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So what’s the deal? It’s pretty simple. We might say that a specter is haunting Mitt Romney — the specter of the Buffett Rule.
That’s right, we haven’t heard a lot about the so-called Buffett Rule in a while but it’s the concept pushed by kabillionaire Warren Buffett and embraced by Democrats and particularly the White House, which says that the superwealthy should not pay lower tax rates than your average secretary or auto mechanic or office manager or anybody else who gets by on a salary.
It’s a very resonant concept. It makes intuitive sense to people. Overwhelmingly the public supports the idea. And it’s very easy to understand.
This is Romney’s problem. While we don’t know the specifics of Romney’s tax returns, we know enough about his finances and sources of incomes to know that he is likely the poster-boy for the Buffett Rule.
Here's an interesting take on the Romney Tax issue.
Whats the Deal with Romneys Taxes? | Talking Points Memo
So whats the deal? Its pretty simple. We might say that a specter is haunting Mitt Romney the specter of the Buffett Rule.
Thats right, we havent heard a lot about the so-called Buffett Rule in a while but its the concept pushed by kabillionaire Warren Buffett and embraced by Democrats and particularly the White House, which says that the superwealthy should not pay lower tax rates than your average secretary or auto mechanic or office manager or anybody else who gets by on a salary.
Its a very resonant concept. It makes intuitive sense to people. Overwhelmingly the public supports the idea. And its very easy to understand.
This is Romneys problem. While we dont know the specifics of Romneys tax returns, we know enough about his finances and sources of incomes to know that he is likely the poster-boy for the Buffett Rule.
So who has Obamas tax return?
One of the most closely garded secrets in Washington...
So who has Obamas tax return?
One of the most closely garded secrets in Washington...
Only against people who lack simple google skills....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/president-obama-2010-complete-return.pdf
So who has Obamas tax return?
One of the most closely garded secrets in Washington...
Only against people who lack simple google skills....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/president-obama-2010-complete-return.pdf
You trust Google? They are part of the 1%.
So who has Obamas tax return?
One of the most closely garded secrets in Washington...
Only against people who lack simple google skills....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/president-obama-2010-complete-return.pdf
You trust Google? They are part of the 1%.
The source is whitehouse.gov !So who has Obamas tax return?
One of the most closely garded secrets in Washington...
I'll ask the question again.
Why should anyone have to make public their personal documents and medical records simply because they are running for elected office?
Because they have a button at their desk that blows up the whole planet, and we need transparency.
For instance, I would want to know if the president had terminal cancer. Kind of important when he can blow up the whole world in a fit of depression, don't you think.
Look, the only reason Rombot 2000 doesn't want to release his tax records is because they will expose him as a clueless rich guy who probably isn't even paying his fair share due to accounting tricks.
Why the GOP is going along with the gag is the mystery to me.
Only against people who lack simple google skills....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/president-obama-2010-complete-return.pdf
You trust Google? They are part of the 1%.
You trust Google? They are part of the 1%.
Clearly a much more reliable source to the USMB right wingnut brigade
Clearly a much more reliable source to the USMB right wingnut brigade
Karl Rove fact checks everything at whitehouse.gov
I'll ask the question again.
Why should anyone have to make public their personal documents and medical records simply because they are running for elected office?
Because they have a button at their desk that blows up the whole planet, and we need transparency.
For instance, I would want to know if the president had terminal cancer. Kind of important when he can blow up the whole world in a fit of depression, don't you think.
Look, the only reason Rombot 2000 doesn't want to release his tax records is because they will expose him as a clueless rich guy who probably isn't even paying his fair share due to accounting tricks.
Why the GOP is going along with the gag is the mystery to me.
Joe you are talking out of your ass, Just sayin...................
Has Romney even held a job or political office in the last five years?
I'll ask the question again.
Why should anyone have to make public their personal documents and medical records simply because they are running for elected office?
I'll ask the question again.
Why should anyone have to make public their personal documents and medical records simply because they are running for elected office?
Because they have a button at their desk that blows up the whole planet, and we need transparency.
For instance, I would want to know if the president had terminal cancer. Kind of important when he can blow up the whole world in a fit of depression, don't you think.
Look, the only reason Rombot 2000 doesn't want to release his tax records is because they will expose him as a clueless rich guy who probably isn't even paying his fair share due to accounting tricks.
Why the GOP is going along with the gag is the mystery to me.
Joe you are talking out of your ass, Just sayin...................
Because they have a button at their desk that blows up the whole planet, and we need transparency.
For instance, I would want to know if the president had terminal cancer. Kind of important when he can blow up the whole world in a fit of depression, don't you think.
Look, the only reason Rombot 2000 doesn't want to release his tax records is because they will expose him as a clueless rich guy who probably isn't even paying his fair share due to accounting tricks.
Why the GOP is going along with the gag is the mystery to me.
Joe you are talking out of your ass, Just sayin...................
Are you saying that the fact that Obama or Romney might have terminal cancer wouldn't be an important issue?
Let's take an example from history. In 1944, everyone close to FDR knew he really was a pretty sick guy. Even at the Yalta conference, Stalin Remarked that if he knew how ill FDR was, he never would have insisted he come all the way to Russia.
But this fact was kept from the American people. If the media knew about it, they didn't talk about it.
Of course, the Democrat elites knew, which is why they insisted on replacing Henry Wallace (who was waaaay off to the left by any standard) with reliable party hack Harry Truman.
And not surprisingly, FDR died about three months into his fourth term. Many of the missteps at the end of WWII and the early stages of the Cold War can be attributed to the fact that Truman was unprepared for the task. (He did eventually rise to the occassion, IMHO.)
You see the problem here? The voters made a choice based on incomplete information and there were consequences.
Has Romney even held a job or political office in the last five years?
We may be seeing the wave of the future. First Mr. Obama is elected after basically having a cup of coffee in the Congress....and now the GOP is apparently going to nominate Mr. Romney who is basically, as you said, one of the idle rich the GOP policies have created.
If you haven't gotten any battle scars, I guess you look more appealing to the voting public.
As always, we get the government we deserve, style over substance rules the day. Which is why I don't think the election will be a cakewalk for either party. We now field, on both sides of the aisle, candidates who are so risk adverse that you get the canned speech, the canned responses, the "debates" where it is merely a regurgitation of long winded talking points.
In the incubator the American public has created where we can be swayed by media on either side of the debate, I can't blame the candidates for playing their cards so close to the vest. To risk anything is to risk everything because whether it's Newt's affairs or Hillary's likability/femininity the public gets a taste for the imperfection and the media continues to feed it. It is called "the news cycle". And given the herd mentality of the news networks, if CNN is covering it, so will Fox, so will MSNBC, so will ABC, CBS, NBC. Talk radio will talk about it. Don't blame them...if as many people hated Oprah as claim they hate her, you wouldn't see her ever again. Someone likes her. You like Vanilla Ice? Someone does (or did). He sold something like 11 million copies of his record. Please don't sit there and say that the media feeds us, we tell the media what we want. And they give it to us.
This isn't the thread but I continue to advance the notion of making it much, much harder to become President to where the Constitution first ensures debates (6 of them--1 on foreign policy, one of domestic policy, one on national security, then 3 wild card topics to be determined) and then the format for the debates: 90 minutes of moderated debate to set the topics in each category, a break of some length, then 90 minutes of the candidates questioning each other directly on the same evening to pry these people away from their talking points. Every 4 years covering each Tuesday from roughly September 15 through election day.
The political animals who run on the plain Presidential politics are not the ones who are responsible for vetting themselves; we are. Romney's tax returns and his hesitancy to release them are not the problem, they are symptomatic of a much larger syndrome...the "lets see if I can get away with it" syndrome.
All too often, the American public's response to that syndrome is "yes".
We get the government we deserve. Always have, always will.
