Even Bill Kristol thinks that Mitt Romney should release more tax returns, and that not doing so is crazy:
Bill Kristol and the Obama campaign agree on something: Mitt Romney should immediately release his tax returns.
“He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy,” Kristol said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two.”
Good god, man! When the Merchant of Death says you’re acting crazy then you need to do some serious soul-searching.
Then again, maybe Mittens has already done the calculus, and decided that the backlash over releasing tax returns for two years and then stonewalling is preferable to the shit that will rain down if he releases more tax returns. Which leads me to —
jwb
Clearly, if Bill Kristol thinks Romney should release his tax returns, then they are so toxic that he dare not. Really, the only thing that you can absolutely, positively take to the bank in politics is that Bill Kristol is always wrong.
rlrr
Considering that Bill Kristol is always wrong…
zzyzx
I listened to Rush for a few seconds today and it was all Bill Ayers, Obama’s father, Reverend Wright…
Remember everything vaguely related to Obama is his fault but nothing at all could ever be Romney’s fault.
Jeff Spender
Dead babies. To answer your question.
BGinCHI
Until Romney is allowed to release the Kraken, he is not going to release any stupid tax returns.
That’s just how he rolls.
/cue Hall & Oates, “Maneater”
Litlebritdifrnt
I saw a comment from someone yesterday basically saying “there must be a live boy and a dead girl in those tax returns”.
shortstop
Never been any doubt that this is the case. Kristol’s estimate of “a day or two” of taking the hit is wildly wrong. Romney cannot release the returns because to do so will make the criticism he’s getting for not doing so look like gushing praise.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
John McCain on the 2002 Winter Olympics
rlrr
@jwb:
If Bill Kristol says the sun rises in the east, expect the universe to rearrange itself so the sun rises in the west.
Mike Goetz
My guess: Mitt is insanely wealthy, beyond the $250 mill he has admitted to. Tax sheltered as all hell, so he probably paid less than 20% tax rate. Huge donations to LDS church. Owns stock in several embarrassing entities, including potential conflicts with past governing decisions.
For starters.
shortstop
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Old Man McCain is going to be very, very mad that you’re quoting him directly like that. This time the vein is going to pop all the way through his forehead and hit the opposite wall.
wrb
It could have to do with how they made a new profit center with those fetuses.
Or cruelty to horses.
Or something that combined the two.
Just speculatin’
Violations of kosher too, I ‘spect.
reflectionephemeral
Yeah, I think BGinCHI might have it here– Mitt Romney might not want to release the tax returns because Mitt Romney doesn’t want to release the tax returns. There might not be any calculation at all involved beyond, “I’m Mitt Romney, nobody tells me what to do.” Who knows.
shortstop
@Mike Goetz: Oh, hell, yes. Add short-selling Enron, AIG, the auto industry…what else? Everyone discuss.
rlrr
@wrb:
Romney invested in a company that manufactured horse doping agents from aborted fetuses.
Calouste
There’s nothing in Romney’s tax returns.
Well, nothing in the box marked “Taxes due” anyway.
BGinCHI
@reflectionephemeral: Charles Pierce agrees, so that’s good enough for me.
Romney is doing us all a favor by agreeing to rule over us and gosh darn it why are we making it so hard to get what’s good for us?
shortstop
@reflectionephemeral: That would make sense if we didn’t already have plenty of examples of his legal-but-politically-lethal financial shenanigans. Think there’s much more at play here than his arrogant lack of self-awareness.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Ouch. Our Willard saying “we asked for $700 million in help” (“free stuff”, Willard?) paired with Grampa McCranky calling it “pork barrel spending” is total MSM bait.
shortstop
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Total taxpayer bill: $2.7 billion. I wonder what it would have cost if a known business and management expert hadn’t been running it?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike Goetz: If the IRA is worth 100 million, and they’ve laundered another 100 million into the Mittlets’ trust fund, I’ve been thinking there’s probably a lot more there than has met the eye.
r€nato
either Mitt is running the most amateur campaign ever, or there is some really damaging shit in those returns because they seem to think they can stonewall it throughout the campaign.
That. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.
I imagine Team Obama is biding its time, waiting until September to turn up the heat and hoping Romney doesn’t get a clue in the meantime. An October release of the tax returns should be just about the perfect timing to fuck Mitt’s shit up royally.
the Conster
@Mike Goetz:
Bingo – or he paid no taxes because of the Swiss bank accounts, plus aborted babies plus Planned Parenthood donations plus probably not nearly enough large donations to his church given he was probably cheating them as bad as the government plus residency questions about state tax returns in the 1999-2002 gap. He’ll never release them, never, if he has a prayer of surviving but how he changes the conversation away from his returns is the only question he needs to find an answer to. Guessing at how bad the things in there are is probably worse than what’s actually in there. The other thing too, is people who don’t like him have seen them, so he’s got to worry about the drip drip of that – my guess is that the O Team probably already knows.
Brachiator
It would be even crazier if the returns are fairly boring and Romney is just being all aristocratic and elitist.
I can’t imagine Romney continuing to hold out on this. I can see the easy question, “Mr Romney, are you requiring VP candidates to let your staff see their tax returns? If you were elected president, would you let high level nominees refuse to release their tax returns? What other information do you believe that a president can withhold from Congress and the citizens?”
But then again, even if he recovers from this, I am so enjoying Romney being politically dumb.
ETA: I would just love it if, as some speculate, his returns shows donations to Planned Parenthood.
wrb
On a serious note:
The FEC and SEC filings show that he is someone who has made false, felonious filings.
When you see someone snorting coke you don’t think “well I saw that dude snorting, but most likely it is the only time in his life he snorted.”
No, you think, “that is a guy who snorts coke. That is something he does.”
Mitt is someone who makes false and felonious filings, and has come to think he can get away with it, most likely.
There are felonies in those returns, mark my words.
shortstop
@r€nato: Well, I suppose it could happen. In a long string of entitled candidates, he’s definitely the most entitledisty. It would be highly entertaining to watch him flat-out refuse through the election–first candidate ever to do that? Either way, he loses.
r€nato
@zzyzx:
so, basically, a rehash of 2008 talking points which didn’t work then, either?
If that’s all they got… Obama’s race to lose.
wrb
@rlrr:
I was thinking more about lines of lunch meats.
bemused
In the movie Game Change, I was a bit startled that vetting Palin just consisted of how great she was at firing up the base. They were not at all prepared for nor even seemed to spare a thought for what could happen when she went off script and how truly unknowledgeable she was on any given issue, history or countries.
I just hope there will be a similar movie with the real, inside story about Mitt’s campaign down the road. Mitt and his campaign look so pathetic from the outside, I can’t imagine how bad it is on the inside.
Thoughtcrime
I think it’s this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/business/global/20ubs.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Names Deal Cracks Swiss Bank Secrecy
By LYNNLEY BROWNING
Published: August 19, 2009
In the latest setback to Switzerland’s tradition of banking secrecy, UBS, one of the nation’s largest banks, agreed on Wednesday to turn over information on more than 4,400 American clients suspected by the Internal Revenue Service of using Swiss accounts for tax evasion.
The agreement is likely to unnerve American customers of UBS who do not know if their names will be divulged, and could deter others from opening Swiss accounts in the future…
Keith
I’m going with the theory that the tax returns show mitt has been shorting the LDS on its tithe.
shortstop
@bemused: The third baseman and I were talking about this the other night. The trend now is not to fall on your sword for your losing candidate the way people did in the olden days–witness deluxe schmuck Steve Schmidt, who is doing very well at profiting from his own atrocious work after submitting to a minor “Oh, I was blind, but now I see the light; put me on MSNBC” moment. When Romney goes down, at least some of the people working for him (and putting up with his ignorant control freaking and refusal to take counsel) are not going to want to see their political consulting careers end. There will be tell-all books. And they will be tasty.
ChrisNYC
Politically, I think he has to keep the stonewall up at this point. If he were to release them now, wow, what a cave! Forced to backtrack. By the Obama campaign’s relentlessness. And the frenzy! And the follow up questions. Requests that he make his financial people available to the press to explain the returns, etc. Remember with Obama and the birth certificate? When I heard that the WH was releasing it it made me sad and regretful that he gave in. But of course the way the WH and Obama handled it made it not a capitulation. But Romney doesn’t have that skill obvs.
It’s a winner for the O campaign either way. They got Mitt in a perfect box. The more hazy Mitt is, the more the O campaign can make him into the GOP’s nightmare candidate. Public losses, private gains. Only 15% taxation. Etc etc etc. Politics and policy arguments can be pushed in the frame of Mitt.
bemused
@shortstop:
I will definitely be looking forward to that. Mitt and his campaign are so over the top nutty that I don’t doubt many on the inside are already compiling all the juicy bits for their books.
I really shouldn’t be surprised that Schmidt who failed Palin’s vetting has gotten tv gigs. Failing up is the norm in media and politics. I haven’t paid much attention but has Schmidt been very forthcoming about Mitt’s 23 years of tax returns? He must have some knowledge.
Jay C
Well, I’m going to do like I do on a lot things, and agree with Mr. Charles Pierce on this one: there probably isn’t really much of anything hinky in Romney’s tax returns (and that Mitt is probably hanging tough on non-release out of sheer arrogant entitlement) – outside of the expected information, of course: that Mitt Romney is super-, super-rich, and has a lot of tax shelters and stuff to keep as much of that super-, super-richness as he can. Big whoop: nothing much we didn’t already know or suspect.
But the Obama campaign seems to really working (and quite cleverly, I think) the meta-narrative here: Mitt’s been diligently trying to present himself as the Great Business Genius And Savior Of The Economy From The Evil Of Soshulist Stagnation: anything that keeps the public focused on the fact that Romney basically is the candidate of the .01%; and an above-it-all Clueless Rich Guy besides is a useful tool.
And the Romney campaign’s fumblesome responses haven’t helped: if our national media weren’t already in the tank for the Republicans (can one imagine the “disarray” press this crap would get if Romney were a Democrat?) his candidacy would already be halfway to ignominious dismissal.
shortstop
@bemused: Well, the thing about Schmidt is that he thinks Palin was his only mistake. He’s still a Republican and he protects the party uber alles. Once in a while he’ll mildly criticize the GOP’s position on marriage equality or note that the Republican caucus could be a little less obstructionist, but that’s about it. And when he says those things, he always does so with the detached perspective of an outsider observing the behavior of animals in a zoo.
He has not been converted. So, no, he won’t be commenting on those returns.
NCSteve
Here are the possibilities, which are not mutually exclusive, as I see them.
a) Nothing worse than what we’ve seen. Mitt figured there’d be a boring period when he could do a Friday dump but Obama stole a march on him. Now, if he dumps them, whatever’s in them will be seen as far worse than it would have been if he’d done it voluntarily on some torpid summer weekend.
b) Nothing worse than what we’ve seen, but W. Millard Ronmore will not have riff-raff rifling through his personal business as if they were even capable of understanding it.
c) Evidence of some non-Bain investment (because it’s not like we don’t know about all the Bain ones) or some charitable contribution, like to Planned Parenthood, that will enrage the base.
d) Evidence of some non-Bain investment, or some tax sheltering conduct, that will stink in the nostrils of the American people.
e) Evidence that he took what tax people euphemistically refer to as “extremely aggressive tax positions.” That is, shelters or interpretations of the regs that at least had enough chance of being legal that some tax lawyer would cover Mitt’s butt from criminal penalties by signing off on them, but which third party experts who scrutinize them for the teevee people would say seemed illegal, or at least dodgy.
f) Evidence that he took aggressive positions or shelters that the IRS disallowed.
Everything I’ve seen from Millard makes me think “f)” is the most likely. If Romney is credibly labelled, and widely perceived, as a “millionaire tax cheat,” that’s the end of his campaign. It’s the only thing I can think of that would be worth taking the heat he’s taking rather than just going for the “exhaust the story” strategy.
ABL
@Jeff Spender: Hahahahaha
ABL
@Jeff Spender: I was sort of hoping for killer robots.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@shortstop: I let out a Tweety-esque “HAH!” at the beginning of that movie when the Schmidt character tells McCain that he owed it to the country to stay in the race (the movie opens when McCain was broke and last in the polls, or close) because McCain was the only candidate who supported The Surge! He owed it to the country to bring that kind of judgment and foresight to the White House. I knew right then that we were dealing with a particular and peculiar worldview.
shortstop
@NCSteve: I’m going with D but hoping for E and F.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and… I just watched a clip of Our Willard talking about John Kerry’s wife. Didn’t we all just collectively swoon and rend our garments in grief because a third-tier Dem operative who worked for Obama’s opponent in the primary mentioned The Lady Anne?
Lee
One idea is that Bill Kristol knows the returns will sink Romney.
So Bill wants them released prior to the convention so that someone else can be the nominee.
Or it is that Bill Kristol is always wrong.
elmo
I’m calling it now. I believe that it’s possible Mitt Romney shorted American Airlines on September 10, 2001. And the tax returns prove it.
rumpole
@jwb: This.
wrb
Wolcott is on today:
Montanareddog
My guesses:
he took the IRS amnesty on secret overseas bank accounts
he was claiming tax residence in Utah while Governor of MA
he has been stiffing the LDS on his tithes
he has made charitable donations that are anathema to the base
just plain old panic and political incompetence
danielx
@jwb:
Yep. I wonder if I’ve lived a good enough life to see Mittens take political advice from Bill Kristol, but it could happen.
Please please please with sugar on top…
J.D. Rhoades
@wrb:
I’m hearing echoes of Chris Matthews’ “thrill going up my leg”.
The Other Chuck
This shit needs to be not optional. The moment you file with the FEC, your tax returns become public information. That’s how it should go.
catclub
@Montanareddog: Plus 1999-2002 income from Bain far beyond $100k/yr.
Also _personal_ investments in Steri-cycle.
But it is all good.
Robin G.
I think the returns must be terrible, but at the same time I think a lot of the stonewalling just comes from Romney’s mentality. How dare the Little People demand something of him.
catclub
@Montanareddog: “he was claiming tax residence in Utah while Governor of MA”
Not possible unless both his lawyer and accountant have a fiscal death wish.
Now, NH residence while voting in MA, 2008 – that may be possible. His 2010 1040 lists Mass as residence.
No state tax forms released, of course. Or homestead exemption forms filed.
staci
@Mike Goetz: I think the LDS donations for sure. I read something late last year that said he gave over $6 million in his 2010 taxes. I’m sure he doesn’t want the Christian right to see that number in relation to Mormonism.
mottaaf
I am calling this one:
Republican talking heads start the calls for this taxes and the story line about what might be in them, planting the seeds for Democratic talking heads to pick it up and pushing it to a fever pitch.
It gets to a fever pitch: “If Romney won’t release his returns, he must have been selling aborted fetuses for atheists to snort like cocaine” or something else ludicrous.
Romney releases the returns right before the DNC messing up Obama’s desired storyline.
There are some questionable practices in them, but nothing particularly devastating.
Republican taking heads and the Very Serious People in the media say look at how wrong Obama was, and declare Romney’s wealth and Bain’s business practices off limits and refuse to cover it for the fall campaign.
Patricia Kayden
@Litlebritdifrnt: Ha!! Black boy and White girl.
RSA
.@bemused:
I’m wondering about this, too. Romney’s had literally years to think about the tax return issue, and the best he can come up with is a transparent lie about John Kerry only releasing two years of returns, and then Teresa Kerry not releasing hers? Romney could replace all of his handlers with one smart high school student, and it would be an improvement.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@mottaaf: I don’t think you understand how the media works. By that point the truth would beside the point, a narrative has been established and the media loves it’s narrative above all. Mittens can’t wait that long.
Steve
@mottaaf: I like this theory. “Here’s the plan: spend months looking like you’re hiding something, and then when it turns out you aren’t actually hiding anything… ??? … PROFIT!”
Calouste
@Steve:
Nah, Romney is hiding something. Team Obama knows what Romney is hiding, but they might not know it “officially”. But they know exactly how to manipulate Romney in a way that he can’t counter without having to show their hand. And Romney can’t call their bluff.
Stuck In 60s
What Mitt Romney Has In Common With Osama Bin Laden
1) They both like horses, but hate dogs.
2) They both belong to religions which allow multiple wives.
3) They both have ideologies which will end up in the dustbin of history.
4) They both received apologies from Barack Obama. (Mitt’s campaign will soon be buried at sea — Lake Winnipesaukee.)