After being pressed by NBC's Late Night host Seth Myers and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd about failing to purchase the domain name CarlyFiorina.org, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina cleverly hit back by buying SethMeyers.org and ChuckTodd.org. On Monday's Today, trying to deflect from the GOP contender outsmarting their colleagues, the hosts searched for another unclaimed Fiorina web address to use to embarrass her.
Tamron Hall summed up the attacks on Fiorina:
So guys, almost immediately after Republican Carly Fiorina announced her run for president last week, her team faced criticism for not owning the website CarlyFiorina.org. You would think – I mean, she's in the tech world, right? So right now, guys, if you go to that page, you'll see it shows a message about how many people were allegedly fired by Fiorina or laid off when she was chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. So this is what you see at the current moment.
Hall then explained how the former businesswoman was "firing back in a humorous way" by "swooping up the Seth Meyers and Chuck Todd domains."
Rather than simply acknowledge Fiorina's deft maneuver, Hall tried to stir controversy: "But we checked this one out, CarlyFiorinaforPresident.com, it's still available."
Weatherman Al Roker declared: "Let's get it." Hall replied: "Buy it now. Firesale." Co-host Matt Lauer observed: "So they grabbed Chuck Todd before they grabbed Carly Fiorina for President?"
Hall concluded: "Yeah, we should do that....DomainGate continues."
Appearing on Sunday's Meet the Press after Todd's interview with Fiorina, Washington Post reporter Ruth Marcus was quick to denigrate the female Republican candidate: "I don't think we would be taking her seriously at all if she weren't a woman."
Here is a full transcript of the May 11 segment on Today:
7:17 AM ET
MATT LAUER: We've got Tamron standing here, she's in for Carson in the Orange Room. And a lot of people talking about what a presidential candidate is and isn't buying online.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: #DomainGate; Fiorina Jokingly Buys SethMeyers.org & ChuckTodd.org]
TAMRON HALL: This is interesting one. So guys, almost immediately after Republican Carly Fiorina announced her run for president last week, her team faced criticism for not owning the website CarlyFiorina.org. You would think – I mean, she's in the tech world, right? So right now, guys, if you go to that page, you'll see it shows a message about how many people were allegedly fired by Fiorina or laid off when she was chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. So this is what you see at the current moment.
Now, Fiorina's team is taking this in stride. They're kind of firing back in a humorous way. They're going to – basically on a website domain purchasing spree. So right now, if you go to any of these three websites, take a look closely, they all lead to CarlyforPresident.com. Clever, right? So Fiorina's team is taking full credit for swooping up the Seth Meyers and Chuck Todd domains. But they claim that they did not grab up the Hillary Clinton one.
Domain names have been a recurring issue for candidates this election season. Ted Cruz, Hillary, all caught off guard for not owning certain websites. But we checked this one out, CarlyFiorinaforPresident.com, it's still available.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Oh, okay.
AL ROKER: Let's get it.
HALL: Buy it now. Firesale.
GUTHRIE: Should we call this DomainNameGate.com?
LAUER: So they grabbed Chuck Todd before they grabbed Carly Fiorina for President?
HALL: Yeah, we should do that. A lot to think about. So the – what is it? DomainGate continues.
GUTHRIE: Yes, DomainNameGate. Yeah, rolls right off the tongue. Tamron, thank you.
