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ProSense

(116,464 posts) Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:08 AM Jul 2012

Romney says releasing his tax returns would hurt him politically

Romney says releasing his tax returns would hurt him politically

by Jed Lewison

Loose translation of Mitt Romney's message to Republicans calling for him to release his tax returns: "Guys, trust me, if I release my returns it'll be even worse than it already is."

Oh, I think people in my party just say, "Look, this is a non-issue. Just release the returns and it will go away." My experience is that the Democratic Party these days has approached taxes in a very different way than in the past. Their opposition people look for anything they can find to distort, to twist, and to try and make negative.

So:

Mitt Romney thinks that releasing his tax returns would be a bigger political problem than stonewalling.
According to Mitt Romney, it's the Democratic Party's fault that releasing his tax returns would be a political liability.
And, finally, Mitt Romney believes the important thing here is that he do whatever helps him politically—not that he do whatever the right thing is.

The absurdity of Romney's position is pretty obvious.

First, if releasing his returns would be a bigger problem than not releasing them, that doesn't say anything about the nature of the Democratic Party—it says something about what's in his returns. Democrats are going to attack Romney no matter what—that's just politics. But releasing his returns will only be a problem if there's something problematic in his returns.

Second, even if Romney's argument were right, it is a terrible one for him to make. It's one thing for a campaign staff to be so blatant about political calculations, but it really doesn't look good for a presidential candidate to make it himself. Romney is basically saying that he's putting his political best interests ahead of doing what's right. He might as well say he's running for office, for Pete's sake.

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/18/1111253/-Romney-says-releasing-his-tax-returns-would-hurt-him-politically

13 replies

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Highlight:

Romney says releasing his tax returns would hurt him politically (Original Post) ProSense Jul 2012 OP

Translated: no_hypocrisy Jul 2012 #1

And it's better for people to guess the worst and accuse him of it anyway? dkf Jul 2012 #2

Holder is not running for President. RMoney is. n/t BumRushDaShow Jul 2012 #5

Oh for goodness sakes the AG represents us. We have a right to know. dkf Jul 2012 #6

The AG does not have to produce information about an ongoing investigation to people JDPriestly Jul 2012 #9

He'd rather let this pass than to cause big damage to his chances Life Long Dem Jul 2012 #3

K&R BumRushDaShow Jul 2012 #4

Remember when the Supreme Court said that counting votes would hurt Bush politically? 1-Old-Man Jul 2012 #7

He won't release them to his own Party. kentuck Jul 2012 #8

why indeed! abolugi Jul 2012 #11

K & R Scurrilous Jul 2012 #10

Choice 3 just became ProSense Jul 2012 #12

i think ms. cutter knew what she was talking about when she said 'felony' spanone Jul 2012 #13

no_hypocrisy

(46,170 posts)

1. Translated:

Reply to ProSense (Original post)

Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:10 AM

Jul 2012

Romney's going to get the votes of conservatives, rich people, religious fundamentalists, some Tea Partiers, and anyone who has a rabid hatred of Obama.

What he's worried about: Independents and disgruntled democrats. The tax returns may make a difference to them.

dkf

(37,305 posts)

2. And it's better for people to guess the worst and accuse him of it anyway?

Reply to ProSense (Original post)

Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:17 AM

Jul 2012

The man is a moron. Just the thought that he would apply this philosophy to the Presidency is appalling.

And Obama should release whatever they need for the Holder brouhaha.

We the people deserve to know what we are getting and what we are doing.

BumRushDaShow

(129,398 posts)

5. Holder is not running for President. RMoney is. n/t

Reply to dkf (Reply #2)

Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:33 AM

Jul 2012

dkf

(37,305 posts)

6. Oh for goodness sakes the AG represents us. We have a right to know.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Reply #5)

Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:45 AM

Jul 2012

I'd say the same think if this were Alberto Gonzales under Bush.

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)

9. The AG does not have to produce information about an ongoing investigation to people

Reply to dkf (Reply #6)

Wed Jul 18, 2012, 11:11 AM

Jul 2012

who may have ties to those being investigated regardless of whether they are in the House or not.

I don't know that is the situation here, but the thought that it might be has certainly occurred to me.

I believe that the entire imaginary scandal about Fast and Furious was put to rest when it was explained that it wasn't about sales by American law enforcement or exports by American law enforcement to Mexico but rather about the legal restraints on American law enforcement on arresting those private individuals who were buying weapons and exporting them. I believe that even Issa has pretty much stopped playing this harp.

Life Long Dem

(8,582 posts)

3. He'd rather let this pass than to cause big damage to his chances

Reply to ProSense (Original post)

Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:18 AM

Jul 2012

Thing is this shouldn't pass unless the media let's it pass. And they are already talking about tiring of the attacks. Of course this was Morning Joe led by the Bostonian saying where is the vision in this political race.