Mitt: Corporations Are People, But Unions Aren't

The cognitive dissonance in Mitt Romney's mind must be overwhelming:

Republican nominee Mitt Romney said Tuesday that Democratic politicians have a conflict of interest in dealing with teacher unions because the unions contribute so heavily to their campaigns. He suggested that money should somehow be diverted or cut off, although he did not offer details.

Speaking in New York at Education Nation, a forum sponsored by NBC, Romney told interviewer Brian Williams that he is not necessarily against a right to strike. "I don't know that I would prevent teachers from being able to strike," he said, adding later that "allowing teachers to strike on matters such as compensation I think is a right that exists in this country."

The bigger problem, Romney said, is that "the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign contribution from the teachers union themselves ... [It's] an extraordinary conflict of interest and something that should be addressed."

He later added that "we simply can't have" elected officials who have received large contributions from teachers sitting across from them at the bargaining table "supposedly" to represent the interests of children. "I think it's a mistake," Romney said. "I think we have to get the money out of the teachers unions going into campaigns. It's the wrong way for us to go. We've got to separate that." [emphasis mine]

But when those same elected officials are writing laws to regulate corporations...

Romney explained that one way to fulfill promises on entitlement programs is to “raise taxes on people,” but before he could articulate his position on not raising taxes, someone interrupted. 

“Corporations!” a protester shouted, apparently urging Romney to raise taxes on corporations that have benefited from loopholes in the tax code. “Corporations!”

“Corporations are people, my friend,” Romney said. 

Some people in the front of the audience shouted, “No, they’re not!” 

“Of course they are,” Romney said. “Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?”

And, as people, those corporations would be able to give unlimited amounts of money to candidates in Mitt's world:

Mitt Romney says he'd like to scrap campaign finance laws that have given rise to a war of independent attack ads from political action committees. Romney said he'd instead like to allow candidates to accept unlimited donations and take responsibility for their own words.

The comment came as Romney sparred with Newt Gingrich over inaccuracies in ads being bankrolled by super PACs.

Romney called the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law "a disaster." The law regulates campaign donations.

The former Massachusetts governor said the solution was to "let people make contributions they want to make to campaigns; let campaigns then take responsibility for their own words."

That is, except for unions, which apparently are not people, like corporations are. Maybe unions would be if they incorporated. Or something; it's confusing...

There is a real chance this guy will be our next president. As bad as Obama is on education, that simply can't be allowed to happen.