Carly Fiorina Used to Be All About Current Pseudo-Opponent Hillary Clinton

Sole female Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina wasn’t always pitched against Hillary Clinton, and it turns out: she actually used to like her quite a lot.

In a 2008 video uncovered by BuzzFeed, Fiorina talks about fervently supporting her present-day pseudo-opponent.

“I have such great admiration and empathy for Hillary Clinton,” she says. “I have great admiration for her because I know what it takes in some small measure to do what she has done. She is obviously incredibly intelligent, focused, tough, determined, empathetic of all the tens of millions of people that she was trying to represent in her quest to become the first woman president of the United States.”

“I also watched with a lot of empathy as I saw how she was scrutinized, characterized, talked about as a woman,” she continued.

BuzzFeed reports:

That glowing praise is in line with a statement she made at another 2008 gathering, a press conference where she said Clinton had been subjected to sexism, albeit not by the Republican Party.

Fiorina said any woman in politics owes a debt of gratitude to Clinton.

“I have said numerous times, I disagree politically with Hillary, but I also have great admiration for Hillary Clinton,” declared Fiorina. “Her run for the presidency was historic. She was a great candidate. She has helped millions of women all over this country. Women of any political party owe a debt of gratitude to Hillary Clinton and I will bet that every woman up here agrees with me.”

The past praise is notable, as Fiorina has been a harsh critic of Clinton thus far in her presidential campaign. In a CNN piece, she challenged Clinton to “name an accomplishment,” and she has condemned the former secretary of state for using her private email account and lying about it.

A spokesperson for Fiorina’s campaign said that “none of this is really news.”