Snatch Bandergrip: ghare: Summoner101: Well, clearly there's something bad enough that it would do more damage to his campaign than what he's doing currently trying to hide it.

This assumes that Romney and his campaign are actually competent, instead of "competent because they were born rich."

I wonder if Romney's pulling some of the same trolling tactics as Obama: get the opposition all frothy over unreleased documents, wait a proper beat, and release them, revealing that he didn't have much to hide after and leaving the opposition stewing in its own butthurt.

Of course, that scenario is predicated on two things: Romney's camp being competent, which is, as you said, a long shot; and Romney somehow being anything less than the lifelong vulture capitalist he's proven himself to be.

If it's a troll by Romney it's a HORRIBLE one. Best case scenario for him would have been to release them a while back when the uproar was loud and build himself a nice 1-2month shield from criticism with some spotless tax returns. That would have been a masterful troll. Proving his innocence AND making the Obama team look like they were the ones flailing.

At this point it's too far into lose/lose territory. He releases now and no matter what the dialog on the topic is too self-propelling to be slowed down by it. Not to mention that ANY little thing (or big ie: offshore amnesty/etc) will be running on a long term news cycle until at least mid-August.

abb3w: As a side note on #4, ABC News mentioned back about 2012-01-26 that governor Romney had a Swiss account with UBS. "The campaign had maintained that it was not necessary to disclose the Swiss account because Romney's money manager, Brad Malt, had shuttered it in early 2010." UBS was the bank at the epicenter of the 2009 IRS amnesty.

I suspect this is the main skeleton they're trying to hide.

yeah he used that amnesty. what he was doing was illegal.

DamnYankees: Nina_Hartley's_Ass: It's either something ridiculous like horse feed as a medical deduction or evil like profiting from the meltdown or the misfortune of others.

I can't imagine its a matter of embarrassing deductions. Ya, that stuff would be embarrassing, but people would move on pretty quickly I think. It's gotta be more than that.

Even if it was small nothings, what the key factor here is is Romney's response. If its nothing and this is how he reacts, then how can he handle real major things as president?

indoorplant: [zionstrumpet.com image 500x349]

Nah, let's do this one for one. Obama's released 10 years of tax records, so Romney should do the same. Obama released his long-form birth certificate, so Romney should do the same. Obama has penned two autobiographies, so Romney should do the same. And if Romney releases his college transcripts, then Obama should do the same.

/you know, for somebody "we know nothing about", we sure have a lot of documentation on Obama.

Nina_Hartley's_Ass: Why hide something we already know about?

It's either something ridiculous like horse feed as a medical deduction or evil like profiting from the meltdown or the misfortune of others.

Because he's thinking, "If I put THAT out there I might as well quit now."


It's brilliant strategy by the Romney campaign actually

Think about it

No debate about Congress' inaction, blocking Obama and the Democrats bills, or Romney's actual PLANS if elected

Just complaining about tax returns that none of Romney's voters care about anyway.

They're going to keep milking these manufactured outrage stories for as long as possible so Romney doesn't have to talk about how nothing he has suggested will actually fix the economy.

CapnPlaty: Romney's tax returns : Democrats :: Obama's Birth Certificate : Birthers

The GOP should roll with that. The more they bring up Obama's birth certificate, the more they alienate the middle. The more Romney stalls on the tax returns, the more they alienate the middle. On the plus side, pressing the birther issue could bring in some of the base that hates Mormons. So they have that going for them, which is nice.

What I don't get about the Romney campaign is how did they not think that would come up? Did they really think they would skate into election day with no one asking about Romney's finances, especially since they've tried to make him out to be the super financial wizard who would run the goverment like he runs businesses?

Link appears to be farked. Can anyone paste it in, or give a short rundown?

No Such Agency: Damage done among undecided voters: "Most of us are so impressionable that we base our voting on whatever surprise attack ads show up on TV brain cells happen to fire at the last minute in late October as we cram a finger up our nose in the voting booth".

"Low information voters". There is no lower form of life.

Graffito: CapnPlaty: Romney's tax returns : Democrats :: Obama's Birth Certificate : Birthers

I'm guessing that you did rather poorly on your SATs.

LOL. Yeah...analogies are clearly not his strong suit.

On a related note, I love how some people are attempting to compare this to the birth certificate stuff. Get back to me when Romney has shown his tax returns, then a notarized version of his tax returns, then the original paperwork filed with his accountant for the tax returns, and then had multiple people from the IRS confirm the tax returns. If Democrats are still whining at that point, THEN you can start to make the comparison.

NateGrey: Do Republicans try not to vet their candidates thoroughly? Hubris?

Well since only Real Americans are Republicans, what's to vet??

Peki: DamnYankees: Delay: That's not the reason Romney is withholding his tax returns. It is simply not a legal requirement to report all charitable donations. Frankly, you are not required to report any charitable contributions at all. I'm poor and I don't report most of my charitable donations every year.

This is true, but why would someone not report charitable donations? They are tax deductable.

Because in order to claim the charitable contribution on your taxes, you'd have to itemize your deductions, instead of taking the standard deduction (I think it was 5K last time I did mine). Most poor people can't afford to make over 5K in transactions that are deductible (be it charity, medical, etc.), so most just take the standard deduction.

/GED in Tax Law, any better informed Farker is free to correct me

Well, I have looked at the Romney's 2010 IRS return and it lists no income at all as wages, salaries or tips (line 7). He took $4.5 million in itemized deductions, so that is well over the standard deduction, approximately $3 million of which was his charitable donations.

intelligent comment below: Nina_Hartley's_Ass: Why hide something we already know about?

It's either something ridiculous like horse feed as a medical deduction or evil like profiting from the meltdown or the misfortune of others.

Because he's thinking, "If I put THAT out there I might as well quit now."


It's brilliant strategy by the Romney campaign actually

Think about it

No debate about Congress' inaction, blocking Obama and the Democrats bills, or Romney's actual PLANS if elected

Just complaining about tax returns that none of Romney's voters care about anyway.

They're going to keep milking these manufactured outrage stories for as long as possible so Romney doesn't have to talk about how nothing he has suggested will actually fix the economy.

Two problems with that:

1: We still have a long time before the election, and this was just Obama's opening salvo. I'm sure he'll have more substantive barbs as time goes on.

2: American voters care about image and character as much as, or more than, issues. And first impressions are important when we're talking about image. Romney has managed to define himself to the majority of the American public as an elitist whiner with something to hide. Much like Kerry was unable to overcome the stigma the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" gave him, Romney will have to fight to overcome this, and I don't think he has the force of personality to do so (Before anybody says anything, I'm aware the SBV was a pack of lies, and this isn't. My point is in how it defines perceptions.)

When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

Shrugging Atlas: NateGrey: Do Republicans try not to vet their candidates thoroughly? Hubris?

Well since only Real Americans are Republicans, what's to vet??

You have to make sure they're not RINO's.

EngineerAU: CapnPlaty: Romney's tax returns : Democrats :: Obama's Birth Certificate : Birthers

The GOP should roll with that. The more they bring up Obama's birth certificate, the more they alienate the middle. The more Romney stalls on the tax returns, the more they alienate the middle. On the plus side, pressing the birther issue could bring in some of the base that hates Mormons. So they have that going for them, which is nice.

What I don't get about the Romney campaign is how did they not think that would come up? Did they really think they would skate into election day with no one asking about Romney's finances, especially since they've tried to make him out to be the super financial wizard who would run the goverment like he runs businesses?

They've been working on the assumption that "OBAMA BAD! SCAREY BLAH MAN! MUSLIM! KENYA!" was going to do it for them. It is beginning to dawn on them, I think, that it isn't. And they may not have a plan for that.

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

^THIS FTW

thamike: CapnPlaty: Romney's tax returns : Democrats :: Obama's Birth Certificate : Birthers

What are the implications of this statement?

The implications are that CapnPlaty is not intelligent enough to understand analogies.

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

Uh, nobody's requiring Romney to release his college records. Requiring Obama to do so smacks of hypocrisy.

ghare: The only non-vulture thing he has ever done is Massachusetts health care reform, and he can't go NEAR it or the base will explode.

How hilarious is that? The ONE thing he can point to in his record as an enormous positive and he has to run from it, because his base - ironically a group of people that stand to benefit the most from it - will destroy him. Oh, LOL.

Retro42: At this point it's too far into lose/lose territory. He releases now and no matter what the dialog on the topic is too self-propelling to be slowed down by it. Not to mention that ANY little thing (or big ie: offshore amnesty/etc) will be running on a long term news cycle until at least mid-August.

You're right in that from here on, releasing the returns will only look defensive rather than proactive. But I suspect that even if Romney's returns show he pushes invalids out of their Hoverrounds to snatch their coinpurses, it will not matter much to a public that - if yesterday's "Obramadan" thread is any evidence - considers it a far less crime to be a corporate-vulture robber baron who crystallizes everything wrong with our economic infrastructure, than to be an insidious Muslim terrorist that doesn't actually exist.

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

Tax returns = life story? What a sad concept of life.

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

No. It doesn't work this way.

We've already seen Obama's tax returns. We haven't seen Romney's. After all, one man shouldn't have to release his life story - or at least, the last ten years - while the other gets to hide his.

What I don't understand is why it's anyone's business what his tax returns are. That's his personal business. It's for him and the IRS to know. Same goes for Obama. The fact they are presidential nominees is irrelevent.

cchris_39: glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

^THIS FTW

Not bad. No posts until 2 minutes after him you prop up his bad troll attempt

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

Gripe all you want, but the GOP will never be able to embrace the "make Obama release college records" movement because it is tangled up with some very very ugly racism.

Link is farked. Like Romney's tax returns, we can't see them.

So let's speculate!

It's a photo album of subby's toenail clippings, auto-erotic self-portraits, and 'how to decorate your bachelor pad in Mom's basement'.

had98c: What I don't understand is why it's anyone's business what his tax returns are. That's his personal business. It's for him and the IRS to know. Same goes for Obama. The fact they are presidential nominees is irrelevent.

Google "George Romney". While you're reading that over, check out who his sons are.

I would also call upon Mitt Romney to release his service record with the Michigan State Troopers. I think seeing his service record would help us understand how he thinks the law should be enforced in this country.

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

It's tax records, not life history, and Obama actually has released all of his tax returns from the period people are asking Romney to release his for. This has been standard procedure since 1968 or so, and was pioneered by George Romney, so it's not like Mitt would be unaware of it.

had98c: What I don't understand is why it's anyone's business what his tax returns are. That's his personal business. It's for him and the IRS to know. Same goes for Obama. The fact they are presidential nominees is irrelevent.

Because, both Mr. Romney and President Obama are running for President of the United States, the head of the country's executive branch. The elected president is in charge of the Department of Treasury which includes the IRS.

How the candidates have dealt with the IRS in the past has everything to do with their qualifications for the job.

had98c: What I don't understand is why it's anyone's business what his tax returns are. That's his personal business. It's for him and the IRS to know. Same goes for Obama. The fact they are presidential nominees is irrelevent.

He's free to keep them secret if he wishes. But since he is the first Presidential candidate since 1968 to do so, people are going to talk. You pays your money, and you takes your choice.

glassa: When the Democrats demand that Obama release all the records from his history (college records) that's when I'll take them seriously regarding Romney's tax records. Until then, it's nothing but hypocrisy.
One man shouldn't have to release his entire life story, while the other gets to hide his.

-------------------

It's really not that difficult. One candidate releases tax returns, then the other does. It's been done that way for 50 years.

What's next? Romney refuses to show up to the debates because "you people" already learned everything you need to know from campaign ads?