Mitt Romney To Harry Reid On Tax Dodge: 'Put Up Or Shut Up'

[Galraedia]

Source: Huffington Post

For the first time on Thursday, Mitt Romney addressed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim that Romney spent a decade not paying taxes, denying the charge and telling Fox News' Sean Hannity that it was time for the majority leader reveal the source of his information.

"Well, it's time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry's going to have to describe who it is he spoke with because of course, that's totally and completely wrong," Romney told Hannity in a radio interview. "It's untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It's wrong. So I'm looking forward to have Harry reveal his sources and we'll probably find out it's the White House. Look, the Obama campaign is going to do everything in its power to try and talk about anything besides the president's record. Home prices, median American incomes, gasoline prices, 23 million underemployed or unemployed.

"They don't want to talk about that or his promises, cutting the deficit in half, cutting the medical insurance rates that people pay," Romney added. "These are all the things he promised. He can't talk about that, so they try and put this kind of baloney out there, and the people could smell it for what it is, and it's not a pretty smell."

Democrats were quick to wonder why Romney would even engage Reid on the matter, adding another chapter to this bizarre squabble. But that's not particularly fair to the presumptive Republican nominee, who was asked a direct question about the Reid's insistence that an anonymous investor in Bain Capital told him about Romney's zero tax bill.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/mitt-romney-harry-reid-taxes_n_1735197.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[JI7]

1. nice, it still comes back to why the fuck wont Romney release his returns

he says Dems will attack. well, Dems are already attacking.

he might as well not run for office because Dems will attack. what kind of a shit excuse is that.

[mac56]

2. Desperation.

The deepest cut elicits the loudest cry.

[bulloney]

3. Back at you, Mitt.

SHOW ME THE TAX RETURNS!

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Yeah Mitt. Harry should reveal his sources but YOU keep your TAX RETURNS SECRET

Beyond hypocrisy.

I'm ashamed of you, Mitt. You're the sorriest excuse for a presidential
candidate this country has ever seen. Release your taxes, if you've got
something to hide explain it, not the other way around.

We had enough Rule by Secrecy with the Bushies.

[wordpix]

19. +10000, keep repeating the lies and your t-bag friends will believe it

[smirkymonkey]

42. He's such a f***ing coward. No Mitt, YOU put up or shut up.

I have never seen such a bigger sense of entitlement, not even with W and that's saying something.

[backscatter712]

5. Mitt, if you show us your tax returns, you could make this all go away!

Unless you have something to hide...

[BeyondGeography]

6. That's a clown statement, bro.

[DaDeacon]

12. LOL...Was sports...Now in politics

[BeyondGeography]

23. Leader Reid has been on fire

[russspeakeasy]

7. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHA

[tk2kewl]

24. right ther with ya broher...

[relayerbob]

8. Simple way to deal with it

Release the returns

[progressivebydesign]

9. Prove it Mitt!! Where are your returns???? n/t

[Jessy169]

10. The big bully is highly offended

Here he goes again, demanding another apology. Didn't he get reamed last time he demanded an apology? Does Romney never learn from his mistakes? Fact: Romney is looking weaker and weaker all the time.

[jberryhill]

16. Wtf is it with this guy and apologies?

[Faygo Kid]

11. What a maroon. Must be the stress from the dressage event.

Is Romney nuts, or what? This will put fierce pressure on him to release his returns.

He's nuts. Hannity and Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post are so in the tank for him that they don't realize what they have done.

[alp227]

29. In fact, AP reports this interview was on Hannity radio show.

[part man all 86]

13. Dana Bash on CNN just confirmed Harry Reid source.

CNN's Dana Bash: Her source can confirm Reid's Romney tax allegation (Update)

Tonight on CNN AC360, Anderson Copper opened his 'keeping them honest' segment with Sen. Harry Reid's recent tax allegation about Mitt Romney.

Cooper had CNN Capitol Hill reporter, Dana Bash on to discuss the story, according to Bash, her source can confirm Sen. Reid's allegation. Bash went even further, she said this source also personally knows the Bain source who would have access to Romney's tax record. If this Bain source story is true, then, Mitt Romney is in serious trouble. I'll have more later.

Update @Dana Bash tweets

"When Harry Reid doesn't like someone, he goes for the jugular." - @DanaBashCNN #Romney

JUST IN: @DanaBashCNN receives a new statement from @SenatorReid's office, saying Senator #Reid has a "credible source." #Romney

Daily Kos by rem123

[wordpix]

20. no doubt Reid has a credible source or he wouldn't put it out there

Besides, maybe he's done some networking with the IRS

[NYC Liberal]

14. "Put Up Or Shut Up" ... irony meters across the country are exploding right now.

[wordpix]

22. I know, Mittie once again steps in it ---YOU put up your tax records, Mitt

or hang up the presidency idea.

Repukes nationwide are wondering why he doesn't release the records, and they'll be wondering right to Convention Day. Maybe they'll dump Mitt in favor of one of their saviors, like Chris Crisco.

[TheDebbieDee]

15. Breaking News, people.............

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021064752

[DallasNE]

32. CNN Has Gone Wobbly On This

Dana Bash's tweets, etc., have been pulled. My guess is that CNN wants more proof given the pushback coming from the Romney people. It's hardball politics time folks. Enjoy the ride.

[liberal N proud]

17. The who needs to put is Romney

Show us that you do have tax returns.

[cstanleytech]

18. Wouldnt it be better if Mitt released his returns instead? It clears up this and other questions

so I am confused as to why he just doesnt release them unless he either has something to hide or he is going to try to do a Dan Rather.

[Thrill]

21. Burden of Proof is not on Reid. Dumbass

[themaguffin]

25. Willard saying that Reid is lying is not = to you saying that you've paid taxes every year.

[Kalidurga]

26. Put up or shut up....Mitt you Twit...

Reid can't prove or disprove what Mitt Romney paid in taxes. Only Mitt Romney can do that. Unless someone has else has access to those returns and becomes ok with leaking them.

[DFW]

27. This could be resolved in five minutes

Release your tax returns, Mittwit!

[sofa king]

28. Hey! stop making fun of him!

This was a very carefully chosen distraction on Romney's part. He took a lot of care to craft this untruth as thoroughly as he could, and we should consider it to be Romney's lie of record until the facts require that he tell a new lie.

Other responses the Romney people considered before settling on this most effective deception:

"I'm not in a position to either confirm or deny such allegations."

"I think the President may be black, but I don't see anyone asking about that."

"Name one thing the British, the Israelis, and the Poles can agree on. I can't think of any."

"Let's talk about my wife's horse instead."

"No, YOU'RE the tax dodger!"

"At least I'm not a Mormon."

"Fuck you!"

[UpInArms]

30. methinks that Rmoney doth protest too much

...

mayhaps he needs to show his tax returns

[DallasNE]

31. It Has Hit The Fan

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/02/romney-to-reid-put-up-or-shut-up/

Dana Bash of CNN is also reporting that she has a source that knows the source Reid is using and her source confirms what Reid claims.

What we don't need is a Dan Rather type story that has flawed documents that tainted the entire story. This will be a hot topic of Sunday talk and who knows how much more we will know by then. Obviously Reid knew that Romney would be in full attack mode when he went with his blockbuster story and that he would need to produce more goods. What Reid needs to do is to trickle out one new piece of evidence at a time to keep the story in the spotlight. If the evidence is solid then it forces Romney's hand. Now Romney could announce his VP pick but that would be a two-day story at best with the tax situation hanging over his head. Regardless, it has hit the fan and somebody is going to be a big loser coming out of this. I want it to be Romney but it is far from a sure thing.

The killer for Romney would be if he had a year where he "paid" negative federal income taxes. That could happen if he had tax credits that exceeded his tax liability for that year.

[JenniferJuniper]

35. Could it be a political source then? McCain's camp? n/t

[Kurovski]

33. I honestly didn't think Mittsy was that stupid.

Maybe he's just at the end of the tether.

[rocktivity]

34. As a Mormon, does Reid outrank Romney?

In which case, is "put up or shut up" the smartest thing for Mitt to tell him?

What if Reid has the authority to have access to records of how much Romney has given to the church -- which is supposed to ten per cent of what he has?


rocktivity

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

36. Bugs Bunny can express my thoughts about Romney perfectly

[tclambert]

37. Wow. His tax returns must include something even worse than paying nothing.

Otherwise, since he says they would prove Reid wrong, he'd just release them.

[JesterCS]

38. Oh this is delicious....

"Look, the Obama campaign is going to do everything in its power to try and talk about anything besides the president's record."

this sounds like " but he's doing it too!! "

[Amonester]

41. Classy, isn't it?

Schoolyard-bully 'classy' response, isn't it?

How old is Mitt the Twit?

[smirkymonkey]

43. He's 12.