In an attempt to help Romney save face over his refusal to release any more tax returns than those from 2011 and 2012, John McCain got all grumpy about it; said Sarah Palin was just a better candidate, goddammit; and then ordered Politico to get offa his lawn.
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[…] [cross-posted at Balloon Juice] […]
BGinCHI
I think his squirrel fell off its wheel.
kerFuFFler
What a gift! The Republicans are making such a mess trying to help Romney.
And we know Romney is in trouble because so many Republican pols are jumping into the fray!
Jennifer
You gotta love that.
Shorter McCain: “My veep candidate who scared the living shit out of voters with half a brain was a better candidate than the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee.”
Thanks, gramps. Thanks a LOT.
Karen
Sarah Palin was more conservative than seriously conservative Mitt Romney. Oh, and she had a vagina.
RedKitten
Yeesh, PALIN was a better potential veep than Romney? And Romney’s now trying to run for Prez? Oh lordy, lordy…the FSM must love us all, to have delivered such riches.
Mike in NC
Gramps McPOW may well be correct.
jurassicpork
Gee, who’d’a thunk Romney would be a defended by a guy who owns 10 homes and married into a $100 million beer fortune? Meanwhile, even Lincoln’s ghost left the White House long enough to become the latest Republican to demand that Romney turn over his returns.
Meanwhile, David fucking Brooks , Wall Street’s reliable lick-jism of the smart set, strikes again and JP strikes back.
Culture of Truth
Are we so sure he’s wrong?
Violet
McCain’s gotta be really angry at Romney. Because of Romney’s tax issues, McCain can’t go on any Sunday shows. If he does go, they’ll only ask him about Romney’s 23 years of tax returns that he got to see during the 2008 VP vetting. So he’s lost his cushy Friend of The Press gig. Tire swing haz a sad.
Mike in NC
@Karen:
The stiff douchebag claimed to be “severely conservative”, whatever that means. Of course, “compassionate conservative” simple meant selfish asshole.
cmorenc
Grandpa McCain would be more helpful if he got publicly grumpy about all the Ni*CLANGS, er Democrats trampling Romney’s lawn. Although that might open up the issue of which lawn at which Romney house he’s complaining about.
red dog
If the Mitt man keeps getting into shit like he is now, the teabaggers will force an open convention and Palin will be the nominee. I bet mama grizzly is really pissed about not being invited and will get the far right to rally around her. Pretty smart not even campaigning.
Violet
@red dog: Sarah Palin has reserved some space near the GOP convention. No one has any idea what for.
Litlebritdifrnt
As someone said on twitter today “McCain: a half wit governor with a knocked up teenage daughter was a better candidate than Romney” You can’t make this shit up.
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: The Dirty claims to have a Bristol Palin sex tape. That oughta help Sarah’s reputation.
Surreal American
Shorter honest McCain: “Why, oh why, oh why didn’t I?”
R-Jud
@Violet: My young cousin attended high school with Bristol for a while, and had to smack her at a house party when she wouldn’t stop trying to kiss him.
We immediately promoted him to head of the family when he told us this.
Roger Moore
@Mike in NC:
FTFY. We have on very good authority that Mitt is not stiff when you unzip him. My guess is it’s a congenital trait, which is why his sons need IVF to provide him with grandkids.
jl
Can we set up an anonymous PAC of some kind to get Sununu, McCain and Perry and who all to out on tour for Mitt?
I don;’t know of that would considered political dirty tricks, but we need to elect a President, for Pete’s sake!
Tonal Crow
Glad to see that the Romney Klown Kar has blown another gasket with a loud BLAM and a gigantic shower of sparks. But I’m still not taking your link bait.
Amir Khalid
Maybe McCain said it on purpose. From what I know, he has no great love for Romney; so it seems as probable as a foot-in-mouth moment.
Villago Delenda Est
@Culture of Truth:
Well, Palin and Rmoney are equally vile. Both are in love with money above all things. Palin quit as Alaska governor because, quite frankly, there wasn’t the money in it, and several orders of magnitude more work, compared to her current grifterpalooza lifestyle.
Tony J
OT – Well, we thought they’d go there, and true to form, there they are.
Time-travel and Black Martians are to blame, I’m sure.
danielx
Sarah Palin was a better candidate.
Ooooh, that’s gotta sting, considering she was a major factor in Grandpa Simpson getting his ass handed to him.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It has been mentioned McCain doesn’t have much use for Mittens.
KG
Of course Palin was a better candidate than Romney, she actually has a personality. Sure, it’s the personality of a mean spirited, nasty, ill tempered, contemptible nitwit… but that’s still better than nothing.
Romney reminds me of a college freshman in a theater class trying to play a role he doesn’t understand, and is just going with cliches because he thinks that makes him sound honest
Yutsano
@Violet: We need to make sure there are lots of guns around. You know, for the children.
Gin & Tonic
Is it not possible that the Romney team is playing rope-a-dope? That there’s nothing particularly terrible in those returns, so he releases them, people go through them with a fine tooth comb and say “meh”. Then Mitt gets to climb on the high horse and say “you were harassing me for weeks for this?! Are there no depths to which you will descend?”
Possible?
NotMax
@Violet
That’s for her “ME! Speech Zone.”
4tehlulz
HAHA National Review just kneecapped Mitt.
ploeg
@Gin & Tonic: If Romney’s playing rope-a-dope, it’s with himself. There’s broad precedent for presidential candidates turning in more than just two years of tax returns, and there’s specific questions that people have about Romney’s finances. Romney can’t credibly say that people are harassing him for no reason.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Gin & Tonic: Hard to see it working. The media loves narrative and Romney runs the risk of a set narrative that no amount of factual information can overturn.
Violet
@Gin & Tonic: At this point if Romney released the returns, even if they had nothing bad in them, people would question his political ability. If they were so innocuous, why didn’t he just release them sooner, even during the primary perhaps. But letting things get this out of hand is poor management on his part, even if they’ve got nothing bad in them.
I don’t think for a minute they’re harmless. If they were, he would have already released them.
Maude
@Gin & Tonic:
Romney is stupid.
jl
@Gin & Tonic: I think very possible. That would be the smart thing to do. Might give Romney’s defense by self righteousness against the bane of Bain some short lived legs.
But, that would be the smart thing to do. For a guy who, in order to appeal to the teabaggers has to brag that he avoids every dime of taxes he can. And who (if reports are correct) bragged that fame money and power really made him happy.
So, not sure what probabilities are that he did the thing that seems smart right now.
I don’t think it would make any long lasting difference, though. The pain of Bain is in the ethical stain, which he cannot escape over the long run.
hueyplong
I think we can agree that rope-a-dope was not Romney’s strategy in the primaries. “Bludgeon” seems to describe it more accurately.
pseudonymous in nc
@Gin & Tonic:
Here’s the thing: Rmoney has talked today about “hundreds or thousands of pages” of returns. Count up how many pages you’ve sent to the IRS over the past decade.
People know what their tax returns look like. Rmoney’s tax returns will not look like the tax return you filed in April; they will not look like the tax returns filed by the Obama and Biden families; they will not look like 99% of the 60 million returns filed each year. They will look like the tax returns of someone with a quarter-billion dollars to his name and whose income is mostly from investments, and not even the kind of investments that most people with investments have. Regardless of whether there’s anything legally questionable, they will open a big fucking window on how the 1%ers make and keep their money.
Geoduck
@Gin & Tonic: Possible, but eh. It’s more likely that he’s simply digging in his heels at this continued badgering from The Help, even if there is nothing terribly explosive to be revealed.
Violet
@4tehlulz: That’s really funny. When the National Review calls for him to release his returns, that means Romney’s in a bit of a bad spot. I just don’t see any way out of this for him except by releasing the returns. Which will open up a whole new can of worms, of course.
feebog
@ Red Dog:
The Romneybot 2.0 nomination was baked into the cake. Those starry eyed Red Staters who slavered over Rick Perry and Herman Cain never had a chance. Of course the fact that the Romneybot 2.0 was up against a moron, a serial sexual harasser, a smug grifter, and a squint eyed prig didn’t hurt.
scav
@Gin & Tonic:
Touching and relevant little quote from real VIPs who understand business like real ™ ‘mercans ™(HSBC ‘sorry’ for aiding Mexican drugs lords, rogue states and terrorists)
Nice company the undisclosed Cayman Millions are keeping.
Martin
@Gin & Tonic:
Show us any evidence that Romney has done anything that clever before. Besides, just the constant reiteration of his income is damaging enough.
Roger Moore
@Gin & Tonic:
No. SATSQ.
Tonal Crow
@pseudonymous in nc: Ya. The page 2 of every single one of those returns will make it into an Obama ad, as will page 2 of a secretary’s return, a hairstylist’s return, a software engineer’s return, and a soldier’s return. They’ll be overlaid with text like:
Valdivia
@Gin & Tonic:
Saw that theory crop up yesterday in Fallows place relating it to Obama’s release of his birth certificate. Key difference in making this comparison: the crazy birthers were asking Obama to release something no other candidate had ever released, also, his proof of birth was already out there, it was just that the crazies never accepted it. Obama always had it but believed, rightly, that it would never satisfy the crazies. It turned into a beautiful move to knee-cap Trump but I think it was the most demeaning thing he had to do because of our stupid media, not actually a brilliant plan.
So here as defense of Romney is the idea that people are asking him something untenable and insulting and he has been refusing not because of anything bad, etc but because he is a master strategist? (if so why oh why didn’t he release all this info in 2008, or 2002 when he was running for President and Governor?) The reason is clear–he is hiding something. This is not a rope-a-dope. It’s his entitlement and his wealth and obscene tax rate.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Tonal Crow:
In 2009 it is more likely to read that Romney paid 0% in taxes because he could write off losses in the 2008 crash. That is what terrifies him. He knows he paid 0 in 2009 and he knows how that is going to look to the average voter.
Maude
@Martin:
In PA, Romney said that he won’t release his tax returns because it would give Obama ammo.
I rest my case.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
To paraphrase from Peter Schickele’s description of P.D.Q. Bach,
Their fecklessness is limited only by their faulty technique.
Baud
WTF?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Litlebritdifrnt: Not to mention all he screaming about how the rich need another tax cut. So 0% is an intolerable, job killing, burden?
Yutsano
@pseudonymous in nc: Even for a large corporation that’s bullshit. The IRS is under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Even claiming every deduction available a return won’t exceed more than 100 pages.
jwb
@Gin & Tonic: He’s not acting like someone who is rope-a-doping and the Obama team and the Dems are acting like they know very well what’s in those tax returns. So none of this feels like rope-a-dope. I think the returns are toxic and Rmoney will pull out of the race rather than reveal what is in them. The push from the GOP side for him to reveal his taxes is playing like a last effort to find someone else for the nomination. The push will almost certainly fail. Then it will be interesting to see what happens. I think we might be entering uncharted political waters.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Dude, Romney isn’t that good. He isn’t releasing the for two unrelated reasons: 1. Fuck you, prole, this is none of your business, and 2. They are toxic.
pragmatism
johnny mac is so aggrieved. this is all revenge. hilarious revenge. take that world for not letting him be prez.
Tonal Crow
Another important angle on the tax returns is this: he showed McCain 20 years’ worth of returns, but refuses to show America more than two. He must think more of John McCain than he does of America.
Omnes Omnibus
@pragmatism: And there is no way he wants some effete cultist to do what he couldn’t do. If no one beats Obama, Obama is unbeatable. If Romney beats Obama, he is better than McCain.
wasabi gasp
Palin shined like a beacon in the night. I would crash into it again.
scav
Besides, at this point, the more legally water-tight they are, the more damaging they might prove to the “We’re being Crushed! by Unfair Taxes Crowd!” Furor over illegal returns? Takes out one candidate. Furor over legal returns? Endangers the status quo.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@pragmatism: Give the gramps a little cred, I am sure there is more than a bit of “so this shit was partying his ass off in France while I was sweating it out in a prison cell and he wants me to be a team player. Ok, let me help him,..”
So much fun
NotMax
The spin cycle is active.
Someone figuratively took McCain to the woodshed.
Redshift
To be fair, if McCain didn’t insist that Palin was the best choice, he’d have to admit he made a mistake. He’d much rather throw out a backhanded insult to his party’s nominee than do that, regardless of the evidence to the contrary.
jl
Just thought that poor old gramps is still dreaming of what Palin was supposed to be, and what she was supposed to do, when she was nominated: a supposedly reasonable moderate conservative GOPper who had done one or two progressive things while gubernating AK.
Look there, look there, gramps.
But Palin just could not maintain, could she? And the demogog grifter came roaring out within weeks of her being on the ticket.
Johnny coulda been a contenda. But a purdy women brung him down.
trollhattan
Yes, if you include the fact he’s eliminated the rope for greater efficiency and profits.
jwb
@trollhattan: Win.
Omnes Omnibus
@Redshift: Really though, watching Romney, are you sure McCain was wrong?
Redshift
@NotMax:
Shorter John McCain: “Mitt Romney is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life. “
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I think he’s talking about instances where Bain was working with some foreign money. They’d set up an offshore corporation where all the investors would pool their money (which they want to do to have unified ownership), and then that offshore entity would be the one that would buy a US company. That way the foreign investors wouldn’t be hit with US taxes when they cashed in, which they would be if they pooled their money in the US before investing it. Of course it has the side benefit of letting US investors keep their money offshore and defer paying their taxes until they repatriate it, which they can arrange to do when taxes are temporarily low.
pragmatism
@Omnes Omnibus: exactly. johnny mac finally had it in sight. and it all blew up. no thanks to that rascally bush admin.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: youtube.com/watch?v=OBJklFNBHAo
jwb
@Omnes Omnibus: This is good news for McCain.
Redshift
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, it’s a tough call. Definitely one of those “would you rather starve or eat poison” choices.
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
Yeah, but how about if you have dozens of complex investments that require you to fill out a bunch of worksheets for each one? Romney is or was a partner in a whole bunch of partnerships that did tons of complex things to minimize their taxes. I’ll bet that adds a lot of paperwork.
pseudonymous in nc
@Yutsano:
The return from 2010 — which doesn’t include Ann Romney’s blind trust — has 203 pages. That includes worksheets, but there’s a lot of supplementin’ going on.
Like I said, this isn’t about Mittens potentially doing anything illegal, tax-wise: it’s what it says about the things that 1%ers can do legally with enough resources to arrange their financial affairs. What’s the rejoinder to that? “Well, my tax policies would let me keep all that money without spending as much on white-shoe accountants?” Only Paultard flat-taxers will lap that up.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Job creation!
He can outsource the photocopying.
Redshift
@Roger Moore: Oh, I hope that’s what he means. It’ll be another round of responding to “parking your money in tax havens isn’t a patriotic presidential thing to do” with “but see, it’s perfectly legal!”
He never seems to grasp that talking about these perfectly legal schemes that the little people could never in a million years take advantage of, he’s just reinforcing his image as an out-of-touch rich guy.
I still find it hard to believe that this guy started running for president before 2004, and it never occurred to him to scrub his finances and tax filings and take a financial hit for a few years in return for being able to make financial disclosures without embarrassing himself.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano:
@Roger Moore: Call it 10 years of returns at 50 pages a return. You got hundreds of pages right there.
pragmatism
@Roger Moore: saw this at sully’s place today (i know, i know) from a tax professor (prolly elitist):
1) We know from the 2010 tax return, in which he had a net capital loss carryforward from 2009, that he zeroed out his net capital gains – including from carried interest Bain income – in 2009.
2) 2009 was the last year in which he received certain Bain payments as the playout of his “retroactive retirement.”
3) It’s been hard to understand what benefit he thought he was getting from the Swiss bank account, and there was an IRS amnesty program in 2009 for fraudulent nondisclosure of offshore income.
If he had to come clean in 2009, this might be embarrassing, especially given that there was an iron fist inside the IRS leniency offer (i.e., if you held out, they might get you without any amnesty). From the first two items above, it may be a reasonable guess that Romney had a lot more gross income in 2009 than 2010 and 2011, yet paid less tax or even zero tax. This might have had to involve, not just zeroing out capital gains via “loss harvesting” in response to the down 2009 stock market. but also creating tax shelter losses to offset ordinary income.
That is a lot o’paper and a lot o’splaining to do
NotMax
All it takes is one year’s return showing he received a refund and the proverbial fat lady can leave the stage.
Roger Moore
@pragmatism:
Oh, that doesn’t sound good. I can see why he doesn’t want to give out anything before 2010.
pragmatism
@Roger Moore: i presumed that he got the satisfaction of having a swiss bank account, like a true baller.
but seriously, it looks like he boxed himself in here.
Joel
@Gin & Tonic: I actually think that’s the case, which is why the focusing on the tax returns is erroneous. It would also explain (to me) why Republicans are the loudest voices clamoring for it.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
I think you mean one year’s return when he paid no net taxes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got refunds regularly because he slightly overpays his estimated taxes. The penalty rates for substantially underpaying are high enough that it’s better to overpay, miss getting interest on the overpayment, and get a refund than to underpay and have to pay a penalty on the underpayment amount.
chopper
@jl:
yeah, i dunno. this is a guy who, trying to rope-a-dope, would probably end up knocking himself out on the post.
chopper
@wasabi gasp:
like a stream of bat’s piss, she shined like a shaft of gold while all else was dark.
Violet
Does anyone know if Romney can clean up his tax returns enough so that it looks like nothing is there?
rikyrah
Country Last just shived Willard.
Rope-a-dope from Willard?
Nope.
I’ll say it again.
What I think is in the tax returns.
1. He not only paid low taxes, some YEARS he paid ZERO taxes.
2. He paid more in tithes to the Mormon Church than TAXES to the country he wants to elect him President.
3. many more accounts in foreign countries
4. shady as hell offshore stuff
5. he’s on that list of Americans who took advantage of the IRS giving them a break on illegal stuff overseas.
Hill Dweller
In order to employ the rope-a-dope, one has to be able to take a punch. Romney’s never shown that capacity.
Hal
As of 2008, had Mitt made his “I governed MA as a very conservative candidate” flip flop? McCain must have figured he needed a few more years to marinate.
GregB
Mitt Romney/Leona Helmsley 2012
Only the little people pay taxes.
slightly_peeved
@Gin & Tonic:
Not with the Republicans on board. And not when everyone else has.
If he tries to get on his high horse, the response is: ‘ glad you got round to doing what everyone else since your father has done.’
Odie Hugh Manatee
So Yawn McCain says that winger airhead Parah Salin was a better veep candidate than Rmoney? If that’s the case then that means that winger airhead Parah Salin would also be a better presidential candidate than Rmoney, right? I would say that ol’ Walnuts is telling the truth.
This is good news for Mitt Rmoney!
pragmatism
@Hill Dweller: he does look a bit like Glass Joe from Punchout and Mike Tyson’s Punchout. Lord knows he couldn’t take a punch. ewww.officialpsds.com/Glass-Joe-Mike-Tyson-Punch-Out-PSD27585.html
jenn
Holy toledo. Off topic, but have you heard that Hillary was pelted with tomatoes and screamed at in Egypt? Evidently, right-wing lies about Huma Abedin (I think that’s her name) and the military aid have been heard in Egypt as the Obama Administration stealing the election FOR the Muslim Brotherhood. On my phone, and can’t link, but saw it on NY Times Lede blog. Fucking seditious right-wing lying hacks.
jenn
Holy toledo. Off topic, but have you heard that Hillary was pelted with tomatoes and screamed at in Egypt? Evidently, right-wing lies about Huma Abedin (I think that’s her name) and the military aid have been heard in Egypt as the Obama Administration stealing the election FOR the Muslim Brotherhood. On my phone, and can’t link, but saw it on NY Times Lede blog. Seditious right-wing lying hacks.
Roger Moore
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Not necessarily. He’s just admitting that his VP choice was more about what he needed for his campaign than about what was going to be good for the country if he got elected. Palin was a better VP choice because she appealed to some demographics where he needed help. That doesn’t mean she’d make a good, or even tolerable, president.
jenn
Whoops, sorry for the double post! FYWP froze, telling me it couldn’t publish, since my post was too short. Ha!
muddy
It’d be funny if he *didn’t* tithe properly, and he is more worried about that getting out than the legal stuff.
Felanius Kootea
@Tony J: Obama is a phenomenal candidate to hear it from the Republicans and Nostradamus had nothing on him. He planned his own birth announcement in a Hawaii newspaper, even though he was born in Kenya, because even when he was a few hours old, he knew he’d be US president one day. He also got the Batman comics to introduce Bane in 1993 because he forsaw that in 2012 he’d be up against the candidate from Bain.
That kind of foresight and careful, strategic planning sounds like someone I should vote for.
Villago Delenda Est
@Redshift:
He imagines he’s an aristocrat, above those sort of vile prole things.
Fuck the little people. They should be happy that I’ve deigned to run for President!
Villago Delenda Est
As for the rope a dope theory, well, I don’t think Rmoney is clever enough to do that. Lord knows the phalanx of yes men he surrounds himself with that constitutes his “campaign staff” were clever enough to suggest it, they’d be unemployed, just like that poor sap who did Rmoney a favor and improved his debate performance and threatened his artificial masculinity in the process, apparently.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@NotMax: “Someone figuratively took McCain to the woodshed.”
Or sent him an anonymous email with pictures of his grandchildren attached. Who knows?
Midnight Marauder
@Gin & Tonic:
This is the most hilarious comment I have ever read on Balloon Juice.
There is literally no way Mitt Romney gamed out a strategy like this.
Can we please just accept that Mittens is one of the most incompetent politicians to ever run for President of the United States?
Litlebritdifrnt
@Midnight Marauder:
I would agree with this, his campaign has been a high point of total incompetence. It is stunning in its stupidity.
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: It’s scary that someone this incompetent is slated to be the nominee for President from one of our two major parties. Scary and shocking. Just how ill prepared to lead are they?
amk
@Midnight Marauder: The worst candidate, evah. In all aspects. It would be a great pleasure to see this coreless fucker crash and burn.
jl
‘member the days of the ‘ol tax round up?
Thems was excitin’ times, yessir.
Wayh Hayll, I ‘member running a hunnert offashore tax shelters through a floodtide a roarin’ regs uppa necka my horse. Didn’t loose a one, nossir.
An’ now look what all its come too.
Keep filin’ filin’ filin’
Feds may be disapprovin’
But keep deductions movin’
Tax time!
Don’t try to understand ‘em
Loophole, stretch, and ram ‘em
Soon we’ll be living high and wide.
My hearts calculatin’
My true love sum is waitin’
Waitin’ at the end of my ride.
Tax time!
Tax time!
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Roger Moore:
Shhhh! Yer spoiling the narrative that hurtz Mittens. Remember, reality is something that the right avoids at all costs.
We must take advantage of that! :)
PurpleGirl
@pseudonymous in nc: Make that the .01%. The super-duper rich. People who couldn’t spend their money in multiple life-times.
Violet
@Roger Moore:
That Palin’s fitness to be president wasn’t of primary importance says a lot about who McCain is. If that’s the argument he’s making, that’s something akin to malpractice, if there were such a thing for politicians.
JPL
Someone needs to ask republicans what is so wrong with thanking the people who helped you. What happened to motherhood, apple pie and the great American way?
Beck did the same thing with volunteer work and now Romney is making it a crime to recognize that you did not get where you are alone.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Felanius Kootea: Also, too, Obama was born in a log cabin he’d built with his own hands.
This Eleven-Dimension Chess stuff is *not* for amateurs.
muddy
@Violet: I guess he was as bad as that as he was at flying planes, he went through about 6 of them.
AA+ Bonds
Of course he doesn’t think he’s helping
Why would he bullshit to help anyone, he’ll soon die
He is just saying, “fuck you”
amk
Dems playing eleventeenth dimensional chess on bush tax cuts?
Senate Democrats — holding firm against extending tax cuts for the rich — are proposing a novel way to circumvent the Republican pledge not to vote for any tax increase: Allow all the tax cuts to expire Jan. 1, then vote on a tax cut for the middle class shortly thereafter.
The proposal illustrates the lengths lawmakers are going to try to include new federal revenues in a fix for the “fiscal cliff,” the reckoning in January that would come when all Bush-era tax cuts expire and automatic spending cuts to military and domestic programs kick in.
Virtually every Republican in Congress has taken the pledge, pushed by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, never to vote for a tax increase — a pledge both parties see as a serious impediment to a tax compromise. But if tax rates snap back to the levels of the Clinton presidency on Jan. 1, any legislation to reinstate some of those tax cuts — but not all of them — would be considered a tax cut.
AA+ Bonds
John McCain is extremely fucking angry all the time and it is maybe the only thing I like about him
bago
I wonder when the pithy rejoinder comes out:
Bain is of the money, by the money, and for the money.
America is of the people, by the people, and for the people.
AA+ Bonds
the Viet Cong were pretty cool
They were for The People
maya
McCain will probably later add that Rmoney has matured a lot in the last 4 years and would now make a very good veep.
Anya
Shorter grandpa Walnuts
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
I’ve contended since 2008 that McPOW’s choice of veep was his first test of fitness for the Presidency, and he failed it in spectacular fashion.
Contrast this crash and burn with his aviator crash and burn record. The Navy was far more understanding.
gelfling545
@Mike in NC: And if that doesn’t scare you nothing will. The idea of a president less able than Palin is the stuff of nightmares.
Roger Moore
@Violet:
He’s not saying it exactly that way, but that’s the subtext. He says that Palin was a better fit for his campaign than Romney was. That’s basically saying he picked her for crass political reasons without saying it in quite so many words.
TaMara (BHF)
This just popped up on my FB page:
Arapio declares ALL Hawaii birth certificates suspect.
There isn’t enough popcorn.
Beauzeaux
@Amir Khalid:
Neither.
McCain seems only able to focus on what’s in front of him at the moment. Only later does he make the connection.
So when he’s asked why Palin, he follows the usual script and says because she was the best candidate. He’s ALWAYS said that. Then he’s asked about Mitt’s tax returns, he has to say that the returns had no connection to taking Palin over Romney.
Very shortly after that, the available synapses fired and he started denying he’d said what he said.
The reason this explanation appeals to me is that even though I am three years younger than McCain, I suffer from the same cognitive deficit. It’s the stereotypical “senior moment.”
Bruce S
“Palin was a better candidate…”
Don’t laugh. He’s got a point.
stratplayer
As I understand it, McCain detests Mitt Romney with the heat of a thousand suns, so this isn’t the least bit surprising to me.
Villago Delenda Est
@TaMara (BHF):
One of Arpaio’s stooges, Mike Zullo, was quoted as saying “It’s time for this charade to stop.”
Physician, heal thyself!
Baud
@TaMara (BHF):
Good thing Obama was born in Kenya.
gelfling545
I think it it really possible that there is nothing particularly awful in his returns but, at the upper income levels. tax returns are often a bow drawn at venture – with a pious hope that the IRS will not look to closely at the stretching of certain laws that don’t maybe fit the situation as precisely as one might like. I imagine he would rather not have these under public review as they might cause the IRS to say “hmmm” as well and possibly cost him some money.
Yutsano
@TaMara (BHF): ORLY?? I suppose mine is now invalid in Maricopa County now??
Anya
Meanwhile, the least self-aware ex-president says: Eight Years Was Awesome, And I Was Famous And I Was Powerful.
H/T – Bob Cesca
burnspbesq
Speaking of things that Romney needs to ‘splain …
If you have a PDF copy of his 2010 Form 1040, take a gander at pages 131 to 134. These are two “section 83(b) elections” with respect to interests in Bain Capital-sponsored investment partnerships that were transferred to the Ann Romney Blind Trust in October 2010.
This is a big deal? Fuck yes, it’s a big deal.
Y’see, Internal Revenue Code Section 83 has to do with the inclusion in gross income of the value of property received in connection with the performance of services. The general rule is that the recipient includes in income, in the year the property vests, an amount equal to the difference between the fair market value at the time it vests and the amount paid for it. The section 83(b) election accelerates the income event to the date of receipt, which is a wise thing to do if the property has little or no current value and the prospect of substantial future appreciation (such as, for example, an interest in a highly leveraged investment).
But wait, there’s more.
In the Sectin 83(b) election, Romney says that he acknowledges that his partnership interest is subject to forfeiture “if I cease performing services for the partnership. (emphasis added)”
One of my favorite movie lines of all time seems appropriate here:
“My, my, my, my, my, what a mess.”
Maude
@jenn:
They were yelling Monica at Hillary and also threw shoes. She supported Mubarak a bit too long after Obama said Mubarak should go.
The other thing isn’t related to this.
Weiner is thinking of getting back into politics. The stuff about his wife is wingnut crazy. Nothing new.
The submit is freezing and says it didn’t submit, the liar.
Baud
@burnspbesq:
Sounds like Romney needs to retroactively unretire?
MattR
@TaMara (BHF): I actually sat through the presentation and I finally realized that Zullo, Arapaio, etc believe that Obama is claiming that the PDF he posted online came directly from the State of Hawaii (rather than it being a scan of the physical document that the State of Hawaii provided Obama)
(EDIT: Perhaps a better way to put it is that they are trying to disprove that the PDF qualifies as a certified birth certificate even though nobody is actually making that claim)
burnspbesq
@Baud:
Hell if I know. We’re at the point now where you would need a small army of paralegals to keep track of all the inconsistencies.
Baud
@burnspbesq:
Romney’s jobs plan.
TaMara (BHF)
@Yutsano: This was the money quote as far as I was concerned:
I mean these people cannot be parodied, can they?
BTW, on topic, thank’s McCain, it’s going to make a great Obama for America ad.
TaMara (BHF)
@MattR: Good grief. Technology, how does it work?
Maybe they’d prefer it handwritten on palm fronds with indigo berry ink.
Anya
@jenn: Here: Behind Jeers for Clinton in Egypt, a Conspiracy Theory With U.S. Roots
pseudonymous in nc
@burnspbesq:
I was actually wondering about that — “elections” for IRS purposes always get my spidey-sense tingling, because they imply a certain amount of wiggling where there’s wiggle-room.
Thanks for filling out the details. There’s been some reporting on that Bain entity, and (why yes!) it’s a partnership operating out of the Cayman Islands.
RSA
@Violet:
Pretty much. Though with the NR editorial you see a microcosm of the Republican party. Almost all the commenters think the NR editors are wrong, that this controversy isn’t hurting Romney, and that Romney should turn the tables by demanding that Obama release his college transcripts (!?) in exchange. It’s the elite against the teabagger base. I wonder which group has more real power in this election?
MattR
@TaMara (BHF): All you really need to know is that their key piece of evidence was a phone call with a 95 year old woman about procedures regarding the handling and processing of birth certificates in 1961. (The woman, Verna Lee, is the one who signed Obama’s BC). However, they never actually met the woman and verified they were actually speaking with Verna Lee. (I don’t actually doubt that is the case, but I am also convinced that if the roles were reversed they would be screaming bloody murder about that fact. And also the fact that they are relying on 50 year old memories from a 95 year old woman.
And it looks like she got at least one fact wrong, or Zullo misreported or misinterpreted what she said. She was quoting some codes that were in effect in 1968, and not the ones in effect in 1961. (The difference between a value of 9 for race meaning ‘other (nonwhite)’ (in 1961) versus ‘unknown or not stated’ (in 1968))
muddy
@TaMara (BHF):The comments section in that Arpaio link is to die for. They also have a poll as to whether this is a waste of time or not. So far 60% think it’s a good idea. Let’s see if we can change that a bit, just for fun.
jwb
@muddy: Do you have a link to the poll?
muddy
@jwb: abc15.com/subindex/about_us/as_seen_on
Jay in Oregon
@NotMax:
I think this hits the nail on the head. Not paying any federal taxes on his millions would be one thing, but I’m willing to bet that he got money back from the IRS at least once.
Obama’s campaign ad says “It makes you wonder if in some years [Romney] paid any taxes at all.” If Romney really had squeaky-clean tax returns, he could turn a lot of people against Obama’s “thuggish Chicago-style politics” by proving him wrong.
Given how much love Obama gets from the mainstream media, I can’t believe that his campaign would make a charge like that unless they were sure they could back it up.
JasonF
“It’s gutter politics,” Senator McCain said, then went back to trying to imply President Obama is corrupt simply because he comes from a city that had a political corruption problem decades ago.
jwb
@muddy: thanks.
burnspbesq
@pseudonymous in nc:
There’s nothing suspect about a Cayman Islands partnership … for running a dive shop on Grand Cayman.
Gin & Tonic
@muddy: Sure is easy to vote multiple times just by clearing the cookie they set. Not that I would encourage anyone to do that sort of thing, of course.
catclub
@gelfling545: “The idea of a president less able than Palin is the stuff of nightmares.”
Well, at least in the judgement of McWars McCain. Low praise indeed.
mdblanche
Wait, this actually happened? When I first heard something about it, I assumed it was a joke. Barney Frank must have lived a better life than he thought!
NotMax
@MattR
Of course it is “computer-generated.” The state digitized all such records some time ago.
catclub
@Felanius Kootea: “That kind of foresight and careful, strategic planning sounds like someone I should vote for”
heck, that kind is from someone I would be very worried about voting against!
catclub
@Yutsano: The Romney 2010 return was 203 pages. And that was AFTER his 10 year termination of employ with Bain ended in 2009.
MattR
@NotMax: They are trying to prove the PDF was not created by a Hawaii state computer so it must’ve been forged by the Whtie House.
Mnemosyne
@MattR:
The PDF almost certainly wasn’t created by a Hawaii state computer. It’s probably a scan that the White House made of the official document from Hawaii that has the county clerk’s seal affixed to it.
No state sends you an official PDF of your birth certificate, because there’s no way to authenticate it.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I think that the stupid fucks who run Redstate are vapor locked and unable to decide what to say and what direction to move in over there. There’s been a dearth of FP stuff saying what a great guy Mitt is with their preferring to focus on downticket teahadists who are running against RINOs and Democrats, along with the usual attacks on Obama and Democrats. They haven’t put up a single front page post since 12:30 this afternoon, which is pretty unusual for that bunch of monkeys with typewriters.
Rmoney is being savaged in the press and even by people who are supposed to be on their side and their silence speaks volumes for the effectiveness of the body slams that Team Obama are delivering day by day. The comments there are pretty much from the hard core foaming at the mouth wingers with many who used to post there remaining silent. I’m beginning to think that the Repubs are preparing to let Rmoney hang out to dry on his own. They have been chewing on their Mitt sandwich, trying to convince everyone else that they like it while the expressions on their faces make it clear that they are lying through their teeth about it.
Let the Swissboating of Rmoney continue to drive enthusiasm into the gutter! :)
Cacti
@Valdivia:
Add to that the fact that R-money has been running for POTUS full-time since 2006, and one can reasonably ask…
So what the hell took ya so long?
Violet
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Swissboating! Love it!
I’ve been saying that this issue is bigger than any of them knew or realized at first. It ties together everything–Romney, rich people, OWS, the GOP schism, unfair tax rates, corporate takeovers, offshoring, etc., etc. Pretty much anything to do with our economy is tied up in this mess.
Romney is the worst candidate for the GOP at this moment in time. I wouldn’t be surprised if some whispers for him to step aside start to be heard. How this plays at the convention remains to be seen.
MattR
@Mnemosyne: Right. And no one but delusional conspiracy theorists think that Obama is trying to pass that scan off as an actual certified birth certificate.
catclub
@Mnemosyne: well, there are ways, but they require sciency things like public-key signing, which may or may not be implemented in the PDF system.
NotMax
jenn @ #92:
Ms. Clinton was not pelted with anything. Her motorcade had tomatoes and shoes tossed at it (several days ago), but not even her car was hit, as it was already around the corner and on another block at the time. Ditto for the demonstrations at the embassy and the palace.
There were actually several separate demonstrations over the days Clinton was there – including one by Coptic Christians (who, not without some cause, are fearful of marginalization or an escalation of active reprisals) and others by Muslim hard-liners, shouting about imagined U.S. ‘support’ of the Muslim Brotherhood being behind their newly-derived position of power and also about U.S. puppet mastery re: the Egyptian military.
As to putting the entirety (or even the bulk) of blame on nutball politicians and voices in the U.S. from this same week (including statements made after the demonstrations had occurred), that, IMHO, gives way to much undeserved credit to both them and their supposed influence.
It is of a piece with the crackdown on and trials involving NGOs during the death throes of the Mubarak era, and the continuance in Egyptian media of painting foreign groups working in Egypt as subversives or enemies during the elections. Also, too, the widespread desire among the public for the military to step back from being the governing council.
Frankly, that the demonstrations were allowed and were allowed essentially unimpeded speaks volumes and is a good sign of the changes underway in the Egyptian political and power structure.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Violet:
I can’t take credit for “Swissboating” as I saw it on MSNBC last night (Rachel’s show, IIRC). What’s great is that “Swiftboating” was based on baldfaced lies about Kerry while “Swissboating” is based in the truth that Rmoney himself has moved some of his cash to Swiss bank accounts. I think it’s a great term and we need to shove it down the throats of the fuckers who gave us Swiftboating.
Let them choke on their Mitt Sandwich with Swiss. :)
NotMax
@Odie Hugh Manatee
The Mitt Sandwich.
Kay
Romney should suspend his campaign and go to DC to fix the fiscal cliff. That went well for John McCain.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kay:
First, he needs to agree to go on Letterman’s show.
Then, he cancels out on Letterman, and has an interview with David Pelle at the same time Letterman is being taped. He tells Letterman, of course, that he has to return to New Hampshire because his campaign is “cratering”.
Letterman then gets three weeks of material. “Should I call you a Bentley to the airport, Mitt?”
Odie Hugh Manatee
@NotMax:
A Mitt Sandwich wouldn’t be a Mitt Sandwich without the gold leaf and ass cheese.
/wretch
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
A rare reply to myself… :)
Moe the Schmoe must read Balloon Juice because after eleven hours he finally put up a FP post at Redstate. The title?
Democrats lack moral courage to deal with John Tierney (D, MA-06)
Yup, they have no fucking idea what to do about Mitt cratering…lol! Right now all they know is that any topic but Mitt is safe for them. Not one comment yet.
I thought I saw a tumbleweed roll by though.
NotMax
@Odie Hugh Manatee
If that set off the gag reflex, perhaps something from the Italian menu would be more apropos.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@NotMax:
How about some Roe v. Romney? That’s a Mitt Sandwich on a plate with a small bowl of caviar next to it. :p
TT
Another tough hit on Mitt on tax returns.. this time from Moveon.org. It is going to start running in Ohio tomorrow. I see what the Obama campaign is doing. Every state Mitt is going to campaign, they are releasing an ad related to tax return for that state. The local news has to cover Mitt visit as well as the ad. The same thing happened in PA today. The tax ad official Obama campaign released today was for PA only. Smart strategy by Team O to keep building the pressure.
Here is the ad..
front.moveon.org/breaking-new-tv-ad-asks-mitt-romneys-not-a-crook-right
NotMax
@Odie Hugh Manatee
Like it.
Especially if it is Iranian caviar.
goethean
One wouldn’t allow a dope-a-rope to take you completely off-message for an entire week. Rmoney could have been slamming Obama on jobs and the economy for days now, but his message has been completely co-opted by Obama attacks for several days. There is something bad in the tax forms.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@NotMax:
Ooooh, expensive and from a favorite winger hated Muslim country… sounds like it’s right up Mitty’s alley!
Update: Moe finally got one response in his front page non-Rmoney post. The tumbleweed has competition! :D
Palli
@rikyrah:
add to this list:
6. Romney pays Hew Hampshire state taxes but votes in Massachusetts
i.e. Republican VOTER FRAUD
see bradblog.com/?p=9397#more-9397
bago
@Mnemosyne: You HAVE heard of public/private key cryptography/signing and certificate chains, no?
karen marie
@Palli:
At this rate I won’t be surprised if after his nomination but before the election Romney just ups and walks away from the whole thing.
I must say, it couldn’t happen to a more deserving fellow.