Mitt Romney Heckled, Says Corporations 'Are People, My Friend'

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Speaking to an occasionally rowdy crowd two days before the Ames Straw poll, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made what seems likely to become a much-discussed flub, declaring to a group of Iowans that "corporations are people."

Pressed by an attendee at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday as to why he was focusing on entitlement reforms as a means of deficit reduction over asking corporations to share part of the burden, the GOP frontrunner shot back:

"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."

The comment was immediately pounced on by Democrats, who saw it as another example of Romney being uncomfortable on the stump and inartful in his attempts to come off as an everyday pol.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/mitt-romney-heckled-iowa_n_924426.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. Soylent green is people, my friend!

[Demeter]

50. And Ronald Reagan Is Reincarnated

Better check him for Alzheimers.

[geardaddy]

86. But there ain't no corporate Soylent Green.

[Inuca]

He is technically correct, in a sense

Of course the question is WHICH PEOPLE? And HOW MANY people?

[dennis4868]

6. he's not correct...

in any way! If so, corporations should also pay income taxes, be able to get married and go to a football game.

[Vincardog]

8. And DIE

[Muskypundit]

12. Mwahahaha, preach it brother.

[Joe Bacon]

40. Solution--Let's ALL incorporate ourselves

Think of the tax savings and all the special perks you get when you're a corporation. Hey, maybe we can be like Exxon Mobil, pay no taxes, yet get a BIG REBATE!

Hell, lets ALL incorporate ourselves! :sarcasm:

[SusanaMontana41]

60. Welcome to DU, Muskypundit!

:hi:

[TalkingDog]

53. Or be killed... with a machete or poison or... duck hunting with dick cheney

n/t

[daleanime]

77. Oh hell yea...

:evilgrin:

[Kolesar]

11. Corporations don't die eom

[targetpractice]

13. ..or sit in jail when when they harm actual people. n/t

[denverbill]

16. And go to jail. n/t

[Inuca]

17. I thought the sarcasm

smiley was not needed, seems I was wrong.

[TalkingDog]

54. no this is a RAW NERVE... only black humor will soothe the fury

sarcasm is much too puny....

[Fuddnik]

25. Even same sex corporations?

[No Elephants]

32. Only if they remain celibate and never have subsidiaries.

[awoke_in_2003]

34. thread win. nt

[daleanime]

78. ..........

:spray: :rofl:

[Ken Burch]

41. corporations should be able to marry...

does that mean you favor...(gasp)...Same-Sector Marriage?

[MurrayDelph]

51. And have to get colonsocopies

and go to jail when they do something wrong.

[VWolf]

73. Can't speak for income taxes, but

I guess the equivalent of marriage would be merger, and corporations are EVERYWHERE at football games.

[LanternWaste]

28. No more than a House is a Family...

No more than a 'house' is a 'family', which is not technically correct either.

[lsewpershad]

80. Really????

These individuals already receive rights as individuals. So if corporations are given rights as people then Romney's people are receiving rights twice....ah never mind.

[dennis4868]

2. Obama's fault

[C_U_L8R]

3. He really doesn't get it

or at least he's pretending to not get it.

[immoderate]

20. My impression has always been that he is stupid.

His only real success TIKO is with the LA Olympics. I don't even know if his destroyer of companies "successes" were in any way engineered by him. :shrug: Either way is bad.

--imm

[No Elephants]

31. He did help straighten out the finances of one Utah Winter Olympics one year. No big whup.

Any decent accountant could have done the same.


But Mitt? He writes him a whole book about it and entitles it grandiosely "How I Saved the Olympics," as though he singlehandedly prevented the entire institution of the Olympics from disappearing forever.

What an arse.

[immoderate]

49. Thanks for the correction. I don't have too change my opion of him,

You kind of verified it.

--imm

[No Elephants]

63. My pleasure. Least I could do for my former lying Governor.

[Javaman]

70. no, he was just the face that got the credit...

he did zero heavy lifting to save the olympics.

[Tansy_Gold]

37. Um, imm, I believe that was Peter Ueberroth

who "saved" the LA Olympics. Mittens was Salt Lake City.

[immoderate]

48. Whoops - thanks for the correction.

I even gave him more credit than he deserved.

--imm

[Javaman]

69. oh he gets it. he honestly believes corps are people

That's how he's made his money.

if he didn't embrace it he wouldn't be as wealthy as he is.

he sucks at the corporate personhood teet.

[alp227]

4. heard this sound bite on Thom Hartmann today...telling when even REPUBLICANS know

better than the Supreme Court in the citizens united case

[nykym]

5. Whose pockets?

Why the rich and powerful people behind the curtain you fool.

[adhd_what_huh]

7. Mit meet fork..or goose meet oven....or bag meet hammers...

[jberryhill]

9. It was a flub... he meant to say "Corporations are my friends, people"

[targetpractice]

15. Thanks for the giggle! n/t

[No Elephants]

67. Nicely done.

So, he mislied, did he?

[Atypical Liberal]

10. Corporations were designed to PROTECT people.

No, corporations are not people. They are designed to PROTECT people from the liability of the actions of the corporation.

[No Elephants]

33. Corporations were designed to protect their owners FROM other people.

[a simple pattern]

79. Bingo.

English Common Law and its attendant collective avoidance of responsibility is and has always been the problem.

[davidwparker]

14. He's such a middle aged white man.

(No offense to middle aged white men.)

[katty]

18. Mittens would say this, afterall Mattel, Inc created Ken Mittens

[Fantastic Anarchist]

19. Fuck that prick. n/t

[louis-t]

21. I keep telling you people...

All of the "mainstream" repug candidates will keep screwing themselves with their mouths while nuts like Bachmann, if she can stay disciplined and doesn't spew any more crazy shit, will become their mainstream.

[SpiralHawk]

22. Fatcat Republicons crapping on American citizens.

As usual.

[Tiggeroshii]

23. Well the Supreme Court certainly agrees...

[Blue_Tires]

24. Sounds like Andrew Ryan's "Great Chain of Industry?"

[bvar22]

26. "And Everyone has a Share",

...shouted Milo as the American Planes began dropping bombs on their own base.
---from Catch 22

[geardaddy]

87. And isn't interesting that that creep Repuke Jon Voight

Played Minderbender?

[greiner3]

27. If not Mitt;

Are we going to go insane with Michelle going forward? At this rate Obama will NOT win next year.

[housewolf]

29. He SO wrong!

People live and breathe and have hearts.

Corporations exist for 1 of 2 reasons only, to make a profit or to shelter money from taxation. They do not breathe, they do not have hearts. Yes, they are made up by people but they themselves are not people. They are creations of people.

[No Elephants]

35. Add another: To protect their owners from liability.

[Auggie]

30. Bye Mitt...

Scratch this A-Hole off the list

[dgibby]

36. Corporations aren't people,

and we're not his friends.Poor Mittens, wrong on both counts!

[santamargarita]

38. Corporations are NOT people and neither are Republicans!

[Raschel]

39. Meet my friend, Corporation. I call him 'Corp' for short.

Steven Colbert ought to have fun with this one.

[madrchsod]

42. what`s the problem with him stating the truth?

[SoapBox]

43. Ohhhh...I feel SO sorry for The Mittens.

NOT! A thousand times NOT!

...what a jackass.

[Ignis]

44. Didn't the GOP already try the "my friend" schtick with McCain?

That went over like a lead balloon--especially when he was telling us that Americans wouldn't pick lettuce for $50/hour. :eyes:

[No Elephants]

64. To be fair to McInsane, Gramm advised him on economic issues.

Point two: We didn't call him McInsane and McLame for nothing.

[NJCher]

89. "my friend" schtick

It's an involuntary reflex. Republicans say "my friend" while they stab you in the back.It's just like the knee jerk when the doc taps for reflex action at your annual physical.


Cher

[TNLib]

45. He's right it goes to the people. His people the Ultra Rich!

nt

[NoodleyAppendage]

46. Careful what we wish for. Romney is less of a threat than Perry.

Perry will be the Republican candidate. I'm convinced of it. His "prayer rally" crap a couple of days ago was meant to show that he is the Christian Republican alternative to the Mormon. You watch. Perry will be the guy.

J

[Badsam]

47. "The comment was immediately pounced on by Democrats,"

and they still could not do anything with it

[TomCADem]

52. Well, I Guess When They Say They Are For The People...

...we know which people Romney and the rest of the right wing are referring to.

[mdmc]

55. eat the corporations - soylent blue!

[unkachuck]

56. "Corporations are people, my friend..."

....I'm not your friend and no they aren't....that's like saying, 'Submarines are people.'....they may involve people, people may work inside, but submarines are not people....

....or it's like saying, 'mitt romney is hemorrhoid.'....he may look like a hemorrhoid, he may smell like hemorrhoid, he may even have hemorrhoids, but he's not a hemorrhoid....

[Schema Thing]

57. By this logic, all Americans are Chinese.

" Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people."

[No Elephants]

65. Or, all Chinese are Waltons. Take your pick.

[dflprincess]

58. The article in the Mpls Star Tribune had another line worth noting

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/127529723.html

DES MOINES, Iowa -Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney faced a rowdy crowd at the Iowa State Fair Thursday, with people interrupting his answers to chant "Wall Street greed" and him snapping "corporations are people, my friend."
One questioner asked the GOP presidential candidate what he would do to strengthen Social Security. The voter didn't like Romney's pledge not to raise taxes, and interrupted him

Romney pointed angrily at the crowd and told them to give him a chance to answer. After a minutes-long exchange with Romney and the crowd shouting over each other, Romney said, "If you want to speak, you can. But it's my turn."

Some members in the crowd urged Romney to tax wealthy individuals and corporations to ensure solvency for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. "There was a time when we didn't go after people for their success," Romney said.

"If you don't like my answer, you can vote for someone else," he added.

As he wrapped up, he joked, "These guys up front won't be voting for me."

Apparently Willard feels that a progressive tax system (which would be nice to have) is "going after" people.

[SnakeEyes]

76. To be accurate

We do have a progressive tax system, it's just not progressive enough and has some holes it in.

[Gin Blossom]

91. Good catch. "There was a time..."

I always think of snappy comebacks after the fact, but a good one might have been, "Like the 1950's?"

[beac]

59. "my friend"????

Oh Mitt, you poor bastard, who do you think you are, John McCain?

[mochajava666]

75. That was the first thing that I thought, too. McCain 2.0?

[toddwv]

61. Corporations aren't people.

They are legal entities.

[6000eliot]

62. The only "people" he cares about, I'm sure.

[No Elephants]

66. If corporations are people, why did Mitt buy them, break them up and sell their assets?

And throw their employees, the actual people, out of work?

Think Gordon Gekko and Martin Sheen's employer in Wall Street (the original movie)

[Javaman]

68. he done. nt

[Zambero]

71. Let's re-write that Streisand song

Corporations
Corporations who need corporations
Are the luckiest PEOPLE in the world...

[russspeakeasy]

72. Can you say "Makaka ?"

A loser is a loser...sometimes it just appears in a moment of "truthiness".

[LaurenG]

74. "Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? ..."

Mitts pockets. What a dork a slithering, propagandizing dork and by dork I mean bastard. :mad:

[texshelters]

81. Yes, and the earth is flat

and the moon landing never happen, and blood letting will cure you, Republicans care about you and other lies.

Saying it doesn't make it so.

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[recoveringdittohed]

82. Potential Romney cabinet appointees

Hopefully Romney nor any Republican will be elected but if Romney wins we could see a cabinet including:

Secretary of Defense: General Electric

Secretary of Treasury: J P Morgan

Secretary of Agriculture: John Deere

"Corporations are people, my friend"

[DirkGently]

83. Excellent accidental truth telling, Mitt.

(edit: to be clear, this is Mitt's truth, not the actual truth, of course)

[sarcasmo]

84. The old guy in the video handed Romney an early defeat.

[NAZLib]

85. Not a "flub"

I expect he really BELIEVES that nonsense.

[tawadi]

88. Didn't wait long to show his true colors

If a candidate can't handle being in the hot seat, they shouldn't run.

[november3rd]

90. Somebody please tell him money isn't everything

If all it takes to be a person is having money, then why would somebody with money want to be President, Mitt?

[ATLdemocrat]

92. "People, my friend" or "People. My friend."

Either way, he can go to hell.

[daleo]

93. If they are people, they should pay income tax

And plenty of it. They should also go to jail when they commit crimes.

[0rganism]

94. sounds like the opening to a folk song

I can imagine a really funny Phil Ochs-style parody single evolving from this.

Corporations are people my friend
(of course they are)
Everything the corporations earn
Ultimately goes to the people
In the backroom
Making the deals

(chorus)
Whose pockets are you pickin my friend
Do you want those tickers tickin my friend
We can't raise their taxes
Or the good times will end
Corporations are people my friend

and so on