Harry Reid manages to turn Romney’s tax returns into a good story for Romney
While we were focused on T-SPLOST, the presidential campaign marched on. Which is not to say it moved forward, in any normal sense of the word.
The latest moment in the summer silly season comes courtesy of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, employing the “when did you stop beating your wife?” technique toward Mitt Romney’s tax returns. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Sen. Harry Reid caused a stir this week when he told an interviewer that Mitt Romney hasn’t released more of his tax returns because “he didn’t pay taxes for 10 years.” On Wednesday, Reid doubled down on the charge. …
“I am not basing this on some figment of my imagination,” Reid said in a telephone call with Nevada reporters. “I have had a number of people tell me that.”
Asked to elaborate on his sources, Reid declined. “No, that’s the best you’re going to get from me.”
“I don’t think the burden should be on me,” Reid said. “The burden should be on him. He’s the one I’ve alleged has not paid any taxes. Why didn’t he release his tax returns?”
This is, not to put too fine a point on it, un-American.
You see, in this country, the burden of proof is on the accuser. That is the standard in criminal cases, and it informs our sense of propriety in the court of public opinion.
This is why neither 9/11 “truthers” nor Obama “birthers” have gotten any traction with the broader public: Their respective “cases” — to use another word loosely — rely on accusations they can’t prove and an implication the accused should prove they’ve done nothing wrong. That’s not how it works in this country.
For good measure, Reid also suggested Romney’s own deceased father would be disappointed in his son. I’m glad to know Reid’s tastelessness knows no bounds.
The good news is that the senator’s claim is likely to shift the focus from Romney to those jumping the shark while badgering him to release his past tax returns. After all, when you’ve lost Jon Stewart …
(Note: If you click that Jon Stewart link, you should expect to hear some language we don’t allow on AJC blogs. And no, I’m not going to defend the claims on the Fox & Friends clips he shows at the end.)
– By Kyle Wingfield
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988 comments Add your comment
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 2nd, 2012
1:44 pm
“Romney can put all this to rest by simply releasing his tax returns! ”
Why feed the trolls?
“No matter how you plan to vote, there are too many questions about his taxes!”
I have none, because I don’t care about his income or his taxes.
“Romney should release ten years of his tax returns so people can decide for themselves!”
If you need to know someone’s tax returns in order to make a decision, then maybe you shouldn’t be voting in such an important election.
Hmmmmmm
August 2nd, 2012
1:45 pm
maybe have CPJ as his running mate… Wow, imagine that….
raven5
August 2nd, 2012
1:45 pm
We all know that federal elections require those running to give up important history of themselves, families, businesses etc. No different to the contenter Mic Romney. There is something he don’t want the public or his party to see or even know….but he has to come forward and put it on the line. There can be no more ducking and shucking about this tax matter. If he or anyone else is not willing to do this, including those who will run for Vice-President for the Romney side….don’t put your hat in the ring. Doing so is open game for all to play. The sun is about to shine on Romney for not telling the truth, you can’t change things, ask Herman Cain and then try to wash it away. It comes right back! America, we are electing people into office for years that sit there and don’t do nothing but get paid, have more health care and retirement while we as little people suffer at their hands. We have not seen nothing that our Congressmen and Representatives done….except, talk and stay in office for years on years. That make’s a very bad image on us as voters………we need to vote them out of office and elect those who have been in the same ditch as we have and see what they will do! Its time for a change, America!
JamVet
August 2nd, 2012
1:48 pm
Jeez, even John Bolton is now getting compared to Pelosi.
As for the Jewish vote, come November we will once again kick some Republican ass. As always.
(And I love it…)
curious
August 2nd, 2012
1:49 pm
I’m beginning to feel sorry for Romney. He learned how to make money from Bernie Madoff and uses the same CPA Leona Helmsley used (only little people pay taxes).
His tax returns are probably legal (he’s not stupid), but the ways he found to avoid paying taxes would probably speak volumne
We may learn some good tricks.
Beefcake
August 2nd, 2012
1:50 pm
Goodbye Kofi, so glad to see you go (didn’t ramones have a song titled glad to see you go)?
Andrea Sniderman what evil incarnate (everyone knew she was in on hubbie’s murder)
just like OJ
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 2nd, 2012
1:50 pm
“if every other presidential candidate has released more than a few years of their tax returns, and if Mittens’ returns are 100% kosher, why not release them?”
Simple, Slick Rick.
One: a candidate doesn’t voluntarily feed the trolls more chow.
Two: Romney is a relatively private guy for a politician, and he thinks that speaking about his finances is showing off.
Three: He doesn’t believe in the “He did it, too!” kindergarten argument.
Four: It really isn’t any of your business.
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
1:51 pm
@@
I have the quote in its entirety. You still stand be that bs you posted?
Quadruple shnirt
The gullible were duped on that issue
@@
August 2nd, 2012
1:51 pm
Joe:
That’s strange; the first time we met, you were declaiming that I was a racist within the first five minutes. How soon they forget.
Link please?
Peach:
Here’s the link YOU requested. There’s a video out there somewhere.
Pelosi said in an interview Friday, “…Republicans are using Israel as an excuse, what they really want are tax cuts for the wealthy. So Israel that can be one reason they put forth.” She then said Jews who vote Republican “they’re being exploited.” Pelosi’s blunt statements are that Republican Jews use Israel as an “excuse” for criticizing Obama – and in fact only want tax cuts for the wealthy. Pelosi is basically claiming that Jews only want money and don’t give a damn about Israel.
http://www.jewocity.com/blog/anti-semitic-statement-nancy-pelosi-claims-jews-care-only-about-money/3294
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
1:53 pm
As for the Jewish vote, come November we will once again kick some Republican ass. ”
I love it when JamVet pretends not to be a Democrat and then he lets things like that slip. He once said he was a Ralph Nadar supporter. Pretty much tells you all you need to know about him.
Susan McMahon
August 2nd, 2012
1:53 pm
I think the real reason the issue of Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns won’t go away is because Romney himself has said that he will pay for his proposed massive tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans by eliminating tax loopholes.
But which loopholes will Romeny eliminate? HE REFUSES TO SAY. Which raises the obvious question: will he close the loopholes that HE uses to hide millions in foreign accounts and offshore tax shelters? Or does he only intend to eliminate deductions and credits that OTHER people use., e.g., the ones that middle-class families rely on?
This is why Romney’s secrecy is so maddening: We have no idea if his tax plan is a shamefully self-serving one that keeps the loopholes used by millionaires like him while cutting the ones used by middle-class families, since he refuses to release his returns (even his 2010 one is incomplete) and since he refuses to say anything SPECIFIC about his tax plan.
This seems to be his strategy: Just don’t say anything, don’t admit to anything, don’t divulge any specifics about anything–and hope that people just dislike the President enough to vote for anyone else.
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
1:54 pm
@@
Thanks. Are those all the comments she made at that time?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 2nd, 2012
1:54 pm
“we need to vote them out of office and elect those who have been in the same ditch as we have and see what they will do!”
We need to elect perpetual losers to the highest office in the land?
Isn’t that like voting a community organized into office? That has sure worked out well, hasn’t it?
tiredofIT
August 2nd, 2012
1:55 pm
About $59 billion is spent on traditional social welfare programs. $92 billion is spent on corporate subsidies. So, the government spent 50% more on corporate welfare. (Cato)
++
Those companies are doing it without any help.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 2nd, 2012
1:55 pm
Romney would release his tax returns but he spilled his cheesy grits on them.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 2nd, 2012
1:55 pm
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
12:01 pm
Obama is a felon for snorting cocaine.
And wrote a book about it too.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 2nd, 2012
1:57 pm
We need to elect perpetual losers to the highest office in the land?
That didn’t seem to be an issue when you voted W in – twice! Everything the Shrub touched turned to sewage.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 2nd, 2012
1:58 pm
“But which loopholes will Romeny eliminate? HE REFUSES TO SAY.”
He pretty much claimed all of them, Susan.
But you weren’t going to vote for him anyway, so why should his ears perk up when you bark?
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
1:59 pm
“And wrote a book about it too.”
And the libs who say Romney is a felon totally ignore the drug addict in the White House. He also eats dogs.
Obama has a war on dogs.
Joe Mama
August 2nd, 2012
2:00 pm
@@ — “Link please?”
Sorry, m’dear. Didn’t bother to save it. Doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten it, though.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:01 pm
“Romney would release his tax returns but he spilled his cheesy grits on them.”
Obama would release his Harvard grades but he spilled his cocaine and dog blood on them.
Beefcake
August 2nd, 2012
2:01 pm
when’s J (defender of the GREAT MEDIA MINDF*CK) Book comin’ back?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 2nd, 2012
2:01 pm
“That didn’t seem to be an issue when you voted W in – twice! Everything the Shrub touched turned to sewage.”
First of all, I didn’t vote for GWB. Another in a continuing series of errors on your part, Finn.
Second, I do not believe that his stewardship of Texas as governor qualifies as “sewage”.
Do you ever get anything right?
@@
August 2nd, 2012
2:03 pm
Peach:
Pelosi has a tendency to ramble. It’s how she gets by with so much. People don’t know what’s in her comments until they actually study them.
SCHNIRT!
How you and I perceive her comments doesn’t matter. It’s how the Mr. Torossian’s of the world see them and he (Mr. Torossian) was offended.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:03 pm
“That didn’t seem to be an issue when you voted W in – twice! Everything the Shrub touched turned to sewage.”
The economy was 100% better than it has been under Obama.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:04 pm
“when’s J (defender of the GREAT MEDIA MINDF*CK) Book comin’ back?”
I imagine people like getalife, JamVet and Numbers all call Jay up on the phone daily asking the same question.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:05 pm
“First of all, I didn’t vote for GWB. Another in a continuing series of errors on your part, Finn.”
I voted for him in 2004 and would gladly do it again.
David
August 2nd, 2012
2:05 pm
Reid is correct. A Presidential candidate should have no secrets from US citizens especially about his financial affairs. If he wants to keep them secret then he should not be running for President.
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
2:06 pm
@@
Well you can spin it all you like (noticed how you wouldn’t address all her comments, typical), but the Jewish community will be voting at least 65% Democrat this election.
But that would be an improvement for Republicans, seeing that they voted 75% last time.
@@
August 2nd, 2012
2:07 pm
Joe:
Sorry, m’dear. Didn’t bother to save it.
Well there you go. If there’s no proof, then what’s the point?
Doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten it, though.
May as well. I have.
Numbers-R-US
August 2nd, 2012
2:08 pm
Numbers-R-US – The poor do not pay income taxes, matter of fact they get money back that they did not pay into the system.
If you don’t think the poor pay enough, you could always write or call your Republican congressman and push them to approve a bill that eliminates things like the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, for example.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:08 pm
“If he wants to keep them secret then he should not be running for President.”
Yet there isn’t one single law/rule that states anyone has to release tax records to the public. So sorry you can’t live in the real world.
Obama is over
August 2nd, 2012
2:08 pm
Unemployment/underemployment for Americans age 18 to 24 is 50%. Yet all you Obama puppets want to talk about are Romney’s tax returns, Chic-fil-A, and other distractions that are not going to help the country. Obama can’t run on his record so what else does he have? And your nonsequiturs always devolve into the race card. It’s sad really. I challenge Getalife and Jamvet to list Obama’s economic plan to get us out of this recession. Keep it simple. Five bullet points will do.
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
2:08 pm
@@
But to an extent, I agree that Pelosi likes to ramble
stands for decibels
August 2nd, 2012
2:09 pm
Just like clockwork–the day after Chik-Fil-A Appreciation Day, we get a more traditional expression of rock-ribbed conservative family values.
An Indiana sheriff’s office is investigating alleged misconduct by the pastor of an evangelical megachurch who was fired after admitting to an “improper relationship” with a teenage girl, the Hammond Post-Tribune reports.
Jack Schaap, 54, was pastor at 15,000-congregation First Baptist Church of Hammond, Ind., for 11 years and broadcast his sermons worldwide.
[...]
Schaap is also author of several books on marriage and dating, but they are apparently were removed from the website of his publisher, Hyles Publications.
A webpage for the purchase of CDs and DVDs of Schaap’s sermons is still accessible, however, as is a page on a book Schaap co-authored on teaching in Sunday school.
michelle
August 2nd, 2012
2:09 pm
Reid has actually been quoted (there is audio evidence) as saying that we are fortunate to live in a country where paying taxes isn’t mandatory, in some countries the government just takes it.. lol
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:09 pm
” but the Jewish community will be voting at least 65% Democrat this election.”
They might not vote at all. Israel supports Republicans over Democrats. I wonder why?
@@
August 2nd, 2012
2:09 pm
Peach:
Well you can spin it all you like (noticed how you wouldn’t address all her comments, typical), but the Jewish community will be voting at least 65% Democrat this election.
I do so love it when a party assumes ownership of a people.
SCHNIRT!
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:10 pm
“Just like clockwork–the day after Chik-Fil-A Appreciation Day, we get a more traditional expression of rock-ribbed conservative family values.”
So stands lumps ALL conservatives in with a pastor who cheated on his wife.
Ok, I’ll play this game. Since Holmes shot up a movie theater I’ll say that ALL libs are murderers.
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
2:11 pm
@@
Almost forgot. I am assuming the gentleman’s name you posted was the author of the article and he is Jewish.
Does he speak for the entire Jewish community?
SHNIRT, SHNIRT
have a great day
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 2nd, 2012
2:12 pm
Oh, I see. Only elect absolute losers if they re Republicans. Got it. I can see the trend line already.
Logic was never intended for libs
August 2nd, 2012
2:12 pm
“Does he speak for the entire Jewish community?”
Sure, if stands says that one pastor represents all conservatives…
Gotta love left wing double standards.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
August 2nd, 2012
2:17 pm
Either you are going to vote for Romney or not: there is no reasonable excuse for alleging that you don’t know enough about him, his position, his wealth, or his tax history. People are just fishing for something to keep the attention off Obama and his abysmal record. Obama has accomplished little and his economy gets worse by the day. He has nothing to run on, no economic plans, no new policies, and no new foreign policy initiatives. He was unqualified when elected and has learned little since.
He just hopes to sling enough mud against the wall, hoping something will stick and distract the press and keep focus on finding a flaw in Romney. It that fails, he falls back on the wealthy envy and divide and conquer strategy. Where are all his great ideas? This great orator and bright mind that the libs want him to be, is an empty suit, trying desperately to hold onto power.
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
2:18 pm
“I do so love it when a party assumes ownership of a people.”
Your words, not mine. The nubmers are the numbers and you can cry all day.
See you wont talk about all the comments and are glad segment so you can make it simple for “Simple Minds”..,,,,,,, not you the band
hahahahaha
Eat a Peach
August 2nd, 2012
2:20 pm
Rafe
Looks like he is taking a part of the Repub book. You remember very well, he is Muslim, he was born In Kenya, blah, blah; blah
If you can’t take the heat, step off
Rick
August 2nd, 2012
2:22 pm
Oooo – aren’t you clever! You managed to use the latest and greatest political buzzwords! Un-
American! Tastelessness! What a paragon of journalistic integrity you are!
DawgDad
August 2nd, 2012
2:24 pm
“House Republicans want to turn this country into another fascist state ”
House Republicans are holding the line (somewhat shakily) on the DEMOCRATS doing just this. Not to say the GOP is perfect in this regard, because they are not.
@@
August 2nd, 2012
2:25 pm
The nubmers are the numbers and you can cry all day.
I’ve always wondered….when Jewish voters go to cast their ballots, are they required to display The Star of David or somethin’?
Do you have the numbers on Methodist voters too?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 2nd, 2012
2:25 pm
Logic, the left wing is the DEFINITION of double standards.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
August 2nd, 2012
2:25 pm
Peach
Who is “he” and is English your first language?