Apparently, it's what a Bain investor told Reid regarding Romney's reluctance to release tax returns. True or not? We won't know unless Mittens releases his tax returns, which he won't. People that built massive wealth on investments often are/were invested in embarassing things they may or may not have known about. Like your wife having millions in a fund that was invested in underage sex trafficing, and not knowing it. It's one of the burdens of the wealty investment class. You're invested in so many thing, you can't keep track of them all. It all just blurs into "money making money", and thus practically impossible to sweat the details. But it's the details that will fodder election politics, hence Mitt ain't releasin' nuttin.

You would have to think dajafi is spot on regarding "low rate" vs. "actually did not pay". Frankly, I think he is much better off just disclosing the returns and dealing with the fallout. The longer the returns are hidden, the longer the speculation goes on. So long as the campaign refuses to release more than they have people will wonder what Mitt is hiding. I mean, the only reason to not release the returns is because there is something there you do not want people to know, correct?

We already know Mitt is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and that he gets a ton of income from investments. If his LEGAL tax rate is 0% to 5% (or whatever), so be it. Any of us would take that tax rate if we could. What is the big secret? Does he have a massive amount of wealth parked offshore? Are there questionable deductions? These are the types of things people will wonder (and the Dems will keep hammering) until he releases the returns. Now what would really be interesting to see are Mitt's tax returns from when he was still at Bain. What kind of shananigans would we find on those babies?

I think the (to use a technical term) fucked up-ness of the tax code isn't as widely appreciated as it probably should be. You won't find a purer expression of how much policy can be skewed by those with access to further favor those who are already in the winner's circle.

The campaign probably believes that Mitt's returns will sit worst with exactly the sort of voters who are motivated largely by resentment: white working folks in the squeezed middle class who don't love or even necessarily agree with large chunks of the Republican policy agenda, but really hate Obama and buy the whole Paul Ryan argument about a nation of parasites.

It seems plausible to think they'd be upset to find out that a guy worth a quarter of a billion dollars is paying an effective tax rate less than half of what they're paying.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:Apparently, it's what a Bain investor told Reid regarding Romney's reluctance to release tax returns. True or not? We won't know unless Mittens releases his tax returns, which he won't.

We know it's not true because we are humans blessed with the capacity to think and use common sense.*

Why would a random, unnamed Bain investor be privy to Romney's personal tax returns? How, exactly, would Romney go a decade without paying taxes? On what evidence is Reid asserting Romney has more money than he has declared on his disclosure forms?

If the Senate Majority Leader is comfortable making an ass out of himself floating implausible rumors to keep the story alive and the media doesn't kill him for it, then he should keep it up because dajafi is right that it's a win/win for the Obama campaign. It'd be nice if the media called him out for being an irresponsible piece of shit though.

*With the possible exception of Monkeyboy

jerseyhoya wrote:

Phan In Phlorida wrote:Apparently, it's what a Bain investor told Reid regarding Romney's reluctance to release tax returns. True or not? We won't know unless Mittens releases his tax returns, which he won't.

We know it's not true because we are humans blessed with the capacity to think and use common sense.*

Why would a random, unnamed Bain investor be privy to Romney's personal tax returns? How, exactly, would Romney go a decade without paying taxes? On what evidence is Reid asserting Romney has more money than he has declared on his disclosure forms?

If the Senate Majority Leader is comfortable making an ass out of himself floating implausible rumors to keep the story alive and the media doesn't kill him for it, then he should keep it up because dajafi is right that it's a win/win for the Obama campaign. It'd be nice if the media called him out for being an irresponsible piece of shit though.

*With the possible exception of Monkeyboy

Mitt's going to be facing this "have you stopped beating your wife?" question from now until november and he simply has to answer it more forthrightly somehow. Why doesn't he get this? Why after 10 years chasing this office isn't he better prepared? And why does is lack of preparation bother you? Do you genuinely feel he has earned the right to pay a lower tax rate than you? And if you feel he has, aren't you the least bit curious why he isn't willing, eager even, to tell you & me & everyone specifically how he managed it, and why that's good for all of us; why it would be good for a guy who has enjoyed that favorable treatment to be in charge of our government?

And will you parade buck-naked down broad street if we do discover before or after the election that in fact mitt's paid federal income taxes at a lower rate than you or me or most people in the country for one or more years?

/werthless'ed

jerseyhoya wrote:

Phan In Phlorida wrote:Apparently, it's what a Bain investor told Reid regarding Romney's reluctance to release tax returns. True or not? We won't know unless Mittens releases his tax returns, which he won't.

We know it's not true because we are humans blessed with the capacity to think and use common sense.*

Why would a random, unnamed Bain investor be privy to Romney's personal tax returns? How, exactly, would Romney go a decade without paying taxes? On what evidence is Reid asserting Romney has more money than he has declared on his disclosure forms?

If the Senate Majority Leader is comfortable making an ass out of himself floating implausible rumors to keep the story alive and the media doesn't kill him for it, then he should keep it up because dajafi is right that it's a win/win for the Obama campaign. It'd be nice if the media called him out for being an irresponsible piece of shit though.

*With the possible exception of Monkeyboy

"Bain investor" is ambiguous. It could mean someone that invested money with Bain. It could mean someone that worked for Bain as an investor. If the former, it could be part of the "sales pitch", or someone pissed they lost money. If the latter, it could be how they did things (privy to tax maneuvers to minimize rates, etc), or a pissed former employee. The ambiguity effects the degree one can either believe or disbelieve. Hence, it's yet another ingredient in the Mitt tax return stew.

The only way to quell the suspicions/incinuations/et al is transparency. Romney will definately not release any more of his tax returns (in detail at least). The reason, IMO, is what I posited in the rest of my above quoted post.

I'm always of two minds about stuff like this: it boosts the odds that races will go the way I hope they will, but raises the specter of truly awful consequences should the folks I like lose.

Ted Cruz's (R) victory in the GOP Texas Senate runoff yesterday has already so emboldened the Tea Party movement "that activists are warning Mitt Romney he had better get on board," ABC News reports.

Said Freedom Works spokesperson Andrea Shell: "These guys are going to force Romney to the right. That is our entire mission."

She added: "If we can elect a really conservative House and Senate that will force Romney to go along with our bold conservative agenda. He's going to have to really, really go to the right. He'll be working with guys in the House and Senate. He won't be able to get away with too many middle of the road policies, especially on things like the deficit."

Meanwhile, another item from Political Wire today suggests why this could be really bad news for the Mittites:

First Read: "One of the most underreported stories of this presidential election is how the Republican brand is in FAR WORSE shape than the Democratic brand. In our most recent NBC/WSJ poll, the GOP's fav/unfav was 34%-43% vs. the Democrats' 40%-40%. Indeed, the GOP has had a worse fav/unfav than the Democrats in every single NBC/WSJ poll (that's 14 of them!!!) since Jan. 2011, after Republicans won control of the House."

"So as the Tea Party/grassroots/anti-establishment conservative wing of the GOP has become MORE powerful, the GOP's overall brand image has gone down, especially with indies. It is hard not to believe these two facts aren't connected. And this raises the question: Will this be a drag on Romney? Or here's another way to put it: How can this not be a drag on him?"

NBC Nightly News ‏@nbcnightlynews
#BREAKING: President Obama has signed a so-called "intelligence finding" authorizing covert aid to the Syrian rebels, NBC News confirms

It's less covert when you tell NBC News

jerseyhoya wrote:

NBC Nightly News ‏@nbcnightlynews
#BREAKING: President Obama has signed a so-called "intelligence finding" authorizing covert aid to the Syrian rebels, NBC News confirms

It's less covert when you tell NBC News

... and here are the names of the covert assets in Syria (click on links for corresponding photos)...

He's really proud of himself

Dear @BarackObama: I'm here in IL (not Chicago of course),clinging to God, my guns, and my delicious #ChickFilA sandwich.

Chick-fil-A's food is awesome, their brainwashing policies suck and in the end they don't give a damn about their employees.

I like their brainwashing policies because they're always so damn polite about getting me a refill

okay, I watched that video. That guy is a douche. Like they care about a freakin' Large water. And the lady at the window's just trying to do her job.

jerseyhoya wrote:

He's really proud of himself

does someone send you this stuff

Saw it on the Twitter and was amused at how pleased he was with his purposefulness.

biggest 4.6% increase ever

Houshphandzadeh wrote:biggest 4.6% increase ever

looks like a chart a Holy Cross frat boy would make

gotta look at that y-axis

It's almost like that got that from the chapter "how graphs deceive."

Also, Fareed Zakaria, probably the only pundit worth reading or watching (though to be honest I don't watch his show on CNN because it's on CNN) weighs in on the culture thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html