Carly Fiorina, the George Costanza of the GOP, attracts ‘Kochtopus’ support

Carly Fiorina is the female version of habitual liar George Costanza from Seinfeld who famously told  Jerry, “Just remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it.”

Anna North writes at the New York Times, Carly Fiorina’s Planned Parenthood Playbook:

When it comes to Planned Parenthood, Carly Fiorina appears to be playing out a relatively common political strategy: Say something forcefully and frequently enough, and people will start to believe you, even if it’s totally untrue. [This is known as the big lie technique of propaganda.]

Mrs. Fiorina kicked things off with her claim, in the second Republican debate, that anti-Planned Parenthood videos released by the Center for Medical Progress included footage of “a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.”

This claim has been roundly refuted, and her camp has come up with a new talking point. When the PAC CARLY for America released its own video attempting (and failing) to back up her claims in September, and Planned Parenthood protested, Mrs. Fiorina’s deputy campaign manager responded, “Planned Parenthood doesn’t and can’t deny they are butchering babies and selling their organs.”

On Wednesday, Mrs. Fiorina told Sean Hannity that the current debate over Planned Parenthood was about “butchering babies for body parts,” and said, “Planned Parenthood has not, will not, cannot deny that this is happening because it is.”

And at a town hall in South Carolina on Friday, she asked, “Why is it Planned Parenthood cannot and will not deny late-term abortions are being performed for the purposes of obtaining brains and other body parts? Because it’s happening.”

It is not happening. Planned Parenthood should not have to deny the ridiculous claim that it is “butchering babies for body parts,” but it has done so, stating many times that it does not sell fetal tissue for profit.

“Planned Parenthood has been clear and unequivocal that these claims are untrue,” wrote Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a letter to Carly Fiorina on Friday. “In two states, Planned Parenthood health centers help women who want to donate fetal tissue for lifesaving medical research. Planned Parenthood guidance, in place for more than a decade, goes above and beyond the legal requirements and says that the only financial payment to Planned Parenthood is for the actual costs of facilitating tissue donation.”

“Again, your claims about Planned Parenthood are completely false.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean she’ll stop making them.

So naturally this habitual liar has attracted the interest of Charles and David Koch, whose “Kochtopus” propaganda network saturates the political landscape. Reuters reports Koch brothers, other 2016 mega donors warm to Carly Fiorina:

Carly Fiorina has emerged as the Republican candidate of the moment in conservative fundraising circles, drawing the notice of the billionaire Koch brothers and other wealthy donors who could instantly remake her shoestring presidential campaign.

Fiorina’s show-stealing performance in a Republican presidential debate last month, and her subsequent surge in the polls, has prompted industrialists Charles and David Koch to take a “serious look” at the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, according to three sources close to the brothers.

A spokesman for the Kochs declined to comment

Other politically powerful mega donors are also lining up.

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens hosted a packed luncheon at a posh Dallas venue for Fiorina in late September, while venture capitalist Tom Perkins is planning a fundraising gala in California in the next few months.

“My money is on her,” said Perkins, who served on HP’s board during Fiorina’s tenure. “I think she could be president.”

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Even before her rapid rise in the polls – she has vaulted to second place in the key early voting state of New Hampshire – Fiorina had already garnered about $2 million in support from the likes of reclusive hedge fund baron Robert Mercer and former Univision CEO Jerrold Perenchio.

Her campaign thus far has been a bare-bones operation, relying on a young, relatively low-paid, skeletal staff as opposed to the sprawling operations built by more well-endowed candidates like Bush.

Support from the Kochs would change her operation overnight.

“We think she’s pretty viable,” said broadcasting billionaire Stanley Hubbard, a member of the Koch brothers’ network of conservative advocacy groups who donates heavily to political candidates.

The Kochs have been keeping a close eye on Fiorina ever since she announced in May, the Koch sources said. They extended an invite to her to speak at their exclusive summit of rich donors at an oceanfront luxury resort in August along with Rubio, Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Fiorina, the lowest polling candidate at the gathering, impressed the big money attendees with her mastery of policy detail and heavyweight stage presence. “She’s good in the room,” said one participant at the event, who declined to be named.

The Fiorina campaign, and the independent fund-raising Super PAC supporting her, declined comment.

The Kochs, who own America’s second-largest private company, have backed Fiorina in the past, notably when she ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer for her California Senate seat in 2010.

As Fiorina’s money problems fade, some high dollar donors who have already contributed are now considering doubling down. Dallas philanthropist Elloine Clark has so far written one $100,000 check to the Super PAC supporting Fiorina. She says she may give more. “I think she’s unflappable,” said Clark. “And she doesn’t react like an adolescent.”

No, she sticks to her lies like George Costanza.