We keep hearing about how we should not nominate a candidate who is not disciplined and will create needless general election distractions .
This certainly will be a major distraction, Romney Says He Won’t Release Tax Returns:
“I doubt it,” Mr. Romney said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by NBC News. “I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth.”
“But you won’t do the tax returns?” asked Chuck Todd, host of “The Daily Rundown.”
“I don’t intend to release the tax returns. I don’t,” Mr. Romney responded.
A spokesman for President Obama‘s re-election campaign blasted Mr. Romney and questioned whether he had something to hide in his finances.
“Why does Governor Romney feel like he can play by a different set of rules?” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign. “What is it that he doesn’t want the American people to see? Governor Romney, who has favored secrecy over openness time after time, should live up to the same standard of disclosure his father and others set.”
Just what we don’t need is a months long battle over whether a nominee will release tax returns, which simply will give Democrats another excuse to play class warfare.
By contrast, Newt pledged to release his tax returns if he becomes the nominee, and I presume all the other candidates would do so as well.
It’s a no win situation. If Romney doesn’t release the returns, the issue will dominate the general election media narrative. If he does release the returns under pressure, he will look weak and like a flip-flopper.
And it already has started:
Romney followed up on the tax return question during an avail in Lancaster, N.H. Juana Summers sends his answer:
“I can tell you we follow the tax laws, and that if there is an opportunity to save taxes we like anybody else in that country follow that opportunity. But we don’t have any current plans to release tax returns, but never say never. We’ll see what the future holds. We’ve released of course all the information required by law which is a pretty extensive release. But down the road we’ll see what happens if I’m the nominee. I don’t have any immediate plans to release tax returns but that may change in the future.”
The returns eventually will be released. I’ll bet you … oh never mind..
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I’ll bet you … oh never mind..
Priceless!
‘Tis a wonder that Romney has feet to stand on. God knows how many times he has fired at them.
Try dum-dums, Romney. Oh my, he IS using dum-dums!
Umm, well it shows
Heh! Well said.
Jeez, this has to be the end of him as the presumptive nominee doesn’t it? There is no good reason not to release the records, only bad ones.
I’m confused. Tell me again why we NEED to see a presidential candidate’s tax returns?
I’m not being snarky, or obtuse or a troll. I’ve just always believed that personal finances are just that – personal.
I have ZERO desire to see Romney’s, Obama’s, or any other person’s tax returns.
But I guess that is just me?
It might just be you. When a guy wants to be in charge of an apparatus that steals 1/3 or more of my money every payday, an apparatus that can penalize me with anything up to and including prison if I don’t “pay my fair share”, I am very, VERY interested in seeing if that guy is doing the same thing.
Everyone should be interested in it imho.
I agree that it’s kind of obnoxious. But the tax return, which is filed under oath, can reveal things that other kinds of disclosures do not. One thing, e.g., that it’s suspected that his tax return will show is that his effective rate of taxation is very low versus his income, which is in large part comes from a structured deal with Bain that gives him capital gains instead of earned income. This might not go over so well in a general election.
Tax records show a person’s sources of income and stock investments. Like the medical exam (not required by law), tax records can show important information voters should take into account about the candidates.
However, count on it that only Barack Obama could make this a dead letter as he did with public financing of presidential elections. And since Obama has released his returns, Romney doesn’t have a chance to get out of it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. This guy doesn’t think well on his feet.
The Obama people should be the LAST people to say anything about anyone releasing anything having to do with an election.
Exactly.
Romney should say he’ll release his tax return when Obama releases his college records.
This is what I came here to say. Thanks for saying it first. I think Romney is doing exactly the right thing, so long as it is a ploy to highlight 0bama’s extraordinary secrecy. Not just his college records but his medical report. Is 0bama the first candidate in 20 years to keep his medical report secret? How is it that McCain didn’t make an issue of it? Whoever the GOP nominates this time should make an issue of it, and should refuse to release anything until 0bama does.
Nominee’s tax returns versus college records — you are right in principle, but is that what we want dominating the media in the run up to the election? And then he releases his college records and there’s nothing suspicious, and we repeat the whole birth certificate issue again.
Not just college records, but health report, and everything else. We make that the issue. Our guy should specifically not speculate as to what might be in 0bama’s records, but make the issue all about his secrecy. The position should be “you’re demanding that I release my records, and yet he’s been president for 4 years and hasn’t released his”. “You ask what have I got to hide? Well, what does he have to hide?” If he relents and releases his records, then our guy immediately does the same and the issue is over, but we’ve scored the point in the public mind.
College records are not relevant to anything current. Tax records show important *current* economic links and possible conflicts of interest.
Exactly. College transcripts, LSATs, an explanation for the status of his law license, notes and drafts of ‘his’ biographies, etc…
But that only begs the question of why Romney’s otherwise massive and well organized machine didn’t have the response pre-programmed.
Why does Romney perpetually refuse to take the fight directly at Obama?
A truly smart campaign could have orchestrated this issue precisely to turn it against President Blank Slate. It is clear that they not only lack the savvy, but also the will.
The only will in Romney is that he will lose in the general election.
Agreed. We should keep the focus on Obama.
To make Obama look bad you have to attack from the moral high ground. So he has to release his records first, then demand all the information Obama has witheld.
No. Then the press will say “Who asked you to release this? There’s no obligation to do so, and he’s within his rights not to. Ha, ha!” We have to put them in a position where they are demanding to see our guy’s records, and then turn that around on them, by saying “I’m perfectly willing to do so as soon as he does”. And be willing.
Romney can get away with this and the MSM will gladly give him a pass on it…until/unless he wins the nomination. Then see the amount of interest in his tax returns, Bain, Mormonism, illegal landscapers, RomneyCare.
I don’t need to see anyone’s tax records, but that hardly matters now – the trap is set and the media will not let it go until he caves and releases his tax records. The media will pound the story until they hit the tipping point, just like with the Cain allegations, where the Romney team decides not releasing them is more harmful than releasing them, that anything harmful in his tax records is less harmful than what’s being conjured up in the media-pumped public imagination. This was a stupid thing to declare – Romney has constructed a trap, climbed inside, and said to his opposition, “OK! I’m ready to run now!”
And what is the likelihood this is fine piece of chess-playing, wherein the Romney team plays the media along, milks the ‘what’s in Romney’s record he doesn’t want us to see?’ meme, gets the opposition screaming for blood, and then whips out a perfectly legal, totally unobjectionable tax return? I dunno. If the records are politically benign, just release them.
He wants to be PRESIDENT? Can Mr. Romney, who has been running for years and now expects to be the recipient of the “it’s my turn” award, can he be so ignorant of how this works in a land where a wildly left-wing media has the eye and ear of most of the citizens?
Does he really not get it? At this point I worry that every one of these guys must secretly want the current administration to last another 4 years. I’m sick to my stomach.
Romney can just follow the legal opinion of Obama’s HHS solicitor on FOIA requests and claim that the requested documents do not exist.
Gee, I wonder if the Obama reelection team already knows what’s in Romney’s tax records and whether they may be exploited? We can surmise at least the basic question of good-vs-bad records by reading how the Obama team plays it.
Ben LaBolt and the obama adminstration are hilarious. I give him an “A’ for saying all that with a straight face.
This caught me by surprise and it is more than a little unsettling. While I personally have little interest in examining any Presidential candidate’s tax returns, I strongly believe in full disclosure. Tax returns, birth certificates, college records, any civil or criminal actions (even traffic tickets!), etc. I’ve consistently criticized Obama for his secrecy, not because I believe any absurd conspiracy theories about his past, but because I’m outraged by his flippant and dismissive attitude in regards to full disclosure. People have a right to thoroughly examine Presidential candidates before making a decision.
I am a strong Romney supporter, but he is wrong here, both on principle and in practicality. Whatever is in those records, however much money he’s made or where it is coming from, is NOT worth hiding and giving the Obamedia an issue with which to distract the public.
He needs to to a 180, and quickly. The sooner he does it, the more he’ll minimize fallout: Sure it will be a superficial example of “flip-flopping”, but it will soon be forgotten. The longer he drags this out, the more damage he will do to himself.
Absolutely. ALL presidential candidates should undergo a scrutiny that is NO LESS stringent than that of government contractors and military officials who are seeking levels of security clearance.
The Commander in Chief receives the HIGHEST security clearance of anyone in the United States. They should be vetted and “cleared” in every aspect of their lives.
Just like others who have to go through the process of an FBI check, etc., if they’re seeking a job that requires security clearance.
And I don’t give Mitt the benefit of the doubt that he’s “setting” up Obama to release his records.
Mitt REALLY doesn’t want to release his records. Mr. “I’ll bet you $10,000” doesn’t want his financial arrangements known.
But I do give the Obama campaign the benefit of the doubt that they WILL restart the OWS rabble-rousing next Spring – and WILL point to Mitt as WS.
Is it your position that only someone who is paying income tax at a rate similar to yours can be trusted to reduce taxes?
The last question is directed to abenson. Sorry.
So then lets just look at Gingrich’s tax returns, oh wait…
No one is saying release it now, it’s a question of releasing it once someone becomes the nominee. Newt has agreed to do so. Romney should agree to do so also.
Whats stopping Newt from releasing them now? Oh yeah, nothing. Pretty sure that if he does not become the nominee Newt will have never released his tax records despite holding federal office numerous times.
Also the fact the question came less than a week after the reports Romney has the audacity to earn money off of evil capitalism may be more revealing as to why he is not releasing his records. It will become another Cheney/halliburton issue.
So what is preventing Romney from releasing them now?
You ankle-biting, peasant rubes. How presumptuous of you to want to see my tax returns. I am the anointed candidate. I am so good looking in my own mind, and I am giving you my practiced smile, tilting my head, looking up with a twinkle in my eyes. How dare you ask about my hair, if it’s dyed? And I have private sector experience at Bain, and so I will best know how to handle your money, as I have been married always to the same woman, and am an elder in the Mormon church. Moreover, I got the coveted Bob Dole, Dan Quail, and Bush 41 endorsements. Be off, now and go out to play, Willie M. Romney.
I have no problem believing the Obama team reviewed Romney’s tax record and know exactly what’s in it. They have already called Romney out on it, hard. As for “what’s in Romney’s tax records?”, you don’t demand that kind of question unless you already know the answer. It’s not going to be good for Romney.
As for “what’s in Romney’s tax records?”, you don’t demand that kind of question unless you already know the answer.
Not necessarily. On taxes Romney could be as pure as the driven snow, yet a hostile media can easily make him look like a combination of Adolph Hitler and Leona Helmsley.
Regardless of what is in his tax records, this was a major unforced error by Romney. I think that was the point of Professor Jacobson’s post.
He’s already left the door open so he can “reevaluate his position”.
He’ll flip. It’s what he does. He’ll never stop. He’ll keep relentlessly flipping and changing what he says he’ll do until you can’t remember what he’s ever stood for or stands for.
Except for MassCare. THAT he’ll stay strong on. Cause he was like forced into approving it.
Did Bambi release his?
I think the Republicans should release exactly the same documents Bambi has released – tax returns, college transcripts, etc. Fair’s fair, right?
All this may be a moot question. I’m watching with great interest to see where the polls and eventually the votes go. I think it may be that Newt Gingrich will appeal to more and more voters as they begin to watch Newt’s speeches and read the new Contract With America.
To me, it is amazing that someone could have been focused on running for president as Mr. Romney has been, and still step right in to a trap like this. The thought of this incompetence in the White House, after eight years of agonizing inarticulateness and silence with Bush (apparently encouraged to be silent by Karl Rove) and now the constant stream of doublespeak from the current White House, is awful to contemplate. The Left would use Romney as their punching bag. He half agrees with them.
The thing — one of the many things — I love about Newt is that he tells us why America matters; what being America is; what principles this country was founded on; why we are a beacon of hope for others in the world, who yearn to breath free.
The Left can excoriate Newt, they can lie about Newt, they can misrepresent what Newt says, but Newt is clear about these truths that we hold self-evident, and I love Newt for that.
I don’t have the impression that Mr. Romney has thought much about any of this. I think he wants to be president. It’s not clear to me why. Maybe he wants to manage the United States as if it were a failing corporation.
Management is not what is needed here. Vision and practical solutions are what are needed.
Chicklet, I can understand why you say you feel sick to your stomach. I feel the same when I think of this incoherence dragging on while the current administration buries its Leftist land mines in the body politic. A mere “manager” is in no position, in terms of vision and first principles, to deal with the challenges that we face today.
Someone needs to come in with a method for returning government to its duty as the servant of the people. That requires something transformational. That is the role of Lean Six Sigma in the plans Newt is proposing. You put together a communications loop in which the citizens talk to the government and the government listens. Think of that!
Newt’s ideas people are designing it now. I think Newt is serious about this. I LOVE Quality Improvement, W. Edwards Deming, all of it, and I think this could change things radically for the better.
If enough people understand this and are willing to team up on this, it could actually result in reducing the size of government and taking away the current opportunities for the elected officials to steal us blind and get rich from their insider, crony dealings.
What if all expenditures were on line for all to see? What if all committee meetings were on C-SPAN? What if the opportunities for graft were reduced by up-to-date technologies?
A different kind of citizen would then be the one who would run for office. It would be someone who is meant to help run things, as a servant of the people, but not the one who sees elected office as an easy way to get rich and peddle influence.
Newt’s proposals are in the speeches. Newt’s proposals are visionary. The plans to REDUCE TAX RATES and INCREASE TAX REVENUES have worked in the past, for example under Ronald Reagan. That is why I say watch Newt’s speeches. I especially like the speech to the Staten Island Tea Party if you’re interested.
The Truth about Romney
Romney is a pathetic weasel of a man, who couldn’t stand up and fight, to save his pathetic disgusting crony liberal Republican RINO hypocrite life. He reminds me of these kids who afraid to fight, so they would throw rocks, call names from afar, then runaway when chased after.. That’s exactly how Romney behaves.. He’s spineless political coward, on top of being a crony capitalist liberal republican Party RINO lying hypocrite elitist, and should never be allowed to be the US President, period.
Romney’s great character is standing on a fence, so he can turn on a dime, like a wind directional finder, whenever a position needs to be flip-flopped on, for political convenience. as well as his crony capitalism, in his claims of job creation, and especially his liberal forced mandated State Socialized Medicine healthcare system, aka, Romneycare, the model for Obamacare, as his e-mail records as Gov. of Mass., would have proven his guilt, until he had them all deleted.
Romney’s signature accomplishment is Romneycare, the forced mandated State Socialized Medicine healthcare system, that Obama used to set up Obamacare with, for which we now have to wait til the U.S. Supreme Court strikes it down, or we have to completely repeal it legislatively, when the new Republican President takes over in Jan 2013. And thus is the question, how can, or would we trust Romney to repeal a system for which he set up in Mass, and refuses to say was bad, and is bankrupting the State, with State Tax payer govt subsidies to the healthcare providers, hospitals, insurance companies, and so on, all the while providing substandard and inferior healthcare, to it’s State residents because of it..
This on top of all the other corny capitalist gimmicks, that Romney screwed around with in Mass, which is why he had all of his Gov’s office e-mails deleted before he left office, as well as deny anyone access to his records. And now of course, he refuses to release his tax returns records, what else is new with this weasel of a political coward / so called man..
Good idea. Let’s have 4 more years of Obama until a real Republican can emerge like Rubio. At least with Romney, it will take longer to reach Obama’s goal of a nanny state.
And I am still waiting for Holder and Obama to tell the truth and release all records on “Fast and Furious”, Lightsquared, Solyndra and the shitpile to come.
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