Fiorina Shrugs Off 'Demented' Comment; 'Called All Kinds of Things'

In her first appearance on "The View" since co-host Michelle Collins said her face looked "demented" when she smiled during the opening remarks at her most recent presidential debate, Carly Fiorina said such disparaging comments are nothing new.

"In any event, I've been called all kinds of things. I've been called a bimbo from the time I was a secretary to the time I was a CEO," the Republican candidate said on ABC's "The View" today.

Since Collins' comment last week, Fiorina has argued that conservative women face a double-standard and increased scrutiny in the media, because "we're not supposed to exist," and has turned the comments into an appeal to raise funds for her campaign.

"Many problems will impact the American people in 2016; both men and women," Fiorina wrote in a fundraising email to supporters. "My face is not one of them."

Asked by the hosts about how she has used the comments to her advantage, "trying to make lemonade out of lemons," Fiorina joked in retort, "You're telling me you guys are lemons?"

In closing, the hosts promised to have some lemonade for Fiorina the next time she comes on the show.

Fiorina went on to say that she's not worried about any negative comments made about her in the public discourse, saying her skin is "plenty thick," but appealed for a higher dialogue to focus on the serious issues facing the country.

"Don't worry, I have skin plenty thick enough to the take whatever people throw at me. I'm making a different point," she said. "The different point is this. I think that there are real issues in this nation that we ought to be able to discuss in a fact-based, civil fashion. "

In a heated discussion with the moderators, Fiorina, 61, defended her claim that Planned Parenthood is harvesting the body parts of unborn fetuses as Whoopi Goldberg interjected.

"I need to stop you. Because that is not -- you know that's not true," Goldberg interrupted Fiorina to say.

Fiorina, who continues to defend the claim that she first made in the CNN debate last month, went on to cite Planned Parenthood's recent decision to no longer accept compensation for fetal body tissue used in research as proof of her point.

Fiorina also addressed her low poll numbers, which have slipped nationally after a bump that followed her performance in the first two debates, saying there's no other candidate who can match her trajectory in terms of how far she's come.

"I announced my candidacy on May 4. I was 16 out of 16. The polling companies were not even asking my name. That's how little people thought of my chances," Fiorina said. "Now, I'm sitting on a debate stage with seven other candidates. There's no other candidate that's had the trajectory that I have had."

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