The National Review, the Weekly Standard, columnists like George Will, and several prominent GOP lawmakers have all called on Mitt Romney to release additional tax returns. Even “objective” reporters have gotten into the act and criticized the candidate for keeping his filings to himself.
As the National Review puts it:
Romney may feel impatience with requirements that the political culture imposes on a presidential candidate that he feels are pointless (and inconvenient). But he’s a politician running for the highest office in the land, and his current posture is probably unsustainable. In all likelihood, he won’t be able to maintain a position that looks secretive and is a departure from campaign conventions. The only question is whether he releases more returns now, or later — after playing more defense on the issue and sustaining more hits. There will surely be a press feeding frenzy over new returns, but better to weather it in the middle of July.
If he releases more returns, Romney will be in a better position to resist the inevitable demands for even more disclosures. More important, he will be in a better position to pivot his campaign to what should be its focus — telling a story, through a series of detailed, substantive speeches, about where he wants to take the country. It is to President Obama’s advantage to fight the election out over tactics and minutiae. By drawing out the argument over the returns, Romney is playing into the president’s hands. He should release them, respond to any attacks they bring, and move on.
Romney is in an impossible position. Nothing he does as far as releasing his tax returns is going to satisfy anyone except a few inside the beltway Republicans. On the other hand, not releasing his returns invites questions from the media, the Democrats, and even some conservatives in the “what’s he hiding” vein. In that respect, the NRO guys have it right: in a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t scenario,” better to “do” and get it over with as quickly as possible. This is conventional political wisdom — lance the boil and let the healing begin.
A good piece of advice — unless you really do have something to hide and releasing the information would be a game-changer. Perhaps Romney didn’t legally pay any taxes at all one year. Or perhaps he invested in a notorious company. It wouldn’t have to be a criminal act for the political damage to be so severe as to permanently derail his campaign.
If that is the case, Romney would be justified in not releasing any more tax returns. In this scenario, he would hunker down and absorb the blows, hoping the issue fades away eventually. Or, he could try and turn the tables and say he would release more returns if President Obama released his college transcripts, or some other of the voluminous biographical hidden treasures that the president has guarded like Fort Knox. Or, he could blast it off the front page by making big news himself by naming his vice presidential choice before he heads off to the Olympics next week.
Whatever Romney decides, the Obama campaign has a tailor-made issue with which they are killing two birds with a single stone: savaging the opponent while keeping the national conversation off the economy — the one issue that would lead to the defeat of the president in November.
Those calling for Romney to fuel Obama’s witch hunt with more data are the folks that give Republicans the reputation for being the stupid party. Trump has it right. Romney should only release returns on the heels of Obama’s release of academic records. And we know that will never happen…
Romney releasing damageing tax records MIGHT make him lose an election. Comrade Obama releasing his records WILL make him a criminal, a fraud, an imposter, and inelegible to hold the office. So, Obama ain’t releasin’ no records no way, no how. So, I think the quid quo pro gambit is a good one, though if there is “good stuff” or “good stuff” can be made up from Romney’s tax records, at some point the communists will “leak” them and take the flak for the leak. You know they have them, the IRS probably gave them to the campaign as soon as Romney declared and they’re just waiting to attack using the tax returns but don’t want to take the heat for stealing them; at some point, they’ll take the risk.
Nope, Mark Levin is right.
I would put the ball in Obama’s court and I would be loud and lively in doing so. Romney should agree to release any and all tax records as soon as Obama releases his college transcripts and demand that Holder release everything in the way of Fast & Furious.
Because I can almost assure you, this demand of Romney is a tempest in a teapot. Whether you like Romney or not, I would be absolutely shocked if there is so much as one illegality in the man’s personal business dealings.
Exactly.
This should be on billboards EVERYWHERE.
This is not rocket science.
Romney should propose proportionality, and offer to release tax and school records simultaneously with Obama, as a package. He should send the release forms for school records to Obama, and state that when they are signed and the schools have releasedd their records, he will release his school records and as many tax returns as Obama releases.
Its obviously fair, and should defuse the issue.
I’m with the non-releasers. Those advocating for release are assuming rational, honorable behavior by the Left, which isn’t going to happen. Romney is as squeaky-clean as anyone in political life today, but releasing tons of complex tax returns going back 20 years is only going to provide more tempests-in-teapots for the Obamaniacs. Nothing is going to help.
The way to “lance this boil” is to hold with what has been released and stonewall the rest.
John Nolte over at Breitbart (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/18/Romney-Insane-to-release-tax-returns) has a better idea. For every year of tax returns Romney release, he should demand the release of some juicy piece of information from Obama.
You folks are simply insane. Even Romney’s dad released over a decades worth. But you want to tie Romney’s release with POTUS’s school records? WTF?
You folks are following a guy who wouldn’t p!ss on you in you were on fire. Romney has never done ONE thing for the common American, yet here you are spitting on POTUS. I guess you can always tell your kids that even though Romney took every single opportunity away from them, at least YOU voted for the white guy. And to you, that is all that matters, right?
“Romney has never done ONE thing for the common American…”
Except serve as President of the U.S. Olympic committee for no pay, FOR 3 YEARS.
Except take no salary as Governor of Massachusetts FOR 4 YEARS.
Gave 19% of his income to charity in 2011. Obama’s percentage was 1%
And on a personal level, he shut down his entire investment office in order to search for the missing daughter of a colleague. http://www.snopes.com/politics/romney/search.asp
Surprised? I was. I had no idea he was this cool of a guy because I backed other candidates during the primaries. Romney has less charisma than some, but his history of performance and character are earning my respect.
Lesson 107a of good diplomacy is how to tell someone to go to h3ll in such a way that they enjoy the trip. This is the moment for Mitt to act presidential. As CIC he is going to receive plenty of loud, vociferous, persistent demands for the moon and back. Here is where he shows how to shove unreasonable demands back into the petitioner’s face and do it with “thanks, please call again” smile. If he cannot rebuff O-blame-o and his flunkies how will he tell off Kim, Putin, broke Zeropeans with their hands out, pretty much the entire Mideast, etc.?
It has just been reported that Romney has not disclosed his 2010 FBAR. That form must be filed with his 2010 taxes because he had interest on his Swiss Bank account. What that form must show are all Foreign accounts whether they have interest or not. He appears to not have released that as there is a significant fine if he didn’t file it. So now even more drip drip drip will be accumulating around poor Willard.
I put “National Review” through my Google French translator and it came out: “traitor”.
Someone tell Lowery and his Nancy boys inside the Beltway to shut up.
What’s worse is that Mitt admitted in the interview that those foreign accounts he helped set up are used to help foreigners avoid paying US taxes on income earned from US investments. Plus many American can fake being foreign by setting up a entity in the Cayman which then invests in those funds and who will ever know.
I just hope this doesn’t blow up until after his name is actually on the ballots which is around Sept 15th I think.
Obama sent billions of taxpayer stimulus dollars overseas. Dollars that were supposed to encourage employment. Meanwhile of course no surprise we’re still at over 8% unemployment.
All Obama is got is that Romney has legal investments with HIS OWN MONEY outside America. You can not make the case that possible taxation leads to probable loss while ignoring the outright theft perpetrated by that Amateur in the White House.
“Look!! Squirrel!” only works on your side of the aisle. What Obama did with MY money matters. What Romney did with HIS, does not.
“Whatever Romney decides, the Obama campaign has a tailor-made issue with which they are killing two birds with a single stone: savaging the opponent while keeping the national conversation off the economy”
Not if Romney decides to make them put up or shut up. Obama apparently has much more to hide than Romney and the latter should use that fact like a club and either force Obama to run the risk of releasing more forged documentation or take another tack. If anyone in the Republican camp can overcome their cowardice disguised as lofty, high minded ethics, stand tall, face an antagonistic media and demand the release of Obama’s records, Romney’s chances of a Reagan like rout might increase dramatically.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has uncovered evidence that the birth certificate Obama released for public consumption is a forgery. Whether fact or not the silence, especially from the so called conservative media, is deafening. Are Romney’s tax records of greater national import, interest or significance?
I admire and respect Sheriff Joe more than I can express, but his announcement today was like a man shouting “Fire” while standing on a mound of ash.