For months, Mitt Romney was effectively Bartleby the Scrivener when it came to tax returns. Governor, why won't you disclose the materials to the public? "I prefer not to."
This morning, Romney went to the friendly confines of "Fox & Friends" to try out a new line. Igor Volsky posted the clip.
"The Obama people keep on wanting more and more and more," the GOP candidate said. "More things to pick through, more things for their opposition research to try make a mountain out of and to distort and to be dishonest about."
I'm delighted Romney is now saying something in response to the question, but I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around this one. He's going to keep his tax returns secret and hidden from public view because ... Obama might find stuff?
Isn't this effectively the same thing as saying, "I can't release my tax returns; I'm running for office for Pete's sake"?
Complicating matters, Romney also said on Fox that he shouldn't be compared to other presidential candidates, but rather, compared to other candidates' spouses. "John Kerry ran for president," Romney said. "You know, his wife, who has hundreds of millions of dollars, she never released her tax returns. Somehow, this wasn't an issue."
Um, governor? Teresa Heinz Kerry wasn't a candidate for the nation's highest office; you are. And in 2004, John Kerry made 20 years' worth of returns available.
Leave a Comment:
Dear Mr. Romney:
It's not just "the Obama people" who keep wanting more and more and more. It is the AMERICAN people. This is your biggest problem and a huge blind spot in your thinking about the entire election: you are running to lead ALL of the American people, not just the handful of people at the top. Until you can get this simple point through your head, you will never, ever be able to understand just how out of touch you are.
Also, Obama is now looking at you in the context of those who continue to want "more and more and more" proof that he is actually an American citizen and laughing his butt off, I'm sure. You can shut us all up by providing the information we are looking for; NOTHING will ever be good enough for the birthers.
Love,
Me
Freddie,
See my post on page 1 (22.2) - almost all of the American people are not even thinking about the election - OK maybe if you are in a swing state and a political ad comes on during "American Idol" or "The Bachelor".
Skip, do you watch The Newsroom? You sound a bit like Will McAvoy in last night's episode. :D
(This is not a bad thing, by the way!)
No Freddie, I do not. Is that the new show on HBO. I have heard about it. It looks like it would be good, but I do not have HBO. May change that though.
If I own a dog, and I let the dog out the door without a leash, and the dog bites the mailman, who is responsible? I did not tell the dog in a meeting to bite the mailman. I did nothing wrong. It is the dog that did the dirty work. Try that in a court of law. If you own the dog, you own the problem with the dog. If I am the President of the United States and I happen to be on vacation on a golf course with my buddies at the time that the US goes to war, can I claim I had nothing to do with it. No!
Romney was both sole owner and president at Bain at a time when they did some things that do not look reflect well for Romney. QED
Keep talking, Mitt. "I'm running for president, for crying out loud. My bosses there in the conservative movement told me I can't let this stuff out or I'll lose! They gave me all of my talking points, and I can't go off message. It was really hard to get the nomination. They all promised me this was a slam dunk, and after they held back economic growth these 3 years, all I had to do was show up!"
Romney's billions are useless in trying to extricate himself from this politically explosive position. Mitt has told enough lies. The only thing that will break this scandal will be the truth. Mitt cannot be running for president based solely on his private sector experience and simultaneously run away from all responsibility for his Bain record and offer no explanation for what he was doing there and who was running it when he was supposedly "retired." The story is running awfully thin, and voters are beginning to get tired of Mitt's inability to come clean. He ought to drop out of the race. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
The Obama people keep on wanting more and more and more," the GOP candidate said. "More things to pick through, more things for their opposition research to try make a mountain out of and to distort and to be dishonest about."
"... to distort and to be dishonest about." Hmmmm.
Isn't Romney saying that sort of the same as the pot calling the kettle.......
Hmmmm.
How long before Jeb gets annointed? Romney = next Sarah Palin.
I'm betting that Romney's tax returns may show that he hasn't been compliant with the tithing requirements of the Mormon church. If that's true, and he has to disclose his tax returns, he's toast.
If you can, please tell Willard that Senator Kerry's wife was NOT running for the office of PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA! ( John Kerry released five years of tax records), he is! Also, on Hardball tonight Mr. Michael Steele said something to the effect that Mr. Romney did everything according to the law, and that his tax records were a non issue... if you can, please remind Mr. Steele that our state and federal prisons are full of people who did everything according to the law.
Last, but not least, please explain to Willard that it is not "the OBAMA people" but it IS the AMERICAN people that want the tax returns, and the involvement with Bain explained... Willard, you must now DOCUMENT all statements of fact that you present... we, AMERICANS are getting TIRED of your LIES!
Has Romney lied about his involvement at Bain? All you have to do is look at how other businesses handle the same situation. They appoint an Acting CEO to take over during the leave of absence. Just look at how Apple dealt with Steve Job and his leave of absence.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/14/steve-jobs-leave-of-absen_n_157963.html
If you are listed as CEO, you are still in charge. There was no Acting CEO listed.
He, Willard, also signed at least 142 Bain documents after 02/1999 (his "retirement" date), and he wants to take credit for the "sucessful companies Bain was involved in... If he wants credit for one, he must accept credit for the other.
Willards negative attack add (which, by the way was pulled due to copyright violations) stating that President Obama "rewarded" his high dollar supporters with various spiffs BEGS the question, "How will Willard reward his MULTI MILLION DOLLAR DONERS????"
Even if (as he claims) Romney was not involved in Bain between 1999 and 2002, we must assume that as a diligent businessman he was keeping an eye on his investments and receiving periodic statements from the firm. Thus he must have known about the outsourcing investments that his partners were doing, supposedly without consulting with Romney, but in any case on his behalf and for his benefit, as sole shareholder. Upon knowing that these investments meant outsourcing of American jobs, shouldn't Romney have done something, perhaps "retroactively", about the investments? Not having done anything about such investments shows the moral fiber Romney is made of…
Hello TRMS, Who can cause an investigation and prosecution of a tax filing and/or evasion issue? Only a federal prosecutor, or perhaps any state prosecutor when Romney visits? May a Florida state/county prosecutor during the R national convention?
-- Curt Pavola, Olympia, WA
This guy Romney is terrible at campaigning. He's not even presenting counter arguments anymore (if he ever did), he's just saying how he would like the campaign season to go in his own perfect little world. People should apologize to him constantly, he should be able to be held to a different political standard regarding scrutiny, he should be able to say whatever he wants and people should believe him, etc. And yet, die-hard conservatives still defend him even though deep down they deeply distrust and dislike him. I can see it in their eyes when they try to formulate a sentence about Romney.
Tell you what Mitt, you release 20 years of tax returns like John Kerry did and we won't ask Ann to release any tax returns for the years she managed your "blind trust". OK?