What is the real reason Mitt Romney won't release his tax returns?

[Phokus]

Bullshit...you don't have any legitimate reasons either...just idle and "highly partisan" speculation. It's the same damn reason some want to see Obama's college records...looking for any minute piece of dirt they can in order to smear him. Am I wrong?

College transcripts aren't very relevant to the public interest. Tax returns are. That's why Mitt's father started the '12 years of tax returns' tradition.

We gave legitimate reasons for why we want to see his tax returns. You just don't choose to listen.

Stop rejecting critical thinking skills:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsme...oses_teaching_of_critical_thinking_skills.php

 

[fskimospy]

Bullshit...you don't have any legitimate reasons either...just idle and "highly partisan" speculation. It's the same damn reason some want to see Obama's college records...looking for any minute piece of dirt they can in order to smear him. Am I wrong?

Bullshit. You're just desperately looking for ways to discredit a story you wish would go away. How about how Romney somehow ended up with $100 million in his IRA for starters? That seems like it could be interesting information. While Romney's reaction to releasing tax data certainly makes me think that he is hiding something, the idea that the financial history of a candidate running on his financial acumen would be somehow not relevant beggars belief.

There are large numbers of people from across the ideological spectrum who want to see his tax returns. Birtherism was the refuge of crazed ultra partisans. Your continuing attempts to equate the two are simple dishonesty in the service of extreme partisanship. There's no way you don't know this, so just man up and admit it.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm comparing the rationales used...the "he didn't release something so he must be hiding something" mentality vs. "he didn't release something so he must be hiding something" mentality. You are a prime example of what's wrong with the progressive movement....you're just on the flip side of the birther political spectrum.

I don't think he's "hiding something" (illegal), but I also recognize the absolute necessity for him to release them; despite his clear attempt to avoid revealing something that is not politically expedient.

He just needs to pull the damn Band-Aid(tm) off and get this done ASAP. the longer he waits, the worse it gets for him.

Do you not see that?

 

[zinfamous]

Bullshit...you don't have any legitimate reasons either...just idle and "highly partisan" speculation. It's the same damn reason some want to see Obama's college records...looking for any minute piece of dirt they can in order to smear him. Am I wrong?

yes, you are actually wrong.


(just trying to make that plain, because it seems that you are incapable of seeing that as a possibility).

 

[Aegeon]

One other point that should be noted here about the difference with the transcript information is that Obama graduated from Harvard back in 1991 (with this not being the information you can make a plausible case would show anything remotely interesting regardless), with his earlier education at Columbia and Occidental occurring in 1983 or earlier.

All the tax information we are particularly curious about is significantly more recent than this, and therefore is potentially more relevant to determining the current character of the presidential candidate in question here.

 

[dawheat]

Bullshit...you don't have any legitimate reasons either...just idle and "highly partisan" speculation. It's the same damn reason some want to see Obama's college records...looking for any minute piece of dirt they can in order to smear him. Am I wrong?

For me, it impacts his credibility in reforming taxes. If he's pushing to further reduce the burden on top earners ('job creators'), then his tax history as a member of that group is highly relevant. It impacts his credibility in promoting the idea that lower taxes on top earners will spurn job creation.

If Obama's college records impact his credibility in reforming higher education policy - that would be somewhat analogous.

 

[blankslate]

People are just mad that Governor Romney's refusal to release his tax records highlights this about him....

nevermind that other republicans have said yeah his tax returns are fair game....

 

[FerrelGeek]

Why should he? It's not really relevant to anything. Tax returns are very relevant. And it's not really tradition. GWB didn't release his transcripts either (someone illegally leaked them without his permission).

Sure it does. Was Obama really the shining light of academic superiority that we're told he was? What viewpoints did he espouse in his papers? I'd like to know, so would others. What's he hiding?

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Bullshit. You're just desperately looking for ways to discredit a story you wish would go away. How about how Romney somehow ended up with $100 million in his IRA for starters? That seems like it could be interesting information. While Romney's reaction to releasing tax data certainly makes me think that he is hiding something, the idea that the financial history of a candidate running on his financial acumen would be somehow not relevant beggars belief.

There are large numbers of people from across the ideological spectrum who want to see his tax returns. Birtherism was the refuge of crazed ultra partisans. Your continuing attempts to equate the two are simple dishonesty in the service of extreme partisanship. There's no way you don't know this, so just man up and admit it.

So progressives are not looking for any minute piece of dirt in order to smear him. Got it. 🙄

Too bad Bain didn't work out that well.

 

[Aegeon]

Sure it does. Was Obama really the shining light of academic superiority that we're told he was? What viewpoints did he espouse in his papers? I'd like to know, so would others. What's he hiding?

Uh, this is a rather flawed illogical argument as given.

As noted, we can essentially show absolute proof this was the case with Harvard Law School, which was the only remotely recent school time wise by the way. (Obama also certainly did not claim to absolutely be the best student ever at Occidental for instance.)

The academic paper argument is putting Obama to a different standard than any other Presidential candidate ever. We simply don't expect Presidential candidates to be forced to engage in that level of disclosure, and it doesn't make sense to only make Obama do this for some reason. (Although it should be noted that Hillary brought up what Obama wrote in Kindergarten as part of her negative attacks on him during the primary😉.)

It should be noted that if you honestly care about this sort of information, the LA Times did republish an article when Obama was running for President which had originally been written when Obama had been elected President of the Harvard Law Review and about his tenure in that position to that point.

 

[fskimospy]

So progressives are not looking for any minute piece of dirt in order to smear him. Got it. 🙄

The relevance of a piece of information isn't reliant upon who is asking for it. lol. I like how your argument has evolved to "IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE MEAN PEOPLE WANT TO SEE IT."

Too bad Bain didn't work out that well.

So far it seems to be working out quite well.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

But here's the reason it's a big deal: the more he ignores this and deflects, the longer it lingers. It will never go away and he absolutely needs to release it asap--because he will eventually have to release them. the closer the election gets, the less time his campaign has to bury the issue. And that's really the fundamental problem that his campaign is dealing with. They are doing everything they can, right now, to make him unelectable.

Pretty much this. His campaign, from top to bottom, just seems really badly run, and caught up by even the most obvious pitfalls (remember the Etch-a-Sketch comment?). At this point it seems clear there is something buried in those tax returns that Romney REALLY doesn't want released, and I don't see how he can succeed as a candidate with this issue floating out there.

All of this is bolstered by the fact that Romney himself is such an unappealing candidate. I find the parallels to Michael Dukakis and John Kerry really interesting - they are/were all completely charisma-free Massachusetts candidates who nobody seems to love. The milquetoast endorsements Romney has received (most recently from John Boehner) are just remarkable to me given just how much many Republicans dislike President Obama.

 

[fskimospy]

Pretty much this. His campaign, from top to bottom, just seems really badly run, and caught up by even the most obvious pitfalls (remember the Etch-a-Sketch comment?). At this point it seems clear there is something buried in those tax returns that Romney REALLY doesn't want released, and I don't see how he can succeed as a candidate with this issue floating out there.

All of this is bolstered by the fact that Romney himself is such an unappealing candidate. I find the parallels to Michael Dukakis and John Kerry really interesting - they are all completely charisma-free Massachusetts candidates who nobody seems to love. The milquetoast endorsements Romney has received (most recently from John Boehner) are just remarkable to me given just how much many Republicans dislike President Obama.

Some articles are claiming that Romney will drop out of the race before releasing his tax returns. I find that really hard to believe, but if that's true that means he will never release them. If that's the case he's going to be clubbed every day until election day on this and I can't possibly see how he could withstand that.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

The relevance of a piece of information isn't reliant upon who is asking for it. lol. I like how your argument has evolved to "IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE MEAN PEOPLE WANT TO SEE IT."



So far it seems to be working out quite well.

I guess Obama's lies worked after all. Nice job.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Some articles are claiming that Romney will drop out of the race before releasing his tax returns. I find that really hard to believe, but if that's true that means he will never release them. If that's the case he's going to be clubbed every day until election day on this and I can't possibly see how he could withstand that.

It's a remarkable turn of events. It's not as though this was something unforeseeable. It's become increasingly clear that Romney won the nomination entirely because the slate of alternatives was so thoroughly unappealing and/or underfunded, and that his own campaign is just horribly run and marketing a mediocre product. If I were a Republican I'd be longing for a Huckabee, Huntsman, or Pawlenty right now.

As I have said for many months, if the Republicans manage to lose this election (and at this point I believe they will), it will be one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of Presidential politics.

 

[fskimospy]

It's a remarkable turn of events. It's not as though this was something unforeseeable. It's become increasingly clear that Romney won the nomination entirely because the slate of alternatives was so thoroughly unappealing and/or underfunded, and that his own campaign is just horribly run and marketing a mediocre product. If I were a Republican I'd be longing for a Huckabee, Huntsman, or Pawlenty right now.

As I have said for many months, if the Republicans manage to lose this election (and at this point I believe they will), it will be one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of Presidential politics.

I think it's important to remember that it's only mid-July and so a lot can happen, but if I were a betting man I would lean pretty strongly towards Obama. As far as Romney's taxes and Bain history go, it's something he's been attacked for in literally every campaign he's ever been in. To not have a good response ready when it comes to a presidential election and you are facing the best the opposition has is campaign malpractice. It's particularly interesting that none of his Republican opponents were able to use this against him, but perhaps that also speaks to the extremity of the Republican primary electorate. (attacking private industry = death?)

Romney was vulnerable to any Republican candidate who was not retarded or a lunatic but I genuinely believe that the Republican base is so far off the deep end at the moment that those candidates couldn't get any traction.

 

[werepossum]

Some articles are claiming that Romney will drop out of the race before releasing his tax returns. I find that really hard to believe, but if that's true that means he will never release them. If that's the case he's going to be clubbed every day until election day on this and I can't possibly see how he could withstand that.

Well, he could point to Clinton not releasing his medical records. But I suppose since Democrats are all automatically Caesar's wife he'd have to find precedent within the ranks of Republicans.

Or he could take the Messiah's latest Bull literally. "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen." Why should Romney release records for what "somebody else" did? 😉

Or he could take a lesson from Walks-On-Water, who when asked if Romney is a felon replied that it was impossible to know, and simply point out that it's similarly impossible to know whether Obama is nailing the pages and interns in the Oval Office, or snorting cocaine off of Michael Moore's ass in Lincoln's bedroom (when it isn't let out to top donors obviously), or intentionally following Saul Alinkski's prescription for destroying the country and ushering in the changes which the left failed to get through revolution rather than duplicating Alinkski's formula through honest incompetence.

 

[fskimospy]

Well, he could point to Clinton not releasing his medical records. But I suppose since Democrats are all automatically Caesar's wife he'd have to find precedent within the ranks of Republicans.

Or he could take the Messiah's latest Bull literally. "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen." Why should Romney release records for what "somebody else" did? 😉

Or he could take a lesson from Walks-On-Water, who when asked if Romney is a felon replied that it was impossible to know, and simply point out that it's similarly impossible to know whether Obama is nailing the pages and interns in the Oval Office, or snorting cocaine off of Michael Moore's ass in Lincoln's bedroom (when it isn't let out to top donors obviously), or intentionally following Saul Alinkski's prescription for destroying the country and ushering in the changes which the left failed to get through revolution rather than duplicating Alinkski's formula through honest incompetence.

None of those are good responses. They seem like signs of desperation to me.

They will play just fine to the crazies and delusional fringes but they will not work for the rest, and Romney already has the crazy/delusional fringe vote.

 

[blankslate]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fPQ3AuQ1kY

You walked into the primaries like your victory would be a lot
You had everything thing a guy could want...
But president you were not.

You saw weakness in Obamacare.
Your idea but who would dare
Challenge a man who has
All of the money
All of the money

You're so Bain
You think that you can buy the Whitehouse
You're so Baaiiinn
You think that you can buy the Whitehouse, Whitehouse, Whitehouse


You sauntered into Boston Mass.
To join the the priveleged class
You made your dough through the LBO
And fired people en masse

And when asked about the jobs destroyed
You deftly took a pass
And just said you were
Proud of your money
Proud of your money

You're so Bain
You think you can avoid all of your taxes
You're so Baaaiiinnn
You think you can avoid all of your taxes, taxes, taxes.

^a sample of the lyrics.

the singer isn't bad either.

 

[blankslate]

As I have said for many months, if the Republicans manage to lose this election (and at this point I believe they will), it will be one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of Presidential politics.

Particularly because of the ages of some of the Supreme court members even though they are longer lived than the general population on average...

However, the Election is still months away. Many things could happen.

 

[Perknose]

Sure it does. Was Obama really the shining light of academic superiority that we're told he was? What viewpoints did he espouse in his papers? I'd like to know, so would others. What's he hiding?

Well, if we're going back to the candidate's school days, then one "viewpoint espoused" by Romney was a personally violent, homophobic vigilante one.

 

[zinfamous]

Pretty much this. His campaign, from top to bottom, just seems really badly run, and caught up by even the most obvious pitfalls (remember the Etch-a-Sketch comment?). At this point it seems clear there is something buried in those tax returns that Romney REALLY doesn't want released, and I don't see how he can succeed as a candidate with this issue floating out there.

All of this is bolstered by the fact that Romney himself is such an unappealing candidate. I find the parallels to Michael Dukakis and John Kerry really interesting - they are/were all completely charisma-free Massachusetts candidates who nobody seems to love. The milquetoast endorsements Romney has received (most recently from John Boehner) are just remarkable to me given just how much many Republicans dislike President Obama.

etch-a-sketch! lol I forgot about that, already.

see! 😀

we'll forget about this tax broo-ha-ha in a month or two...assuming he releases it now.

😀

 

[zinfamous]

I guess Obama's lies worked after all. Nice job.

let me humor you:

what's the difference between a liar and someone who supports both sides of every issue and every story?

:hmm:

 

[werepossum]

Well, if we're going back to the candidate's school days, then one "viewpoint espoused" by Romney was a personally violent, homophobic vigilante one.

The only reason we were ever interested in Obama's scholastic records is that they formed the only qualifications for his election. He'd only just been elected Senator and with the exception of one speech at the Democratic convention, had done nothing of note. He had spent a few years as a state senator, but his signal accomplishment there was a bill providing a modest expansion of an earlier Republican bill providing free health care for poor children. And before that, he was a community organizer with a brief sojourn as a college lecturer on Constitutional law - during which he revealed a fundamental conflict with our nation's founding philosophy never before seen in a President or even in a major party candidate. Obama was a third rate back seat bench warmer voting 'present' in Illinois, and seemed well on his way to repeating that less-than-stellar performance in the Senate. Other than being black and able to read a TelePrompter with a little skill, the only possible reason for anyone to vote for this man was that he was the smartest candidate ever - and this was evinced ONLY by the fact that he graduated with honors and was president of Harvard Law Review, a position we were repeatedly told requires people capable of pitying Einstein as "that slow kid". It was literally his only real qualification beyond any other non-felon citizen of age. Or at the least, beyond any other non-felon citizen of age with a law degree.

Now of course it doesn't matter as we can evaluate his 3 1/2 years in office. Similarly, only the slowest helmet-wearing mouth breather on the short bus honestly believes that the demand for Romney's tax records is anything beyond a desperate search for something, anything at all, no matter how laughably irrelevant, that will take the spotlight off of the Messiah's performance in the office he wishes to continue Occupying.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

let me humor you:

what's the difference between a liar and someone who supports both sides of every issue and every story?

:hmm:

There is little difference except perhaps that one is a little more ruthless with his lies...using them to attack another to make himself look better in comparison...rather than being a politician trying to be all things to all people.

Which type of liar do you prefer?