Romney to angry fairgoers: 'Corporations are people, my friend'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney faced unfriendly fairgoers at the Iowa State Fair Thursday, telling them that he wouldn't raise taxes on corporations to save Social Security because "corporations are people."

"What are you going to do to strengthen Social Security and Medicare without cutting federal spending?" one fairgoer asked.

"I'm not going to raise taxes," Romney insisted. "That's my answer."

"Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for about half of federal spending," the candidate later said.

"That's a lie!" a person in the audience shouted.

"We have to make sure the promises we make in Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare are promises we can keep. And there are various ways of doing that. One is we can raise taxes on people," Romney explained.

"Corporations!" someone yelled.

"Corporations are people, my friend," Romney replied. "Of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people."

Watch this video from C-SPAN, broadcast Aug. 11, 2011.

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