Fiorina defends ‘tongue-in-cheek’ Rose Bowl tweet

Carly Fiorina responded to critics on Sunday who said she was pandering to Iowa voters by rooting for the University of Iowa over her alma mater, Stanford, in the Rose Bowl.

{mosads}The Republican presidential hopeful said a tweet expressing her support for the Hawkeyes was “tongue-in-cheek.”

“Can’t a girl have a little fun?” Fiorina asked on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That was a tongue-in-cheek tweet, which the people of Iowa understand, because I was asked over and over again in Iowa, having attended a Hawkeye tailgate.”

“They knew that my heart was torn, that I had said something really controversial, like, you know, ‘ISIS is a JV team,’ or, ‘This demonstration was a result of a video,’” she said, referring to comments made by President Obama and Democratic primary front-runner Hillary Clinton, respectively.

After Fiorina’s tweet, the University of Iowa was trounced by Stanford, 45-16, prompting social media users to start a “#CarlyCurse” hashtag.

“Let’s just say, if the biggest mistake I make is a tongue-in-cheek tweet about a Rose Bowl, the American people will sleep safely when I’m president of the United States,” she said.

“I guess it was a slow news day for the media.”