the frontrunner Trump.
"I don't think you get things done by insulting everyone," she said.
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