Prove It!
Mitt “Because I said so” Romney:
The fascination with taxes I’ve paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues we face. But I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, I never paid less than 13 percent. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. So I’ve paid taxes every single year. Harry Reid’s charge is totally false. I’m sure waiting for Harry to put up whoever told him. I don’t believe it for a minute by the way. But every year I’ve paid at least 13 percent and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why the amount goes well above 20 percent.
Mitt “Trust Me” Romney thinks people asking about his taxes are small-minded. Seriously, these people need to learn their place. (And could someone explain to me why Mitt felt the need to place his tax returns front and center. Again.) After all, believing what a candidate says is the Republican way. Unless you’re a Dem President, then…
You’re not an American citizen (even after you show your short and long form birth certificate)
You’re a Muslim, even though you say you’re a Christian
You hate America, even though you say “God bless America”
You’re a Socialist, even though you say you’re not.
So spare me Mitt Romney’s case of the vapors. Seriously, this guy is the biggest baby in politics, and definitely not a person you’d want next to you in a foxhole – Hell, he’d probably use your body as a human shield. 🙂
Yesterday, Harry Reid laid it on the line:
“We’ll believe it when we see it,” Reid’s spokesman, Adam Jentleson, said Thursday. “Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans will continue to wonder what he’s hiding. Romney seems to think he plays by a different set of rules than every other presidential candidate for the last thirty years, all of whom lived up to the standard of transparency set by Mitt Romney’s father and released their tax returns.”
Go Harry! Truly, the way Harry Reid has handled this has been a thing of beauty. Meteor Blades spells it out:
Harry Reid has been right from the get-go. It’s simple. Mitt Romney can clear everything up just by releasing his tax returns. If he’s telling the truth that he is in the 35 percent income tax bracket but has only been paying at the 13 percent level all these years—not at a much lower level—then he can release the returns, embarrass Reid, extract an apology and come out smelling, well, like a guy in the 35 percent tax bracket who regularly pays a 13 percent rate, what the average construction worker does.
Until then, he should stop embarrassing himself with the “trust me” comments.
There’s a reason Mitt “None Of Your Business” Romney won’t do the obvious and release his tax returns, and it has nothing to do with the outrageous demands of “small-minded” voters.
This is NOT a matter of principle. Not releasing the tax returns is a calculated political strategy which boils down to this: It is less damaging to take the hit on not releasing taxes than releasing the taxes. That’s it. That’s the bottom line. All the talk about small-mindedness, trusting Mitt, etc. is just that – Talk.
Mitt should have released his taxes months ago and moved on. That is Politics 101.
And, (sorry, Mitt) but it’s not going away – even Mitt won’t drop it. And now the Obama Campaign has just raised the stakes again!
President Obama’s team is offering Mitt Romney a deal on taxes: Publicly release five years of returns, and the Obama campaign will drop its insistence for additional tax information.
“I am writing to ask again that the Governor release multiple years of tax returns,” wrote Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, “but also to make an offer that should address his concerns about the additional disclosures. Governor Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provide. So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: if the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more — neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign.”
Unsurprisingly, the Romney Campaign has refused. Remember, this is political strategy. The Romney campaign has calculated the damage between releasing the tax returns and not releasing the tax returns and concluded that releasing the tax returns would be far more damaging than all negative press and awkward questions (both of which take the Romney Campaign continually off-message) they’ve been receiving.
As a political junkie, the Romney Campaign’s “strategy” baffles me. For crying out loud, why don’t they shut this tax conversation down? Hell, they keep breathing new life into this issue. They’ve even dragged Ann “No More Tax Returns From Us” Romney into this mess – another political no no. And every time Romney and Co open their mouths they not only elevate the issue they raise more questions.
What the hell is in those tax returns? We already know about the low tax rates, the off-shore accounts, etc. so… what else is there? Because there’s gotta be something in order to justify political suicide.
This, from Reid, is the very crux of it. “Romney seems to think he plays by a different set of rules…”
Up until now he has never been called out for playing by rich guy rules, and he seems totally flummoxed by the fact that he is not getting his way on this.
I hope Dems stay on offense. So far they haven’t taken the bait to go on defense – good for them.
every year I’ve paid at least 13 percent and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why the amount goes well above 20 percent.
This is a remarkable insight into the mind of the rich. Romney’s conflation of taxes with charity shows the rich are indeed different. They really do resent the money they are required to pay in taxes.
To be a Republican, you first of all have to believe in the concept that all money belongs a priori to the rich.
Once you get your head wrapped around that mindset, then you can see how Republicans are genuinely incredulous to hear “you didn’t build that.”
I wonder if the tax returns will show Romney shorted GM or would somehow benefit from its failure. Perhaps just before he publicly called to let GM die. Not illegal, but politically devastating.
If so, Romney got his clock cleaned by Warren Buffet, who bought big in GM. And the loss might explain a possible zero-tax or low-tax year for Romney.
“Romney seems to think he plays by a different set of rules…”
Exactly, Jason. He can’t believe anyone dares to question him. He even feels he can dictate what everyone will discuss. For example:
Politico (Politico!) writes:
What is surprising is hearing a candidate say, essentially, “stop hitting me.”
Perhaps Mitt “Trust Me” Romney’s reason for constantly breathing new life into the tax return issue is that he’s use to having the last, and final, word.
Mitt Romney’s comfort zone is a boardroom full of people he owns. Figuratively, that is. I’m not getting into the chains thing today.
There are just so many potential landmines, that the ultra hard line against any tax info release is not surprising. The surprising part is that they didn’t expect to be scrutinized.
Here’s how rightwing site Newsmax put it:
“Obama Campaign Backs Off Romney 10-Year Tax Demand”
LOL! Wingnut framing.
You guys are all abiut rhetoric, not solutiins. Your beating a dead horse. All of your talk on this issue from now until the electiion is not going to change one thing. Romney is not going to release any more returns, and you are not going to change the mind of any single voter to vote against romney becauss he wont release his returns. All you are doing is making yourselves feel strong because you gain satisfaction by dissing on the next president because you are uncappable of understanding his vision for the ountry. As usuall, liberals are all talk, and could care less about ever resolving anything
My problem with Romney is that I’m perfectly capable “understanding his vision for the country.”
His vision for the country is the disease. The secret off shore bank accounts and shady tax returns are symptoms.
Who knows what Romney was up to.If he hid his income, 13% of zero is zero. There could be a variety of tax issues while legal are embarassing.
Lillyledbetter fair pay act, the affordable care act, the largest single tax cuts to the middle class EVER, saving the American auto industry…..the list goes on.
The Republicans answer to all of these? “No” And that was in between time spent acusing Obama of being a foreign born un-American secrect muslim marxist socialist.
Now tell me again who is all talk and no action?
Tom, True enough, and the Romney’s have pretty much used that as their excuse for keeping them secret. Too embarrassing.
Jason, your comments prove my point, you are uncappable of understanding Romney’s Vision for the Country. There has never been one comment made on this blog by any of you regulars that remotely shows that you understand Romey’s vision for the country.
One simple way of looking at it is this, Under a Romney administration, whether you are employeed in the public or private sector, to get ahead your best option will be to work hard. If you don’t work hard and smart, it is going to be extremely difficult to get ahead in the Romney administration. Of course in a free enterprise society, their will always be scammers, you cannot fully stop that, but the vast majority of people who get ahead in a Rommeny administration will be those in the private and public sector, who contribute to society the most.
An analogy for you guys would be as follows, we have in the animal kingdom, 2 options, grow up and stay in the wild, and live a free life, but you yourself are responsible for your survival, or you get to go to the zoo, you are taken care of all your needs. But one big problem, In the zoo, you have lost most of your freedom. You guys want the country to be like the zoo, the vast majority of the country wants the freedom of being responsible for themselves.
Mitt Romney wants to be elected. That is his vision. Period. During his political career he has made it clear that he will say whatever is needed to reach that goal. During the Republican primaries he made it clear that he will do anything to reach that goal. Do people really believe in him or do they support him because he is running against Barack Obama? My sense is that Romney derives his support from those who dislike the President. In the end that will be his downfall. While there may be dislike of the President there isn’t enough to allow Mitt Romney to reach his goal.
Romney doesn’t get small business and neither does Ryan. Ryan has never run a business, he has been in politics his entire life. Romney ran a business that received preferential tax treatment. Both inherited fortunes. They like the Bush administration believe in crony capitalism. The tea bag idiots have called me a socialist, even though I’ve been self-employed almost my entire adult life.
I’m sorry, Two iterations of “uncappable” have me too busy picturing the posters here in Robin Hood hats and snazzy bowlers to do any political thinking. 😀
Tom, if you are self employeed, then you cannot be a socialist. However, you are uninformed.
Romney gave away to charity 100 percent of the money he inherited from his parents. As far as crony capitalism goes, romney is the farthest away from that than anyone. Romney has always been his own man, not seeking business favors from gov, or friends, you are dead wrong about this. What kind of prefferential tax treatments that are different than what you and I get are you talking about.
Rusty, I am uncappable of believing Romney gave his whole inheritance to charity unless you can show some proof of that!
Hey Rusty: Since you have progressed mentally to the point where you can now use analogies, I suggest you look up the lifespans of various animals in the wild vs. in captivity.
The freedoms the zoo animals are giving up include the freedom to be hunted down and killed, the freedom to go without veterinary care and the freedom to be displaced when their environment destroyed.
It’s actually a pretty good analogy, though. It perfectly captures the “screw you, I’m looking out for my own self” philosophy you people adhere to.