Fiorina under attack from left on gay marriage comments

A liberal watchdog group is accusing Carly Fiorina of falsely asserting that she never called the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing gay marriage the “law of the land.”

The issue came up in an interview Fiorina gave to Iowa conservative radio host Jan Mickelson last Friday, according to audio first provided to The Hill by People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch. 

{mosads}Mickelson said the idea that the decision is the law of the land “sets off” Iowans.

Asked about the comments by Mickelson, Fiorina said, “That is a quote from someone else, not from me.

“I know there are many Republican candidates, Kasich among them, who have said those exact words,” she added, referencing Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio). 

However, Fiorina did use the phrase to describe the court decision in comments in July, according to a video posted by the Iowa conservative blog Caffeinated Thoughts, and flagged at the time by Right Wing Watch.

“I think the Supreme Court ruling will become the law of the land and however much I may agree or disagree, I wouldn’t support an amendment to reverse it,” Fiorina said in July. 

She added that there should be a way for the government to “not discriminate in how it provides benefits,” and people to have freedom of religion.

Fiorina expanded on the sentiment of protecting religious freedom in the interview last week, where she added, “I am not aware of having said that, I am aware of other candidates saying that. 

“I think this probably came up with the recent Supreme Court decision on gay marriage,” she added. 

“My comment on that was we now must exert enormous energy towards protecting religious liberty in this country and that means every state has to pass a Religious Freedom Protection Act.”

The former business executive has shot up the polls since her lauded performance at this month’s CNN GOP presidential debate. Once unable to poll inside the top 10, she’s now in third place in an average of recent polling on RealClearPolitics. 

With that rise has come criticism from Democrats, specifically over her assertion during the most recent debate that controversial Planned Parenthood videos depict a “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.’”

Fact-checkers and Planned Parenthood have countered that the footage is not in the video, although the scene is described.