Dear CNN, you have got to be joking: Republicans point to Axelrod as Reid-Romney feud deepens

[ProSense]

Republicans point to Axelrod as Reid-Romney feud deepens

Posted by

CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash

Washington (CNN) - Republicans on Monday stepped up attempts to undermine Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's unsubstantiated allegations that Mitt Romney went 10 years without paying taxes, saying Reid and other Democrats' accusations are being orchestrated by President Barack Obama's campaign – specifically his senior campaign adviser David Axelrod.

To that end, Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer noted that Axelrod visited Senate Democrats for their weekly lunch last Tuesday. Later that afternoon the Huffington Post story published with Reid's allegations about the presumptive GOP nominee not paying any taxes.

"You've got to wonder if the so-called source is Axelrod himself," Spicer told CNN. "Hours after meeting with Axelrod, Reid comes out and makes baseless accusations?"

<...>

"Instead of pointing fingers in every direction, they can put the whole matter to rest by simply observing the standard George Romney and a generation of candidates have set by releasing the returns," Axelrod told CNN.

- more -

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/06/republicans-point-to-axelrod-as-reid-romney-feud-deepens/

Dana Bash (CNN) says her source can confirm Reid's tax allegation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1064752

CNN transcript

<...>

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We now have a couple of responses, Anderson. Let me read you the first one, that is, "Senator Reid stands by his comments. Governor Romney's continued refusal to release his tax returns raises legitimate questions about what he is hiding and whether he paid any taxes at all. Governor Romney can easily end this debate by following the precedent set by his father and releasing his tax returns."

And as you were coming on the air, Anderson, I got a follow-up like the statement, which also stands by what they call his credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for 10 years, and he's calling Romney playing tricks, many tricks at his disposal for avoiding taxes. So not backing down at all.

<...>

But I did speak, I just have to tell you, that I did speak to one source who's very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who this Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that this is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand that they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney's tax returns. Whether we'll find it out ever, who knows. But they're doing this on purpose so that this is the discussion.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1208/02/acd.01.html

Mitt is trapped.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021073742

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

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. How the hell would Axlerod know what's in Mittens' returns?

They get dumber every day.

[dballance]

2. Odd how they seem to think the Obama campaign is involved BUT

completely missed the actual fact KKKarl Rove during the Bush campaigns really was involved in false memes like the whole Swift Boat thing.

I guess once again "It's Okay If You Are Republican (IOIYAR)."

[Ikonoklast]

3. I am starting to think Reid and Axelrod are really, really, reeeeeeally enjoying themselves.

It's almost to the point of torture, now.

And the Mittster and his seconds keep rising to the bait, like the idiots they truly are.

I wonder how Harry keeps a straight face anymore, he must pinch himself to keep from laughing out loud.

[Vincardog]

4. Note to CNN: "The Mittster can end all the speculation easily, he should put up his tax returns

or admit the charges are true and Shut up'.

[flamingdem]

5. Thanks Dana

You're helping nicely

[Berlum]

6. Bwaaaa ha ha ha ha. Shut up, you whiney Repubs. Just deliver the data and ...

...America will stop picking on you...

[unblock]

7. how is it odd for reid to give the news to the obama campaign before going public with it?

reid would have to be a loose cannon and terrible team player to publicly make a highly campaign-relevant news story without at least giving the campaign a heads-up, if not asking the campaign for permission and/or timing.

many reasons to discuss with axelrod other than axelrod having concocted the whole thing.


in fact, the whole theory itself is completely fabricated.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. Republicans don't know which way to turn

[freshwest]

9. They'll do ANYTHING to take the heat off TRICKY MITT!

It won't work, you gaggle of crooks...

[spanone]

10. hey mitt, where are the tax returns? you have the power to end it immediately...what are you hiding

[Kalidurga]

11. OMG a Democrat met with an adviser to the President...

who is a Democrat...Sorry not seeing the scandal here. It's just more diversion and bully behavior from the Republicans. "All you people are conspiring against us wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" and MSM eats it up.

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. Seriously - has anyone tried this?

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506tez.pdf

Nailing down his address might be a problem, what with all that unfinished basement living he did, but seriously - has anyone tried making the request?

[rocktivity]

13. That form is for a 1040 only. I'm sure Mitt filed supplementary forms

For which he'll need




rocktivity

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. Double dog dare you.

Its worth a shot.

[liberal N proud]

14. Axelrod worked for Bain?

Didn't Reid say his tip came from BA in?

[DallasNE]

16. Reid Said This Source Called Him A Month Ago

Not last Tuesday. Plus, Axelrod has never had any dealings with Bain Capital or to be in a position to know what is in Romney's return so Sean Spicer is just blowing smoke in an attempt to deflect the message. Besides, why did Romney choose to say he had "paid plenty of taxes" rather than saying he had "paid plenty of federal income taxes". You know that something is not right here so it is necessary to keep the pressure on.

[amb123]

17. Harry Reid's "UNSUBSTANTIATED' allegations?

Dana Bash (CNN) says her source can CONFIRM Reid's tax allegation

[Scuba]

18. Spinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

[coalition_unwilling]

19. My, my, the Corporate News Network is defending Mitt? I'm shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED! - n/t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. "The Republican must not be allowed to lose........no matter the cost"

[Bjorn Against]

21. I think this is exactly what Reid was hoping for, he may have set the trap that destroys Romney

At first I thought Reid was making a mistake by doing this, I thought there was so much well documented facts to attack Romney on that it was a bad idea to go on the attack using an anonymous source. While I would still hold that position if I did not think Reid had the goods, But I think Reid may have proof and he is playing the Republicans before the bomb is dropped. The louder they deny it now the more it is going to hurt them when the proof is released and there are endless reels of video showing Mitt Romney denying what has by then been proven to be true. Not only will Romney be hurt by the tax evasion but the lies will sink him even further.

[Avalux]

22. The beauty of it is.....Reid doesn't have to prove anything, and it doesn't matter who told him.

All Romney has to do is release his returns. It's simple. Unless.......

Can't wait to see how this all unfolds in the next few months.

[Bjorn Against]

26. I think that in order for this to be effective proof will have to be offered

I don't think this will harm us unless Romney releases his tax returns and it shows he did pay income taxes, the longer this goes on however the less likely that seems. The top ranking members of the Democratic Party are putting their credibility on the line here and I don't think they would do this if they were not absolutely certain of what they were saying. I think they have proof Romney did not pay taxes, I would not be shocked if there is video of him bragging about it somewhere.

If they don't have proof however then I don't think this will be an effective attack, many of the more well documented facts about Bain and Romney's tax returns will be effective attacks but I don't expect anything that comes from an anonymous source to have much of an impact until the source is revealed.

[Poiuyt]

23. I think the source is John McCain

"But I did speak, I just have to tell you, that I did speak to one source who's very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who this Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that this is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand that they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney's tax returns. "

[Bjorn Against]

27. I think it was likely someone from the McCain campaign as well

It could be McCain himself or it could be a top staffer like Steve Schmidt or Nicole Wallace, I think both of them are fairly decent people who are lifelong Republicans that no longer recognize their party and are not happy that the crazies have taken over. I could see either one of them speaking out about this, Steve Schmidt would have access for sure and it seems fairly likely that Wallace had access to the VP files as well. I am not pointing the finger at either one, but they would be on a short list of credible sources who would have likely had access.

[DallasNE]

31. I Thought That Too At First

Even placing the highest odds on Nicole Wallace then I started to play this back against what Reid said and found a gaping hole. Reid has said his source is "a Bain investor" and that eliminates the people that worked for McCain in 2008. I'm also at a loss as to why a Bain investor would now blow the whistle on Romney unless it was someone who was pushed aside about the time Romney was leaving Bain. Otherwise I see no ax to grind and no reason for that person to "get religion" right now.

[Enrique]

24. what's wrong with the reporting?

in addiition to the part you excerpted, the article also included this:

In a separate article posted Monday, the Huffington Post wrote that they interviewed Reid days before Axelrod's visit, making any influence from the top Obama official's Capitol Hill visit impossible.

[cleduc]

28. Here's the link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/rnc-harry-reid-romney-tax-returns_n_1748680.html

"You've got to wonder if the so-called source is Axelrod himself," Spicer told CNN. "Hours after meeting with Axelrod, Reid comes out and makes baseless accusations?"

There are multiple problems with this. For one, Reid sources his claim about Romney to an anonymous Bain investor. And Axelrod, while many things, is not a Bain investor. Secondly, Axelrod himself denied the accusation in a statement to CNN.

But the most obvious reason Spicer is wrong is that Reid actually made the remarks about Romney's taxes the Thursday prior to Axelrod's visit.

Romney campaign strategy:
1. Make up lie to cover our tracks
2. Float the lie in the media
3. If that lie sinks, go back to #1, rinse and repeat

A smart campaign would have stopped talking about it seconds after making the first denial of Reid. Instead, we've had a week or so of back and forth with the mainstream media telling everyone without spending an Obama campaign penny that Romney won't release his tax returns and must be hiding something.

So these are not just dishonest people. They're stupid too because the only way they can win this argument is by releasing the tax returns that they've already decided is worse and therefore they won't do.

It's a long standing pattern with Romney - he doesn't think things through.

[DallasNE]

32. Romney Was Certainly One Dimensional On His

Overseas trip, with is constant thoughtless comments.

[AlbertCat]

25. Axelrod visited Senate Democrats for their weekly lunch last Tuesday

They have lunch WEEKLY....

Axelrod was there for lunch.


It's Obama's doing!


God forbid the GOP jump to conclusions the way they accuse Reid of doing.....






The GOP thinks the Prez race is a kindergarden playground. That's because they don't care who the Prez is.... he's just a distraction from the unelected operatives who actually "run" the country(from an undisclosed location) when there's a GOP Prez.

[JDPriestly]

29. Why I believe that the Reid story is true:

If the story is not true, the political loss to Reid personally and to the Democrats in general would be very serious. They would be truly humiliated if it were discovered that the story was untrue.

Reid is a cautious man, and while he might make a mistake, he would not make a risky assertion that could cause him to lose the confidence of voters and the public, possibly resulting in the loss of his Senate seat.

The downside of being wrong would be devastating for Reid.

As a second alternative, what would be the downside if Reid had this evidence but remained silent about it until after the Republican convention? This would be great for Democrats, but if Reid announced the facts that he knows after the convention, the Romney campaign would claim that Reid was had unfairly withheld this important information. Reid's Republican colleagues in the Senate might be pretty angry if Reid sat on information like this and deprived them of the opportunity to choose another candidate.

So, Reid is, true to his nature, being very fair in making this statement now while Romney still has time to publish his tax returns and disprove the statement. Reid is being kinder than he needs to be with this.

Romney's choice is clear: If Reid is wrong, all he has to do is produce his tax returns, prove it and if Reid is wrong, it will harm if not ruin Reid's career. So given that this allegation is out there, Romney would gain by producing his tax returns -- his full returns for the at least ten years -- and thus prove Reid wrong.

That Romney has not done that means one thing: Reid is right, and if Reid is not right about Romney's having paid no taxes, Reid is right that there is something in Romney's tax return that would turn voters off big time to the thought of a Romney presidency.

Reid, again, is a cautious man. He has surely weighed the risks of his statement. He did not need to make it. Democrats were doing fine before he did. There would be no gain for Reid in lying about this claim.

It's probably true, guys. It's very probably true. The upside for Reid of repeating what he has said is too slight to give him an incentive to lie about it. The downside for Reid of what he said is simply too great to give him an incentive to lie about it. Either way, Reid is probably right. No reason for him to lie.

[applegrove]

30. They sure want the Obama camp itself to be accusing Romney re: tax returns.

They themselves are trying to tie Reid's remarks to the WH. Makes me think it is all a bait to make Obama look wrong: when Romney releases his returns, returns he filled out while knowing he was running for President in the last 20 years, it will all be much ado about nothing. Because Romney knew he was running for the WH for the last 20 years. Thankfully Obama has not yet bit.

[ProSense]

33. They maybe

They sure want the Obama camp itself to be accusing Romney re: tax returns.

They themselves are trying to tie Reid's remarks to the WH. Makes me think it is all a bait to make Obama look wrong: when Romney releases his returns, returns he filled out while knowing he was running for President in the last 20 years, it will all be much ado about nothing. Because Romney knew he was running for the WH for the last 20 years. Thankfully Obama has not yet bit.

...trying to "tie Reid's remarks to the WH," but it's out of desperation. Democrats, including the Obama campaign, have been pressuring Romney to release his returns.

Gibbs to Romney: Go to Kinko's
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021076693

Axelrod Says Romney Could Put Reid’s Tax Allegations To Bed By Releasing Returns
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021075841

Whote House: Harry Reid ‘Certainly Speaks For Himself’ On Romney’s Taxes

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that President Obama hasn’t expressed an opinion to him on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) persistent claims that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for a decade.

Asked repeatedly at his daily briefing, Carney said Reid “certainly speaks for himself” and referred additional questions to the Democratic leader’s office. He said Obama believes in the tradition of presidential hopefuls releasing a series of tax returns to the public.

Republicans have aggressively pushed back and called Reid a liar, noting that he has not yet provided evidence. Obama campaign officials and top Democrats have stood by Reid’s claim – he says he learned of it from an as-yet-unnamed Bain Capital investor.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/white-house-reid-speaks-for-himself-in-romney

In case you haven't noticed:

[NYC Liberal]

34. Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Yet Romney could PROVE Reid a liar TOMORROW

if Reid were, in fact, wrong.

But Romney refuses to do so. Because Reid is right.

[ProSense]

35. Romney is afraid. What is he hiding? n/t