Conservatives turning against Romney on tax returns

[pbrower2a]

As I've said, no one's going to give a damn how much money Mitt made in 2006 or whatever.  All anyone cares about is "the economy, stupid".

However, if this or any other silly sideshow will prevent Mitt from getting the GOP nomination, I'm all for it.

What more matters to people is how he made his money. If it came from investments that brought new or improved products and created jobs few have cause for complaint on that. If it comes from taking over viable companies and draining them of assets or loading them with debt for personal gain while initiating mass firings one has something far less acceptable.

But at this I speak of the general election. The Republican National Convention is a done deal unless Mitt Romney releases his delegates and lets people like Gingrich, Perry, and Santorum duke it out.

[pbrower2a]

My theory on Romney's bad handling of this tax return business:

I agree with the consensus that he should've known better and been prepared for it.  However, I think a lot of his bad handling of it has to do with deciding to focus on his business experience than his one of governance.  Although Romney did destroy the competition in the primaries, I think it is notable how many times his opponents continually brought up his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts as a negative against him (both in 2008 and in this primary season) to show he can't be trusted with conservative ideals.  Arguably, even up to 2011 he seemed set on going with his political experience (at least that's the impression I got) and a lot of us on this board (myself included) predicted that he would be destroyed in the general election because of his flip flops.  Also, MassCare (or whatever it is called) is pretty much all the ammunition Obama would need to riddle Romney to death come November.

His business career is extremely important. This is not as if he had a couple years as a linens department manager at a department store before deciding to go to law school or working on the family farm before going into politics. The fellow made huge money and made huge decisions that changed the lives of many people, and apparently not all for the better.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Is money a triviality? Not at that level and with that level of power.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The Winter Olympics are a huge event -- maybe not as huge as the Summer Games. Those games went well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdYx19temU8

You must be logged in to read this quote.

For someone running as a county sheriff everything is relevant -- including one's sex life and business dealings. You don't want a compulsive gambler or someone with the sexual morals of an alley-cat as sheriff. So why should a candidate's business dealings not be open to scrutiny for the Presidency?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Dubya is despised widely for what he did as President. President Obama is despised widely for what he is. 

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The Obama administration is going to leave him alone. It's bad form to go after political rivals with police surveillance and legal process in a democracy.