In a turbulent economy where average citizens are struggling to stay afloat, declaring that, “corporations are people too,” doesn’t seem like the best plan.
Oops. Too bad for Mitt Romney, who uttered those words yesterday while trying to defend his position on deficit reduction (which is to cut entitlements, which is to say cut Social Security and Medicare, rather than asking corporations to shoulder some of the tax burden).
“That came out wrong,” is a familiar feeling to all of us, but when you’re a politician, words can sink your ship as fast as cannon balls. Romney tried to explain, but it didn’t help matters much:
“Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings my friend.”
First of all, Romney doesn’t seem to have a great grasp of who attends mid-western state fairs. many people at an Iowa State Fair are part of the tiny percentage of actual human beings who see any corporate profit? I’m guessing Rupert Murdoch wasn’t hanging out having corn on the cobb. Second of all…
Mitt, I’m no accountant, but even I have a pretty clear understanding that most corporate money doesn’t actually end up in the pockets of people… and frankly, “people” who are good citizens of the United States pay their taxes, do they not? At least, all the people I know do. What’s wrong with asking the same of corporate citizens?
That’s not an accurate quote. Please correct.
Mitt Romney said “Corporations are people, my friend” meaning corporations are comprised of people and they are owned by people and ultimately their profits flow back to people.
He did not imply that a company takes on personhood.
Please correct.
While you are correcting your inaccurate headline, please also note that the occurance did not happen “last night” as you indicate but rather mid-day yesterday at the Iowa State Fair. As you may know, last night there was a Republican debate conducted in Iowa and this statement did not happen there.
Seems like a pretty clear reference to the Citizens United Supreme Court case, which assigned “personhood” to corporations.
Now that was legislating from the bench!
Bridget,
I see that you corrected the time-of-day error but not the headline. Why would you want an incorrect quote? You cited it correctly in the body of the article. Perhaps that’s because David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign director, is purposely misquoting Romney for dramatic effect.
We need a press that tells the truth and strives for accuracy rather than parroting talking points from political operatives.