I noted the other day Romney’s emerging secrecy problem, including the refusal to release income tax returns even if he becomes the nominee.
This is a break with standard practice for nominees, and creates a no win situation in which Romney makes his income and taxes a central general election issue or gives in and looks weak. Or worse, we find out too late that there was a reason he resisted disclosure.
In a preview of the general election, Occupy protesters have seized on the non-disclosure issue and Romney is digging in:
Des Moines police today arrested a total of 10 protesters at Mitt Romney’s campaign offices and a Wells Fargo branch office.
The protesters, all part of the Occupy Des Moines movement, demanded that Romney and Wells Fargo release their tax returns and that Romney return money donated to his 2012 presidential campaign from Wells Fargo PAC and Wells Fargo employees.
Romney told reporters in Clinton today that he has no plans to release his income-tax returns or lists of people who are bundling donations for him. Romney, who is a multi-millionaire former businessman, said he would do what he’s legally required to do. He suggested he might consider disclosing more financial information in the future.
There is something wrong with this picture, when the Occupy movement makes sense and the putatitve Republican nominee does not.
The issue only will grow as time goes on. Romney needs to stop digging, or all those people who tell us he is the most electable need to stop telling us he is the most electable.
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Disclosing his tax returns would just give the MSM another chance to run stories reminding everyone how rich Romney is. Why does he have to go along with that if he doesn’t want to? We already know he’s rich and personally I resent the implication (of Occupy, among others) that being rich means a person is somehow dishonest and/or out of touch.
I don’t think Romney deserves to be attacked by conservatives for refusing to cooperate in OWS/MSM efforts to demagogue him.
“There is something wrong with this picture, when the Occupy movement makes sense and the putatitve Republican nominee does not.”
Because there is something, a lot of things, wrong with the putatative Republican nominee.
There are other candidates and potential VP picks who have backgrounds to which more people can relate: Gingrich, Perry, Palin, West, Rubio. Self-made. In this political climate, do we want to set ourselves up for the silver spoon attacks. Remember GHW Bush and the grocery store scanner stories.
Or Obama complaining about the cost of arugula?
For 3 !/2 years I have wondered what arugula is. I finally googled it .
Rocket.
Rocket seeds & a little plastic soil container costs $4.
This stuff should grow easily on a Chicago window sill in summer late spring & early autumn. . Winter – it is not necessary. Parsely is cheap & plentiful.
There is an economic lesson there.
“I don’t think Romney deserves to be attacked by conservatives for refusing to cooperate in OWS/MSM efforts to demagogue him.”
It is not a matter of whether he deserves this treatment from conservatives. The matter concerns the fact that Romney is the candidate the other side chose to run against. Whether he turns over the records or not this is a fight he can’t win, either way he plays it.
That is why we so desperately needed someone OTHER than Romney as the nominee apparent. He is the one they’ve been waiting for.
Good points all, but tend to agree with Conrad. In different ways, aren’t most politicians full of it? This ongoing bash fest in the name of “purity” if you will is giving circular firing squads a bad name. Now it’s spilling over onto Scott Brown: http://goo.gl/GtC36
“Purity” has nothing to do with Romney or Brown; their problem is neither are honest brokers when they’re selling themselves.
If you have to “Lie” to win, then you’ll end up losing the game.
Case in point, Scott Brown campaigned on the promise of ‘small government, fiscal conservatism’ yet when he got into office it turned out that his promise was just another lie. The crazy Mass moonbat running against Brown is winning because Brown back-stabbed to death his small-government, fiscally-conservative supporters.
When you demoralize and defeat your own base then none will show up to vote for you. The ‘lesser of two evils’ argument is silly since both are still evil.
After the 2012 election cycle I am leaving the Republican Party to become an Independent (Conservative) because the Independent seems to be the only voter to whom the Republican Party will recognize.
I say he keeps it secret, then trades disclosure for disclosure of Obama’s college transcripts.
Perhaps however Romney Republicans are advised to NOT go after Obama in any negative way.
According to the advice given by highly-paid Republican consultants and professional Republican pundits, going after Obama in any negative manner and form will turn-off the highly valued Independents and Moderates.
As we saw in the 2010 election going after Obama’s college transcripts was Racist and Independents/Moderates fear their Racism more than they love truth.
Or, he can say that he will release the returns 3 years after he is elected, just as Obama did with his alleged birth certificate.
Sounds fair to me. But I’ll wager that the msm will only pick on Romney and forgo the Lack of Obama’s college transcripts.
I write this as a committed Romney supporter…
He really needs to give in on this and move on. The issue is only going to get more intense the longer it festers. And he will have to give in eventually. No one can get away with this kind of secrecy except the media beloved anointed one. Romney is utterly naive and reckless if he thinks otherwise.
Of course I (and most Republicans, and a majority of independents) could care less about a handful of hippies protesting at his office. But, this isn’t going to stop with the Occupy cranks. He should know that; if he doesn’t, then I have to question his leadership abilities…to some extent.
All that said, he’s still 10 times more electable than Newt; 100 times better than Santorum and 1,000,000 times better than Paul
Well, what you got there is an known unknown, and they can be nasty little critters, reach up and bite you on the ass when you least expect it. Ain’t no good ever gonna come from it, so y’all need to put that thing down now.
Don’t worry, if Romney is the nominee, his financial info WILL come out. Obama and friends will make certain of that.
Amen to that.
Doesn’t this open the door for Romney to demand that Obama reveal all his hidden records? Or can we count on the MSM to run interference for Obama throughout all of this?