Mr. Romney, have you heard of this thing called "irony"?

Made a few changes to that.....

I know this isn't really dealing with your position, which I agree with and have wondered about myself.

I find it somewhat interesting that a guy who made his money AFTER he went into politics is raising these types of questions about a guy who made his money before he got into politics.

Kind of like when Reid was so outraged that the US Olympic uniforms were made in
China while it was Reid who was passing legislation making it cost prohibitive for the textile industry to continue in the USA.

Also like Reid crying about the rich not paying enough taxes when he's been in the Senate and responsible for the majority of the tax legislation and all 70,000 pages of loopholes, inequities and major confusion.

If Romney hasn't paid a dime in income taxes and avoided them by legal means, I think it's Senator Reid that has more to answer for than a smart business man taking advantages of the rules Reid put in place.

NY Times has an article today about the Harry Reid-Romney controversy. While I think that Reid is probably trying to stir up trouble, I was struck by Romney's comment:

“Harry Reid really has to put up or shut up,” Mr. Romney said as he campaigned in Mr. Reid’s home state, north of Las Vegas. “I have paid taxes every year, and a lot of taxes, a lot of taxes. So Harry is simply wrong, and that’s why I’m so anxious for him to give us the names of the people who have put this forward.”

Ummm - isn't refusing to give up information the reason Romney is vulnerable on this front? Isn't asking him to release "the names of people" the same as being asked to release more tax forms?

Heck, even if he didn't pay taxes for a decade, a smart person could still use that to help his campaign - "I know the tax code is unfair. That's why I want to be president, so I can make the taxes fair for everybody". He could make the case that the middle class pays not only for services it gets, not only supports the services used by the economic underclass, but also ends up paying for tax advantages to the wealthy. He could spin that into discussion of how he wants to cut the budget overall, thus taking the democratic message of economic inequality (which there is increasing evidence is worse here than in other western nations now) and turn the message from raise taxes on the rich to lower taxes on the middle class.

Um... guilty until proven innocent?  Right to face accusers?

It is the requirement of the party that claims legal wrongdoing to bring forth the people who claim to have knowledge of the wrongdoing.

Romeny has compiled with the requirements to run for president.  If he chooses to NOT release more tax returns that is his right.  It is your right to hold this against him but he's doing nothing illegal until it's proven by Reid and his bunch.

I'm glad Romney took this stand.  Put up or shut up needs to be said a bit more often in politics.

I'm still waiting for a candidate to let the F-bomb fly during a debate.

Precisely.  

I have heard from several people within the Gearboy camp that Gearboy has not actually completed a triathlon.  I ask, is this someone we want representing us all on BT?

Um... guilty until proven innocent?  Right to face accusers?

It is the requirement of the party that claims legal wrongdoing to bring forth the people who claim to have knowledge of the wrongdoing.

Romeny has compiled with the requirements to run for president.  If he chooses to NOT release more tax returns that is his right.  It is your right to hold this against him but he's doing nothing illegal until it's proven by Reid and his bunch.

I'm glad Romney took this stand.  Put up or shut up needs to be said a bit more often in politics.

I'm still waiting for a candidate to let the F-bomb fly during a debate.

I refuse to release records of my participation in triathlons on privacy grounds, and insist that you tell us who your sources are...

Should it apply to the person who is asking for something he is not entitled to have or see?

I think the person making the allegation has the burden of proof.

Let's look at another example, I say you cheated in your last tri and I know who has the proof and demand you provide evidence that you didn't cheat. Who should put up or shut up in this example.

Let me ask you another question Tony, lets pretend that Romney was able to get his tax liability to 0 percent and doing so legally based on our current tax code. Should we be upset with him or the people in congress and the senate who put those rules into place?

I know this isn't really dealing with your position, which I agree with and have wondered about myself.

I find it somewhat interesting that a guy who made his money AFTER he went into politics is raising these types of questions about a guy who made his money before he got into politics.

Kind of like when Reid was so outraged that the US Olympic uniforms were made in
China while it was Reid who was passing legislation making it cost prohibitive for the textile industry to continue in the USA.

Also like Reid crying about the rich not paying enough taxes when he's been in the Senate and responsible for the majority of the tax legislation and all 70,000 pages of loopholes, inequities and major confusion.

If Romney hasn't paid a dime in income taxes and avoided them by legal means, I think it's Senator Reid that has more to answer for than a smart business man taking advantages of the rules Reid put in place.

I think it's the old "when did you start beating your wife question".  They're just trying to throw out something (anything) to put Romney on defense and if he provides the tax returns they'll attack him on whats in them or if he doesn't provide the returns they'll say he's trying to hide something.  It's slimy politics as usual.

It's no different than the Repubs trying to get Obama to release:

fast and furious docs
college applications
college transcripts
passport used to travel to pakistan
birth certificate

So when Obama doesn't release any of the said doc's he's "obviously" trying to hide something and really was born somewhere else, or falsely applied as a foreign citizen to get accepted and scholarships, etc...  

It's smear politics as usual to tear the other guy down.

So, I don't have a problem with them asking the dumb questions to lead people down the conspiracy theory road.  Honestly I think conspiracy theories are down right entertaining in an otherwise boring race