Amid calls by doctors to retire his company's kid-friendly mascot, McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner delivered a speech to shareholders that would make any free-market politician proud. 

“We believe in the democratic process and we play in the democratic process,” Skinner said at an his company's annual meeting. “This is about the personal, individual right to choose.”

The campaign to get rid of the popular clown is led by nonprofit advocacy group Corporate Accountability International, which says that the company uses advertising and toys to market fast food to children, contributing to the recent "epidemic" of childhood obesity.

But Skinner maintained that his company's ad campaigns aren't evil.

"Ronald McDonald is an ambassador to McDonald's, and he is an ambassador for good," Skinner said. "Ronald McDonald isn't going anywhere."

Skinner stopped short of thanking McDonald for defending truth, justice and the American way.

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