Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard told former Hewlett-Packard CEO and possible Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina that he “never met a presidential candidate with pink nail polish on” during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

In response, Fiorina told Bedard, “There's always a first.”

In an April 16 column about the event, Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, who was also in attendance, noted that Bedard's comment “set off murmurs of sexism on my side of the table.” Capehart followed up by interviewing Fiorina about the exchange, and reportedly asked how she would deal with “situations where people focus as much on her appearance as on her policies.” Fiorina told him, “I've been dealing with it all my life.”

Media Matters has repeatedly documented sexist media attacks on female politicians, ranging from Bill O'Reilly arguing in 2014 “there's got to be some downside to having a woman president” toNewsweek's demeaning coverage of former Governor Sarah Palin following the 2008 presidential campaign.