REID RESPONDS! “We'll believe it when we see it!”

[berni_mccoy]

This just can't get any better. It's like the energizer bunny of campaign issues!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/reid-dismisses-romney-payment-claim

Reid Dismisses Romney Tax Claim

“We'll believe it when we see it,” says spokesman in response to Romney's assertion Thursday that he's paid at least 13% of his income in taxes every year for the last decade.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office isn’t backing down from its charges Mitt Romney may have not paid taxes over the years and demanding he release a decades worth or returns – despite Romney’s assertion Thursday that he’s paid at least 13 percent in taxes over the last decade.

"We'll believe it when we see it. Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans will continue to wonder what he's hiding. Romney seems to think he plays by a different set of rules than every other presidential candidate for the last thirty years, all of whom lived up to the standard of transparency set by Mitt Romney's father and released their tax returns," Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson told Buzzfeed in a statement Thursday.

I stand with Harry Reid!

On Edit: I suspect they already know what's in Romney's returns.

[gademocrat7]

1. I also stand with Harry Reid!

[ananda]

2. Me too!

Keep this issue hot!

[calimary]

4. Me three!

YES Keep this issue hot!!!!

[PearliePoo2]

3. Keep Hammering It Harry!

Don't let up....please!

[russspeakeasy]

15. Harry, if you will keep the pressure on, I will take back

most of the bad things I said about you.

[WillyT]

5. HUGE K & R !!!

[The Magistrate]

6. Give 'Em hell, Harry!

We already know Romney lies about what is on his tax returns contain.

That he lied about this in running for governor of Massachusetts is a matter of public record.

There is no reason whatever to trust a word that comes out of this congenital liar's mouth!

If he wants to be believed, he has to produce the returns....

"Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus."


"Romney loves America like a tick loves a dog."

[coalition_unwilling]

43. Reid is not giving Mitt hell. He just tells the truth and Mitt

thinks it's hell! (With another hat tip to HST and to you

[hifiguy]

7. Harry is hanging on to this like a mastiff on to a bone.

I am loving it. Go, Harry, go!

And I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Harry knows more than enough about Mittwit's taxes to justify his comments.

[Whisp]

16. very glad he hasn't dropped this

and agree that Reid has backup on this and will keep biting at Romney with bits of more info as time goes on.

it will drive the Rmoney's madder than they are now. Both Ann and Mittie look like feral little lying weasels when on camera. Their body language and facial expressions are like an open book of Deceit.

[Fawke Em]

19. I truly believe Reid does know what's in the returns or he

wouldn't be hanging on this like a dog to a bone.

Reid is extremely soft-spoken and rarely rails on the GOP (or anyone else for that matter), so for him to go off, full-throated, on this issue, means, to me, that he knows SOMETHING.

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Ronald Reagan responds: Trust, but verify.

The republican party loves their demigod Reagan, so this seems an appropriate response to Rmoney's assertion we should take him at his word.

[stlsaxman]

9. He's hiding voter fraud- he lived in CA when he voted in Scott Browns election.

registered in MA at his son's unfinished basement. His returns will show an out of state main residence that year.

Felony.

Done.

[Fawke Em]

21. This is what I think it is, as well.

I think Harry Reid knows SOMETHING and I think this is it.

[nxylas]

77. There's an RW Facebook meme on this

It goes something like "How do we know Harry Reid is lying? The Obama campaign hasn't leaked the tax returns". Of course I don't believe that Reid is lying, but there's a kernel of truth in there. They obviously don't have all the information they need, otherwise it would have got out there somehow. The Obama campaign isn't afraid to play hardball.

[Waltons_Mtn]

81. They can't "leak" them.

(Let's assume that Harry has them, for the sake of this discussion.)

I see a couple of problems with leaking this information.
First, they are not supposed to have this information. I think there is some serious legal aspects about having copies of someone else's federal tax returns. So Harry could get into serious trouble if the leak could be traced back to anyone who has ever spoken to Harry Reid. (I think the repubs have enough money to spend to track any leak down. Hell they could get congress to track the leak down with an investigation into Harry Reid. Saying he did something illegal.)
Another problem is they would claim that anything leaked is not true. They would say that the forms have been altered to make it look like Mittens has done something wrong. We would say well then prove it and this would turn RMoney into the victim. He would get a lot of sympathy because they would say he is being attacked. Faux news would play that up big time. (Actually I am kind of surprised the Repubs have not done this already.)

Just my opinion of course.

[PearliePoo2]

24. Ooopsie....there IS that pesky residency thingie

Hey Mittens! Lying for the Lord lately??

[Cha]

37. Romney's Lord of the LIES. eom

[LibDemAlways]

73. This is an interesting issue. Presidential candidates

are traditionally associated with a specific state. Mitt is a nomad. Very odd.

[BREMPRO]

74. oh. wouldn't that be ironic!

an issue so central to republicans efforts this year- voter fraud, that imaginary crisis created for pure political reasons to suppress voter participation, to have their own presidential candidate caught committed voter fraud!? that would be priceless....

don't think we'll ever see them now.. but hope this dogs his campaign all the way to Nov...

[stlsaxman]

80. here's a boston dot com article that addresses it, sort of...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/19/gops_romney_takes_to_life_in_new_california_home/

Romney not only sold his family home in Belmont, Mass., but he bought a house -- for $12 million -- in the northern San Diego community of La Jolla. He traded a snowy commute for early morning beach strolls amid the dog walkers. And he's become a familiar face at California political events, addressing the state Republican convention last month and campaigning on behalf of his former Bain Capital protege, Meg Whitman, a candidate for governor....

Romney and his wife, Ann, sold the 6,500-square-foot Massachusetts colonial where they raised their five sons, fetching $3.5 million. They also unloaded a 9,500-square-foot family retreat at the Deer Valley ski resort in Utah for close to its $5.25 million asking price....

They still do not own a property in Massachusetts, forcing them to claim temporary residence at a basement apartment in the Belmont home owned by their eldest son, Tagg. It's the address Romney used to vote in Republican Scott Brown's recent victorious Senate special election race, all legal with town officials.

Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the Romneys are buying their own home in Belmont, but a March closing was pushed back to June because of "contractor delays." That has put forced the Romneys to watch the number of days they spend in California, ensuring they do not raise questions about their primary residency for tax, voting or other legal purposes.

So... they KNEW about requirements for voting in MA and intentionally flaunted that law, right? if the Romney's Federal Tax Returns show their primary residence as OTHER than Massachusetts...?

[AllyCat]

82. I've not seen this before.

Interesting

[Brother Buzz]

10. Ball in Romney's court

[madashelltoo]

11. I'm with you, Harry.

Don't flinch. Don't let up on him. He's sweating like a pig and his mouth is always dry. You've got him on the ropes. Don't let him up. He's calling in the Mrs. for backup and she's twitching, her wrinkle cream is failing and she's lying so hard and fast EVERYBODY knows she's lying. Don't let him up.

[StrictlyRockers]

12. I love it!

Keep 'em on the ropes, boxing champ!

[Berlum]

13. Willard really does think the rules don't apply to him

typical 1% republican

[southernyankeebelle]

14. I have come to the conclusion he is hiding something. I don't care that he is rich.

I wish I could get the breaks he get but something in there is very damaging.

[Maven]

17. 13%!

13%?!

He's actually bragging that he's paid at least 13%?!

[hifiguy]

20. Mindboggling, ain't it?

He sounds exactly like J.P. Morgan who once famously said "I owe the public nothing!" Times may change but the attitude of plutocrats remains ever the same.

[Dont call me Shirley]

26. Or Leona Helmsley: Taxes are for little people

[Ruby the Liberal]

18. Go, Harry, GO!

k&r

[GObamaGO]

22. Stay the course, Harry!

Why is it, I get the distinct feeling that Romney thought he would just be handed the presidency, just like he's been handed everything else in his selfish, narcissistic life?

[Iliyah]

23. I looked at the site of CNN and MSNBC and nada.

If the tables were turned and if it was Pres O, the corporate media would be all over it 24/7. If it were the Dems who are suppressing the voters as well as purging voters, the corporate media would be over it 24/7.

Journalism is dead, except for pockets of it. I also stand with "Dirty Harry" and "G.I. Joe"!

[louis-t]

25. ZING!! Pow!

Harry, you rock.

[aquart]

27. Mitt, is that adjusted back payments after you took the tax amnesty for those Swiss accounts?

[wake.up.america]

28. It's hard for me to believe Reid does not know what's being hidden by RMoney from the public...

So why does not Reid come up with the goods? Waiting for RMoney to continue to make a fool of himself by denying any misdeeds? Reid will look foolish by asserting Mitt is hiding something grievous and Mitt proves otherwise.


By the way, why is his name pronounced reed and not ride?

[Samantha]

35. I think it is has been strategically decided (IMHO) that if there is literal confirmation

that Romney has avoided paying taxes, it is better to allude to that during the campaign, raising his (Romney's) political blood pressure stewing over what they will do, and toward the end of the campaign (right before the election) drop the evidence hammer. So I am hoping those who think Harry has the goods are correct, but either way, this is a great drill Reid has going on ....

Sam

[sofa king]

51. That sounds plausible.

As I have pointed out every time this comes up, it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out that if Mitt is willing to take this much damage over it already, whatever he is hiding is much worse than the ass-kicking he is already taking over it.

Mitt would not plead "please stop," or defy his opponent to "prove it" if he were innocent, because he already has the documentation that can prove it to everyone's satisfaction, and that's exactly what he ain't giving up. If this were a court of law, the jury would be instructed to consider Mitt's refusal to release potentially exonerating evidence as evidence against him, as Harry Reid well knows.

Senator Reid is a former prosecutor, and the logical certitude outlined above would have only assisted him in finding the proper place to look and the proper people to ask to confirm his more-than-suspicion.

I also feel confident that the evidence he required to start this bloodbath is firmly in hand, and he is now merely toying with Mitt as if he were a cat playing with a wounded mouse, keeping it in the papers every week until he's good and ready to strike the final blow.

Senator Reid is also forcing Mitt to step down a weight class to tangle with him, the undercard, rather than the Champion. Romney is losing time and stature by being drawn into this fight--a fight he cannot escape and which he cannot win, because he is guilty as Hell.

[wiggs]

53. SK: there's a winery in California that has named one of

blends 'sofa king bueno'.

FYI

[savannah43]

45. If Mittens could prove otherwise, he would have done so by now.

Duh! Try thinking about it.

[bayareaboy]

48. Because Reid doesn't have too...

Let me say again, it is like playing poker. You don't play out of sequence.

[ieoeja]

83. If Romney releases his taxes after saying he would not, he looks weak.

And looking weak is the #1 death knell to a presidential candidacy.

I originally wrote "probably" because likability is pretty important as well. But nobody liked Nixon. He won on the weak perception of his Democratic opponents alone.

[Xyzse]

29. I can't believe I can respect Harry Reid

I always thought he was a pansy till the past few weeks.
Good for him.

[rocktivity]

30. Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans MUST continue to wonder what he's hiding.

rocktivity

[xtraxritical]

57. "If the glove fits, you must acquit."

[Wednesdays]

31. I'll keep saying it: rMoney will release doctored returns

And then crow about how "forthcoming" he's been. Won't matter how sloppy or suspicious they look, anyone questioning him will be blasted as a looney conspiracy theorist. Mark my words.

[savannah43]

46. Yup!

He's having the returns forged as we sit here pondering the situation.

[theinquisitivechad]

52. Pardon my ignorance, but. . .

How do you 'forge' returns? Won't the records be corroborated or not by the IRS, who has the historical data? Or do they not keep those records? Not asking to be argumentative, I just simply don't understand. . .

[xtraxritical]

58. You're right they're neck talking. He can't forge returns and the IRS is bound by confidentiality.

[avebury]

32. Me four nt

[HereSince1628]

33. 13% on what earnings? Show us the long forms, Mitt!

[savannah43]

47. We need to see the supporting documentation at this point, too.

No way he can be trusted to be honest now. Too little, too late. The GOP ought to drop this hot potato and run Ryan. Never mind. That wouldn't help them, either. It's also too late for them to stop digging, isn't it?

[LibGranny]

34. Keep it up Harry! Hold his feet "to the fire"!

[Thrill]

36. Its Obama and Biden that need to start talking about

it.

[Quantess]

40. Why? Other people are talking about it, so they don't have to.

[Drunken Irishman]

76. No ... leave this to the surrogates.

[rtracey]

38. look

John McCain's camp vetted Romney for vice president and saw many years of his tax returns 4 years ago, and STILL picked Sarah Palin.... What does that tell you....... Something is in there that no repub wants the US citizens to see.

[spanone]

39. why the hell should we trust mitt romney? have they trusted Obama?

[Major Hogwash]

50. Whenever Romney says, "just trust me", I think of his "Corporations are people, my friend" comment.

He sounds like a charlatan to me.
A dumb one, at that.
There's no way this issue is going to go away now.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

41. Just a guess

that Harry is sleeping much better than Mitt & Ann or ANYONE attached to their campaign.

How much doctoring of his returns could be done to pass scrutiny? And the residency issue is mighty problematic, too.

Wish Lawrence O. or Ed would get Harry on their show this week.

K&R

[HopeHoops]

42. Yeah, and I want to see the LONG forms of his 1040s.

[xtraxritical]

62. I want to see the schedule D, capital gains form.

[Raine]

44. Keep after him Harry! nt

[Vietnameravet]

49. Great

Keep it up Harry..people want a strong leader not someone kowtowing to these thugs from the right.. They sure cant take what they give out..

[BrainMann1]

54. Hay You! Mitt, come here.

Get Him Reid!

[BumRushDaShow]

55. K&R

Keep at it!!

[madokie]

56. I'm with Harry

I'm dancing with him

[wildeyed]

59. Give em hell Harry!

He is playing so dirty on this one. And I would kiss him on the mouth for it if I could.

[BlueStreak]

60. When is somebody going to ask Romney directly whether or not he used the amnesty program?

It is a simple question. It can be answered "yes" or "no" and would take 15 seconds to clear up.

[Amonester]

63. It will come up at one point or another. Taxy is not leaving the room anytime

before Nov. 7.

[BlueStreak]

64. I hope so, but it can't wait for the last week. Romney will stall it for 4 weeks once it is raised.

If the Obama team has the good on Romney, I can certainly understand THEM waiting until after the convention.

But I don't understand the media not every simply asking the question. They don't work for the Obama campaign. They can ask their own questions. This is such a simple question to ask, why hasn't it been asked?

[Amonester]

65. Most media outlets that Romney 'accepts' to give 'access' are owned by right-wing

corporations.

At this point, maybe these 'journalists' either couldn't ask their way to Time Square or they have been 'ordered' not to ask 'hardball' questions (if they want to keep their high paying jobs) to Romneyhood by their 'higher ups' ... As it's surely not that much a difficult question to ask as a follow up, but their bosses want to keep their horse race intact as long as possible.

Can't find another rationale.

[BlueStreak]

66. I'm sure that is a big factor, but ...

there have been a few to ask "what's your tax rate?" Instead of asking that question over and over, it seems like one of them could simply say,

Governor Romney, your 2010 return indicated a Swiss bank account closed during 2010. Many commentators have noted that in 2009, the IRS offered an amnesty program for people who had Swiss bank accounts. I don't believe you have made any comments about that, and that leads some people to speculate about this. Can we put this question to rest right now? Can you state unequivocally that you or nobody acting on your behalf used the IRS amnesty program with regard to any foreign accounts you held or you benefited from? That's a simple "yes" or "no" and we'll move on to other questions of importance to this election.

How hard is that?

[Amonester]

69. That stream of questions is too long for them to:

1. Document (it requires working searches they don't want to do and they prefer coffee breaks and 'FaceBooking').
2. Formulate the questions (too complicated and thus, borrrring).
3. They're not 'working' at PBS.

Sums it up like it's 1, 2, 3.

[BlueStreak]

70. Well, OK, they could ask:

"Governor Romney, did you or anybody working on your behalf utilize the IRS amnesty program with regard to Swiss bank accounts you benefited from?"

That talks less than 10 seconds to ask.

[Amonester]

72. Yes. They could.

Although I'd be very surprised to hear about one of them asking it before the convention.

I would prefer it would 'pop up' in one of the three debates with President Obama, though.

I can imagine the intensity of the blush on his face and the nervous laugh as he'll try to weasel his way out of it.

[BlueStreak]

88. Rachael Maddow has shown that Romney is willing to simply lie about that.

When he ran for Governor, there was a question whether he had maintained legal residence. The press and Democrats demanded to see the tax returns because a whistle blower had said he had abandoned his MA residence for tax reporting purposes (evidently he could save a few bucks on state taxes by declaring himself a UT resident.)

Romney flat-out lied and said that his returns showed he was a MA resident.

Eventually they got access to the returns, which showed Romney was flat-out lying. He then went back and amended his returns, and that apparently passed muster as far as the MA Constitution was concerned.

My point is that we have to assume he will lie about anything. That means we need to get the question asked and answered (which may be a lie) ASAP so that there will still be time to get the truth out before election day.

All of this assumes that there is a good chance he did use the amnesty. Most people in the MSM (and many here, it appears) figure "Nobody would ever take the chance of lying about something as cut-and-dried as that."

Yes. Mitt Romney would. He has. He would do it again.

[reformist2]

61. And THAT is what we call "hardball"!!! :)

[onehandle]

67. Harry! nt

[Generic Brad]

68. Sure, he paid taxes

We are talking about income tax though. Romney never states that. He vaguely refers to "taxes" in general. Everyone pays sales tax.

And as for the 15% - I call total bullshit. I will believe it when I see it.

[brightertomorrow]

71. I stand with Reid too

I'll believe it when I see it. If there's nothing to hide just release the taxes. Simple as that!

[freshwest]

75. Oh, yeah!

[rks306]

78. To be Governor he lied

Draft dodger paid taxes, did he pay any INCOME TAX.

[dimbear]

79. Just in case Mittens does give in, everybody be ready to say "You think you can stand up to Putin

when you couldn't stand up to Harry Reid?"

Coming and going, I believe that's called.

[BadSaratoga]

84. Putin would kick Rmoneys Ass

from Palin's back porch all the way to the Kremlin...

[bayareaboy]

85. Don't play poker ...

or your Mama or any other kind of betting game with a guy from Las Vegas. He will take you every time.

[datasuspect]

86. give em hell!

[Beacool]

87. This is one damn depressing election.

Romney's taxes are the most important issue? How about what both parties plan to do to rev up the economy?

I had enough of hearing about inane issues like birth certificates, college records, taxes and dogs on roof. I don't give a crap about any of this white noise.

No wonder USA Today reported that 90M people don't plan to vote this year.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-15/non-voters-obama-romney/57055184/1

[theinquisitivechad]

89. I completely agree with you that it's depressing, however. . .

. . .conservatives are trying to buy the White House and pave the way with negative ads. If we don't fight on the same level, they'll slice our legs right out from under us. Even being outspent on this campaign, we're still keeping up, and I personally believe it's because we're fighting dirty every step of the way. And if it helps us, I'm all for it.

[Politicub]

90. I have a politicrush on Reid

Love that he's not backing down.