The Anatomy of a Lie, CARLY FIORINA EDITION

Okay, this is not a matter of a lie but rather a matter of a liar writ large. To wit: The truth is an option in Carly's world, one she chooses judiciously, or something.

Simon Maloy of Salon goes full frontal on Ms. Fiorina, a move I applaud. It's hard to sort Republican liars by quantity -- the Donald's lies are yuuuge -- but Fiorina's are made larger by her doubling and tripling down.

Carly Fiorina is unique among all the candidates in the Republican presidential field for her visceral, aggressive hatred for anything resembling truth. Other candidates lie, of course, but they at least go to the trouble of dressing up their lies with weasel words and other forms of qualifying language that allow them to squirm their way out of fact checks. Fiorina doesn’t care about any of that. She makes firm, declarative statements that are unquestionably inaccurate, and when confronted with inarguable facts that prove her wrong, she insists against all evidence that she is correct and bristles at the very notion that anyone might challenger her. She does not care. She does not pretend to care. As far as Fiorina’s concerned, the fact that she said it is what makes it true.

Now, Carly Fiorina's biggest claim to fame is her stint as HP CEO, which was marred by how sucky it was. She made her rep at Lucent, the spin-off of Western Electric and Bell Labs from AT&T, whose ladder Fiorina had climbed. Tech historians might remember that Bell Labs discovered the transistor, among other things. The transistor literally changed everything, though America let Japan discover its many uses, giving Japan its famous leg-up. Sony emerged from this (and, oddly, eventually so did Intel).

Anyway, Carly made her reputation at Lucent, which crashed and burned shortly after she left for HP, and HP crashed and almost burned after Carly forced sucky Compaq down HP shareholders' throats. Heckuva job, Carly!

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about her work at Lucent:

On the surface, Fiorina seemed to add 22,000 jobs & revenues grew from US$19 billion to US$38 billion. However, the real cause of Lucent spurring sales under Fiorina was by lending money to their own customers. According to Fortune magazine, "In a neat bit of accounting magic, money from the loans began to appear on Lucent’s income statement as new revenue while the dicey debt got stashed on its balance sheet as an allegedly solid asset". Lucent's stock price grew 10-fold.

Notice how Lucent's success was built on an accounting lie. Not long after, Lucent's "private bubble burst," and its stock, which at its peak reached $84, settled down at $0.55. Heckuva ride!

Carly then jumps to HP in 1999. In 2002, she leads the charge to acquire Compaq. By 2005, HP stock price has tanked, and she's fired.

So, the basis for her cred, was a failure, likely two, possibly four if you add her failed Senate run and her undistinguished stint with the McCain campaign in 2008. Carly was good at what, exactly? Climbing ladders, then getting fired? Maybe!

For a tech wiz (!), you'd think Carly Fiorina would have realized that after YouTube you can never go home again.

Uh oh. And about Planned Parenthood?

"Rest assured." She repeats that twice. I wonder if she told the board at HP that "Rest assured, our acquisition of Compaq will be good for us." In any event, Carly might have been wise not to take on Chris Cuomo of CNN:

At this point, Carly Fiorina is more than tripling down on her "misstatements." It's what she does. It's her M.O. Another tactic, some might call it Rovian, that Carly uses is to accuse others of her own sins:

Notice how she doesn't flinch when Chris Wallace points out she's basically making up the charges about the generals. Notice, too, that she conflates Petraeus's crimes -- he pleaded guilty and apologized -- with Hillary's "crimes," which at this point are completely unproven. But, hey.

Let's let Simon Lamoy have the last word:

I’m fascinated by this pathological commitment to dishonesty, and also by the treatment it receives from the press. Reporters tend to be gun-shy when it comes to labeling untrue statements from politicians as “false” or “lies” because it’s assumed to be a form of improper editorialization. But in an instance like this, there is no way to plausibly interpret what Fiorina is doing as anything other than lying. And yet, the press still dances around the unquestionable dishonesty on display here.

CNN reported on Fiorina’s stubborn mendacity with the hilarious headline: “Despite facts, Carly Fiorina stands by claim about retired generals.” ABC News reported: “Carly Fiorina Digs in on Claim That General’s Retirement Was Due to Obama Dispute.” Just call it false! Call it a lie! That’s what it is. The best headline I’ve seen on this story came from Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum, who wrote: “Carly Fiorina Really Likes to Make Shit Up.” That’s an accurate, concise explanation of what’s going on here, and no one should hesitate to call Carly Fiorina a liar when there is no doubt that she’s lying.

It's what she does. She might think it makes her look resolute. I think it makes her look, uh, like a liar.

By the way, why was she in this race in the first place -- besides selling a book -- and why's she still in it? My guess -- probably a left-wing tactic! -- is that the Republicans needed a woman in the race as a counterweight to Hillary and to prove that Republican woman leaders exist, so she took one for the team. Heckuva job, Carly!