Mitt is trapped.

[ProSense]

He can't release his tax returns. He simply can't.

Mitt mishandled the situation, suggesting that his tax returns could be politically "damaging."

Breaking: Mitt invites everyone to a speculation party.

His only option is to try to convince the American people that it's not fair to demand his tax returns.

Imagine that! Mitt, the guy who made it a practice of demanding his opponents' tax returns, even those of their spouses, and has never released a single full year of his tax returns, invokes "privacy."

Note, Mitt released part of his 2010 return: the first time he's ever released a return, and he still has to hide parts of it.

Romney's position is basically:

"You people" don't need to know anything about me, not my policies, and definitely not my personal finances. I'm running for President, for Pete's sake.

[font color="black" size="12" face="arial"]What is Mitt hiding?[/font]

[NYC_SKP]

1. Damn his team is good!

They know how to communicate effectively, with an economy of words and images.

[roguevalley]

31. there is speculation that some of the leaks about this are mormon and they are doing

this because of the 10 percent tithe thing for their church. They are pissed he hid income from the church. I know mormons who are faithful in their zeal to do 10 percent and they don't have his dough.

Harry Reid is a mormon. It could be that he knows a lot more and his offense is for his religion, rather than just about a tax cheat.

[MADem]

49. Well, sure....Harry Reid is indeed a Mormon, so there ya go!

It would be hilarious if the church was going after him for UNDER-tithing!

I wonder if he has enough canned goods stored, or if he's skimping on that, too?

[lunatica]

2. Romney thought it would all be over by now

As CEO his was the last work and no one could override him. He's a spoiled 1 percenter who's always gotten his pouty way. This new reality is just not sitting well with him. He never counted on something like the Obama team.

[ProSense]

4. Exactly! n/t

[Auntie Bush]

13. You're right...He's never learned to compromise or listen to someone else.

Should he ever become President He's in for a rude awakening when he finds out people won't do everything he wants and he's no longer BOSS. (And he can't screw everyone and get away with it.)

[Spitfire of ATJ]

26. He was hoping "The Joker" had come to the rescue.

[Voice for Peace]

27. Maybe he hasn't ever had to apply for a real job before?

[icarusxat]

48. he is applying right now

and most of the 300,000,000+ potential bosses aren't liking what they see...

[undeterred]

3. Maybe he'll chew off his foot.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Lord knows it's in his mouth on a regular basis.

This tax thingy is NOT going away, either.

Mitt is in a box.

[bluedigger]

14. Only a weasel would do that!

Oh, right...

[magical thyme]

38. DUzy! nt

[moobu2]

5. Romney pinned all his hopes on capturing the White House on the slow American economy

He didn't think much further.

[rocktivity]

28. No, Mitt pinned all his hopes on his NOT being a black foreign-born communist secret Muslim.

Last edited Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:17 PM - Edit history (2)

Obama's predecessor CREATED the slow American economy. He thought that his not being Obama would be enough to absolve any of his sins.


rocktivity

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

6. He just needs more gaffes to take the attention away from his taxes.

[Kennah]

7. I realize that Mitt is an asshat ...

... but when did the Obama Team take up smash mouth politics and employ it with the force of a heavyweight boxer and the precision of a brain surgeon?

It's pretty fucking cool, but where was this leading up to the 2010 mid term elections?

[Walk away]

8. Obama wasn't running in 2010. Ask the DNC.

[Kennah]

10. Fair point

I guess I was thinking more about the way the GOP was allowed to just cry "parlay" to filibuster. A little pressing on Harry Reid, and perhaps the Dems could have kept the House.

Nevertheless, totally happy with the political war they are now waging on the GOP.

[TeamPooka]

53. thats how Presidents get re-elected

smash mouth politics.

[longship]

11. Mitt doesn't have Admiral Ackbar on his staff.

Too bad.

(wish I could post pics w/ my iPhone.)

[JohnnyRingo]

12. Even more, his entire campaign is centered around his financial finesse.

...except we can't see how he's done for himself.

Is this how he'd run an economy? Would everything be secret back room deals and dirty payoffs to global billionaires?

It appears so.

[BlueStreak]

15. Pflouffe and Axelrod probably don't need my help

I expect that they have game-planned this whole tax return thing. That implies one of these three things:

1) The have a way to get the tax forms into the public (leaks, or a way to make Mitt cave in);
2) They have a plan to make him pay a really huge price for being evasive; or
3) They have something else entirely that they are planning to drop on his head right after the conventions, and they just are using the tax business to keep Mitt on defense during the dog days of summer.

If it is not one of those three things, then they have made a huge blunder, IMHO. I don't think they would make that mistake, so there you go.

I do have a humble idea for how they could accomplish #1. Doing a leak is a real problem because that could backfire. My idea is a lot more above board. Put this proposition to Romney.

OK Willard. We get that you don't want to release your returns. However, there are several very important questions that can only be addressed by seeing the returns. And if the answers to these questions are bad, this would put you in a position exposed to blackmail. The American people have a right to know that their President is not easily blackmailed. So here is the proposal. There are 5 questions that need answers. The Obama and Romney team will agree on a nationally respected auditing firm. This firm will have full access to your returns from 2004-2009 under a strict non-disclosure agreement. The auditors will report only the answers to these 5 questions and nothing more. When they are done with that, that will be the end of it. The Obama campaign will ask no more questions about your tax returns. That's fair, isn't it?

Here are the questions:

1) Did Romney take advantage of the 2009 amnesty plan with regard to any Swiss bank accounts controlled by Mitt or Anne?

2) On the returns from 2004 - 2009, are there any years where the effective federal income tax rate was below 12%? What were those effective rates?

3) Are there any years where the effective Federal income rate was actually zero -- or actually had a credit?

4) What was the basis valuation for the assets that were put into the Cayman-based SEP-IRA and how much are those assets actually worth today?

5) Has Romney amended any of those prior years recently -- since this firestorm started to emerge?

[Beowulf]

16. I would add to that

6. What was his listed place of residence on his tax returns? In which state did he file? Could it be he was not a legal resident of Massachusetts when he ran for governor and/or when he voted in the special election to file Ted Kennedy's seat.

[Heather MC]

17. He wasn't a legal resident of Mass. he REFILED all his returns to make it look like he was

according to Rachael Maddow. I can't believe he got elected in Mass. He is hoping the national voters will be just as easily duped as the state of Massachusetts was

[ProSense]

18. He probably

"I can't believe he got elected in Mass. "

...paid off some election officials.

[MADem]

50. MA has a regrettably sexist bent. His opponent was a woman, and she wasn't helped as much as she

should have been, despite being wired into the Dem machine here.

The Republicants don't do well locally, but because our legislature is overwhelmingly D, we tolerate GOP governors.

It's an odd thing. I don't think it speaks well of us as a state, but whatcha gonna do?

[smirkymonkey]

60. You're not kidding - I just moved here from New York (Manhattan) about a

month ago and I have noticed a striking difference. Even that drunken old (Democratic) Mayor of Boston, Ray Flynn, is on a commercial supporting Scott Brown over Elizabeth Warren because "he's tired of all the partisan infighting". Not because he's a man and she's a smart woman. If you're tired of partisan bickering, you don't endorse the republican, a**hat.

That's just one example, in general men here are generally more willing to spout out sexist things that I never used to hear (at least not in public) in NYC. It's kind of pathetic. If those types of men only knew how weak it makes them look.

[MADem]

61. Ray Flynn is just a racist asshole. That's his major malfunction--plus, he's a rabid anti-choicer.

He didn't get that gig as the "Ambassador to the Vatican" by being a progressive type. He's only a Democrat out of habit, he hasn't been "with" the party for years. Such a putz.

You will see lots of sexist shit, though. That turd Keller of "Keller at Large" is one of the worst offenders.

[BlueStreak]

24. Interesting, but not very relevant

The citizens of MA cannot get those years back. If he cheated on that, that don't have strong implications on the future, other than exposing him as a pathological liar, but that isn't news. My thought would be to keep it as simple as possible and to the point of information that would be so damaging that it might expose him to blackmail.

The more complicated it becomes, the easier it would be for Romney to blow it off. If it is really simple and he still refuses, that should tell everybody, even the MSM, everything they need to know.

[Retrograde]

36. I think that's the first question that should be asked and answered

just where DOES Romney live? And question 1.a: does Ann have the same residence?

[Bolo Boffin]

32. Wow. Welcome to DU, BlueStreak.

Heck of a debut!

[BlueStreak]

33. Thank you.

I have been familiar with the forum and have found many useful pieces of information here. Moreover, it has become obvious to me that a significant part of the traditional (i.e. radio and TV) media get some of their ideas here as well. So I thought I should make a contribution, albeit a modest one.

[annabanana]

41. lol. . . SOME ideas perhaps .

Not NEARLY enough!

Welcome

[Warren DeMontague]

35. Welcome to DU, BlueStreak!

[coalition_unwilling]

43. I also want to know how much income that fucking parasite had each year (in

addition to your questions, of course) AND WHAT ITS SOURCES WERE\ARE.

[Frustratedlady]

52. I'd ask if he undervalued his Bain holdings he gifted to his sons, for one.

I have a feeling there are quite a few "hedges" that could be found by a really good CPA or tax lawyer. Mitt seems to have a way of interpreting things differently than the rest of us. He makes his own rules and I imagine some of the tax laws/qualifiers are vague enough that one could interpret them differently. I remember laughing at the qualifiers for tax deductions for those owning horses. Crazy.

It's time to end all this tax mess...eliminate all the deductions and start from scratch.

[ThomThom]

59. that is not enough.... no deals

release your tax returns I want to see it all
where he made his money
whose jobs he off-shored
whose pension funds he stole
what deductions he took
where he lived and when
everything I want to see every thing
he needs to show us or this tax thing will be out there until election day

[mucifer]

19. He has always bullied others about taxes and NEVER given his. I don't see why this election will be

different. Massachusetts is much more liberal than the country at large and the dems there couldn't get this issue to stick. I don't see why it will stick now.

[AverageJoe90]

29. Only thing is, this is 2012, not 2002......

A lot has changed since that time. This issue's been sticking for a while already and it doesn't look like it'll let up anytime soon........

[kitt6]

20. Never forget what London named him;

Mitt the Twit. America has a 1 day attention span.

[alfredo]

22. One day? I can't remember where I put the remote.

[alfredo]

21. If Romney continues to weaken, look for trouble at their convention.

The weaker he is, the less likely he can find a "quality" veep candidate. What pol wants to be associated with a loser?

[BlueStreak]

25. NPR recounted the Eagleton affair today.

That was a huge mess at the convention.

Today's conventions are 100% scripted. There will not be any surprises at the convention. Absolutely no chance of a brokered convention, and his VP choice will be decided long before the convention starts.

He may not get his first choice (which might be somebody like Christie or Ryan), but he can certainly get Jindal. That's the best deal Jindal will ever get.

[alfredo]

34. Jindal is even stiffer than Mitt.

[coalition_unwilling]

45. The "Eagleton affair" was NOT a mess "at the convention" (your words). He was duly

nominated, then had to withdraw and be replaced by Sargent Shriver (a great VP choice, btw) AFTER the convention when the revelations about Eagleton's psychiatric treatment surfaced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1972

*******************

Sorry to get all pedantic on you. Congenital disorder among us historians

[BlueStreak]

47. I should have said, the convention was a mess

resulting in McGovern naming Eagleton with virtually no vetting.

[coalition_unwilling]

62. Been away from my computer all day but after I posted (and before I read

your response), I started thinking that convention really was a mess. I think we are both correct, you about the general cluster-fuck the VP nominating process became and I about when the electro-shock treatments became an issue.

Now I'm going and getting all pedantic on myself

[BlueStreak]

63. I don't expect that Romney's convention will be messed up like that.

There is no question he will be the nominee. Judging from the reported short list of VP candidates, I sure wouldn't call that the "Dream team". But I expect Romney will settle on one of them and announce that in the next 10 days.

It would be interesting to know who has turned him down. There is no tradition in the GOP for an unsuccessful VP candidate to get a second chance. Basically if you lose on your first try, you are done.

Jack Kemp in 1996
Sarah Palin in 2008

So anybody who thinks they can have a good shot in 2016 will turn Romney down if they think he is likely to lose.

[sad sally]

23. Nor do "us people" need to know anything about his tax plan, except that there will be a 20% across

the board cut made tax neutral by "closing loopholes" although which loopholes is a secret.

There's an old aphorism from Abraham Lincoln that "it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Maybe this explains RMoney's silence and secrecy.

[The Wizard]

30. By withholding his tax returns

Rmoney exposes himself to a full frontal Pox News like attack based on speculation (questions) and the all propose qualifier. "some say." The Pox audience always falls for it, and is susceptible to suggestion and innuendo. They can't complain because this is Pox method for spreading propaganda. They either lose their candidate or lose the megaphone. Maybe the lies are catching up to the whole operation.

[spanone]

37. slick mitt...trust me, baby

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

39. My speculation....

Is that Mitt and his attorneys LEGALLY used every tax trick in the book to pay either zero taxes, or an embarrassing low percentage. I don't think he lied or cheated on his return. Bear in mind, if that's the case, the IRS still has the right to audit him -- and I expect that there are some revenue agents who are taking a second look at his returns right now, given his highly suspicious public behavior.

But I think he gamed the system. And if you're wondering how, read the work of David Cay Johnston.

For his 2010 return, in anticipation of running for President, I think Romney had his tax people take their foot off the gas, allowing him to pay far more than he's paid in previous years. Which is why he's released 2010 but will take the other returns to him grave.

Just my $0.02.

David Cay Johnston article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/us-column-dcjohnston-top-idUSBRE85500720120606

[BlueStreak]

51. As a politically prominent rich guy

... he has immunity. Normally the IRS is going to stay away from a person like that because it it too easy to accuse them of a political witch hunt.

So my guess his returns are really shady, probably crossing the line regularly, knowing that the IRS couldn't really go after him. But if the returns were put into public view, the public would demand that he be audited and that could cost him $100 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

55. Actually, no...

Being rich or prominent does NOT give you immunity from the IRS. The IRS went after Spiro Agnew for tax evasion, so there's nothing stopping them from reviewing Romney's returns. Particularly since he's acting pretty damned suspicious about them.

[savannah43]

56. And would reveal the sources of his income.

I'll bet that is interesting. He seems to think he doesn't have to answer to anyone and, clearly, neither does his wife. They are the epitome of "spoiled." Life should inform them. I'll light a candle for them, so it will.

[emanymton]

40. Wait For The RepublicanT Party Panic To Set In ...

.

Mr Obama has been able to run a good solid campaign by taking the offense to his opponent. OMitt Rmoney has had to respond and react to the Democratic Party assaults. By keeping the focus on OMitt, the President has shown his opponent to be weak. OMitt has not helped himself by his gaffes and strategic political mistakes.

The RepublicanT Party has its own strengths and have been effective at keeping the base energized. By the end of August, the GOP will be facing the prospects of OMitt being behind in the Electoral College totals (the ONLY thing that matters!). At this point, the base will bail on OMitt. The political operatives will panic. Murdoch Media/Fox Networks will turn against OMitt.

The GOP Panic pity party will kick in. Oh happy days!

____________

How many years of tax returns were submitted to the OMitt VP vetting group by the prospective VP candidates? How many years of tax returns will be released by the GOP VP candidate?

Ema Nymton
~ @ : o ?
.

[coalition_unwilling]

42. Check. And. Mate. (Bravo! for your OP!) - n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

44. (IMO) Our next argument should be:

You should be strong enough to withstand attacks on your tax returns. How can you defend our nation as Commander In Chief if you can't even defend your own tax returns? Do you think you can just hide from the "Evil Doers"?

[zellie]

46. He's a felon...

that's why he can't release them.

Goodbye mitt... I mean Omitt.

[BlueinOhio]

54. Something big

Mitt cant come up with anything. He is now promising to do something drastic for the economy but will not tell any one what it is. Fox news and GOP saying the democrats are just yelling about the tax returns to cover up Mitt's message, but has no idea what to do. They are saying its up to Reid to prove he paid no taxes. Congressional hearing on Mitt's Baine fraud and tax evasion.

[Kablooie]

57. His deep investment in Hustler Magazine must remain secret.

[blkmusclmachine]

58. Choice this election:

Bad or worse.