Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney 'Didn't Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years'

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Winfield, could you please wrap your head around the idea that if Romney doesn't give us his tax returns, we can't prove a goddamn thing. I admit that Reid's claim is probably baseless, but you can't just yell "Where's the proof?" at everything we say about his taxes because he's obviously hiding something!

What you should be able to prove is which ten years you are talking about?

I F[INKS]ING CAN'T! There are no tax returns with which I can prove it, but there is reason to believe that he has used shady financial tactics in the past, most notably the shady financial tactics displayed in the one year he gave us.

There's obviously a reason he hasn't shown them to us, otherwise he would have.

There is nothing shady about what Romney did. It's called following the law, and not paying a penny more than you have to in the process. It's called being smart.

Being financially successful and responsible does not equate to being shady.

It is a sad day in America when success is shameful and failure is celebrated...

The main failure that's being celebrated here is Romney's, to release as much of his tax returns as other presidential candidates do, by such august posters as you.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Romney is not probably hiding something; he is hiding something. He's hiding all but one year of his tax returns from the voters. That's an objective fact.

He. Is. Hiding. Something. From. Us.

Now you can speculate as to his reasons, but you can't deny that he's hiding something, because that's a true fact.

Only in your mind, my friend, only in your mind.  Not in fact.

And once you can give me some proof of your vile accusations, come back and see me.  Then we'll talk.   

...you seriously think Romney released his tax returns to the standards for Presidential candidates? You seriously think that that objectively happened in the empirical past? Are you ing serious?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Because Romney is objectively hiding something. There's not any real indication as to what but it's an empirical fact that he is.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Good for McCain, but after all, you're calling Harry Reid a liar. Why can't the rest of us see them?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

That might be the case now but it wouldn't have been if he'd just done it all at once like pretty much every other Presidential hopeful since his father. And are you implying that we won't spend three months bothering him about why won't he release his tax returns if he doesn't? Because we totally will.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

A democratic in the know told me Reid beats his wife....

Well, if some anonymous Democratic source who doesn't have the guts to say it in public told you that Reid beats his wife then it must be true.

You guys are aware that Landra Gould Reid is in chemotherapy, right? What happened to chronically ill wives being off-limits for this sort of rhetoric, even considering that I know you're not being serious?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I still think there is likely some truth to this.  If Romney's missing tax returns merely showed Romney paying as little in taxes as the one year he released, he would have played victim and release them.  Why didn't he?

Frankly, he has a history from ten years ago of doing a fairly good job of playing the victim without releasing them.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Obvious and desperate attempt to distract and divert attention away from the success of picking Ryan.

The tax returns issue is old news. Obama 2012 has morphed into this weird campaign with only one purpose: Getting Romney to release his tax returns. No wonder people are loving the Ryan selection. It shows Romney is about ideas and results, not distractions. Hopefully somebody in the Obama IRS will simply leak Romney's tax returns, creating a whole host of problems for Obama and Co.

Obvious and desperate attempt to distract and divert attention away from the disappointingly modest results of picking Ryan.

The tax returns issue has no reason to go away. Romney 2012 has morphed into this weird campaign with only one purpose: Distracting people from Romney's refusal to release tax returns for an extended period of time like every single other presidential candidate in recent history has had no mysterious problems with doing. No wonder people are lukewarm and retrenching in their preexisting opinions regarding the Ryan selection. It shows Romney is about ideological pandering and unearned reputations for seriousness, not respect for the electorate. Hopefully somebody in the Obama IRS will simply leak Romney's tax returns, creating a whole host of problems for Romney and Co.