Fox News Undercard Republican Debate: Live Coverage

Carly Fiorina’s I’m-the-only-other-woman-in-this-race tone has curdled a bit — this is the second debate in a row in which she’s talked a whole lot of smack about Clinton on a personal level. The moderators asked her why she made a snide comment last debate that at least she still liked hanging out with her husband (implication, Hillary Clinton doesn’t). Fiorina basically doubled down and suggested that Clinton stayed with her husband out of ambition and that she, Fiorina, would have left her spouse had he done the things that Bill Clinton did. Not exactly the highest tone for the debate.

“The woman should be prosecuted” was the midpoint of a long set of attacks on Hillary Clinton by Carly Fiorina. In the beginning, the crowd seemed a bit uncomfortable, but by the end, they were cheering heartily. This circles back to the question of whether a female candidate can mount a direct attack that includes a discussion of infidelity more easily than a man. What do folks think on that score?

Fiorina said, “Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago,” and most Americans agree. When Gallup asked if people would forgive a cheating spouse, 38 percent said they would definitely not forgive their partner, and an additional 26 percent said they would probably not be able to forgive the affair. Only 10 percent said they would definitely forgive their wandering spouse.