ALL THE RIGHT ENEMIES, IF YOU WANT CRAZY RIGHT-WINGERS TO VOTE FOR YOU

Lefties are talking about how Mitt Romney shot himself in the foot by telling hecklers at an Iowa campaign appearance that we shouldn't raise taxes on corporations because "corporations are people." Me, I'm thinking that the guy is smarter than he looks -- an embarrassing story broke this morning about his decision to cite tax increases as a good thing in a report to Standard & Poor's during his term as governor of Massachusetts, Rick Perry is grabbing headlines ... and now Romney, at just the right moment, gets someone to throw him a pitch he can hit deep to (far) right field. Awfully good timing, that.

ABC's Note tells us:

Romney's appearance in Iowa today was a great example of what happens when a candidate decides to take questions at an unscripted campaign event -- in this case the infamous Des Moines Register Soapbox near the main gates of the fair.

Hostile fairgoers planted themselves in the front row as Romney spoke, and both sides got fired up.

Did he go to this event hoping for a confrontation, so he could prove his wingnut bona fides? I don't know. In any event, helped himself in the near term.

As for the long term, well, I would dearly love it if all of non-right-wing America felt revulsion at the notion that huge corporations are jes' folks that need to be treated with the utmost courtesy and respect, even if they're wallowing in cash while the rest of us are struggling. Problem is, I don't think there are very many Americans, outside the engaged left, who are appalled at corporate personhood. I fear this won't be very useful against him if he's the nominee -- and meanwhile, I think it makes him look like a tough guy and a victim in the campaign for the nomination (and, to wingnuts, tough guy and victim is the perfect combination).

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Incidentally, I notice that in a clip of the Iowa event posted by Think Progress, Romney says this:

We want to make sure people do pay their fair share. Half the people in this country pay no income tax at all.

People too poor to pay income tax pay plenty of other taxes, of course, but that hasn't stopped people like Michele Bachmann from arguing that poor people should pay income tax as well, and thus face a tax increase. We weren't surprised when Crazy Michele proposed that -- but is Romney proposing it now as well? Think it might be a good time for someone to request a yes or no answer to that question?

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UPDATE: Zandar reminds us that Republican supercommittee member Dave Camp, who's currently being touted as a possible vote for a "balanced" approach to deficits, is another one of those who believe that the poor relly ought to pay income tax, so they'll have "skin in the game."