Mitt Romney. Bless his heart.
He makes Al Gore look cool.
Sporting his khakis and button down dress shirt, the man who should be king of the Republican presidential wannabees looked about as comfortable as Robert Bentley at a Cinco de Mayo fiesta, one foot propped up awkwardly on a bale of hay as he spoke to a crowd from the "soapbox," a rather clever idea of the Des Moines Register, a stage from which politicians could address and converse with the Iowa State fair crowd.
"Corporations are persons."
Romney had been talking about no new taxes on the people. A member of the crowd suggested that taxes could be raised by closing large corporate loopholes. That's when Romney said,
"Corporations are persons."
Yes, I remember in law school learning about the principle that corporations are persons, an idea expanded by the SCOTUS a couple of years ago in the Citizen's United case. But the Iowa state fair with bales of hay for ottomans may not be the place to assert such contrivances of law.
I am a democrat. Some people say I am liberal. So I am sure I see the tax question differently than Mitt Romney. But I am not sure what bothers me most, his position, or the complete lack of wisdom exhibited by his response.
Will that be the intelligence he will use when he gets the call at 3:00 a.m.?
Equating corporations with human beings is not a pretty proposition for most voters, Democrat or Republican.
So today must have been tough for Romney. It was Texas Governor Rick Perry's first day on the campaign trail in Iowa. Perry was suffering from a minor self-inflicted political injury in Iowa as a result of his decision to announce his candidacy from South Carolina on the same day as the Iowa straw poll. Some Iowan Republicans considered it to be a bit rude. And Iowans are polite. Remember Radar O'Reilly of Ottumwa?
But it looked like Perry was quickly healing the wound. When he propped his foot on the bale of hay, it was at home as a goat on a spit. When I closed my eyes I thought I was listening to W, except his words fit together, even without the use of a single "g" on the end.
I don't think he has said it yet, but I expect it has already been considered. It would be for sure if I were advisin' him. Somethin' like . . .
"Mitt said that corporations are persons. He caught a lot of flack about that, but I know what he meant and so do you. He's talkin' bout that Supreme Court case upholdin' the first amendment. I don't know about all that, I'll let those judges work that out. But what I do know is that those corporations were started by real folks just like you and me, and they provide jobs for folks just like you and me, and the folks that own and run those corporations will be the ones to get us out of this economic mess we're in. I sure don't think we want 'em to have to pay more taxes right now, do we? I think I'd rather them pay out pay checks to real folks like you and me than tax checks to the government, wouldn't you?"
Corporations may be persons.
But they aren't folks.
And that is why Romney is in trouble.
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