Would 100% honesty about Bain Capital and his tax returns actually help Romney?

[sg0508]

It's pretty obvious at this point that there are skeletons in the closet that he doesn't want the average American to know about.  Clearly, he's trying to portray himself as one for the middle class, but his days at Bain Capital and his tax return records probably speak to the contrary, including days where he likely profited bigtime at the expense of others, an actual very common practice.

But, what if he actually came forward and was honest about it? Would that actually help him perhaps in the eyes of the average American (who likely thinks the opposite of what the guy said), or would that be total suicide for his campaign?

Opinions?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I think that might have been good a month ago... if you know you have potential negative issues to manages, the smart thing is to neutralise them YOURSELF. Romney's now acting like he's being chased down and any sort of honesty would be branded a 'confession' and considering he's been so firm on not releasing anything, it just adds to the flip-flop list.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

If whatever he's hiding is actually bad (which I think is the case), then it's probably not going to matter regardless of what he does, because he'd have waited so long to finally do it.  If it's bad, he would've been better off releasing the tax returns earlier because people tend to get more pissed at people who lie and hide things instead of be straightforward about everything.  So what Romney's doing is literally a gift to the Democrats, right now.

That's just my guess, though.

[sg0508]

I think that might have been good a month ago... if you know you have potential negative issues to manages, the smart thing is to neutralise them YOURSELF. Romney's now acting like he's being chased down and any sort of honesty would be branded a 'confession' and considering he's been so firm on not releasing anything, it just adds to the flip-flop list.

This is the CORE message though of his campaign and he would take a major risk at losing middle class voters.  I actually think if he came forward (maybe a bit ago), it would eventually go away because voters tend to forget things.  That being said, I'm sure he's also potentially weary of a 3rd party candidate from someone should the entire thing blow up.

[Maxwell]

if he did commit some sort of crime, no.

Otherwise, it would absolutely shatter the attacks from the Obama campaign and really help his poll numbers, maybe even break the 46 ceiling that he has.

[sg0508]

if he did commit some sort of crime, no.

Otherwise, it would absolutely shatter the attacks from the Obama campaign and really help his poll numbers, maybe even break the 46 ceiling that he has.

But, keep in mind that if there are skeletons to hide that basically prove he was another guy that fired hundreds/thousands and made millions doing so, then you get the top 1% label that won't wash off.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I think he's past the point where coming forward and being honest could help him. It's far, far too late for being 'honest and straightforward' with legal or quasi-legal tax evasion, or politically questionable investments, much less anything worse.

The only way releasing them would help him at this point is if, contrary to pretty much everyone's assumptions, the only reason he's refusing to release tax returns really is his privacy concerns. If he can come out and say, "Yes, I made a lot of money and I also gave a great deal to charity and paid my fair share of taxes" then releasing those records will help.

I suppose the one other scenario where releasing them would at least make sense is if the Romney campaign knows that those records are going to be leaked prior to the election, in which case the sooner they get whatever controversy they hold out in public the less damage it will do come November.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

if he did commit some sort of crime, no.

Otherwise, it would absolutely shatter the attacks from the Obama campaign and really help his poll numbers, maybe even break the 46 ceiling that he has.

But, keep in mind that if there are skeletons to hide that basically prove he was another guy that fired hundreds/thousands and made millions doing so, then you get the top 1% label that won't wash off.

We already know he's in the top 1% of the top 1%. This wouldn't change that.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I think he's past the point where coming forward and being honest could help him. It's far, far too late for being 'honest and straightforward' with legal or quasi-legal tax evasion, or politically questionable investments, much less anything worse.

The only way releasing them would help him at this point is if, contrary to pretty much everyone's assumptions, the only reason he's refusing to release tax returns really is his privacy concerns. If he can come out and say, "Yes, I made a lot of money and I also gave a great deal to charity and paid my fair share of taxes" then releasing those records will help.

I suppose the one other scenario where releasing them would at least make sense is if the Romney campaign knows that those records are going to be leaked prior to the election, in which case the sooner they get whatever controversy they hold out in public the less damage it will do come November.

True, Bush probably would have had a real win if that DWI didn't come out 3 days before election day.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm going to have to say no.  Obama's been hammering Romney on both issues for the better part of the summer so far and it has had virtually no effect in the polls.  True, Romney hasn't gained, but the attacks were designed to torpedo Romney's chances.  Romney's maintained himself within the margin of error nationally the entire summer.  He's been consistently trailing by 1-2% all summer, which is within the MoE.  So, the PV has been virtually tied for a few months now.  This puts Romney in a pretty good position, because eventually, when people start paying attention to the race, they are going to want to know what is Romney going to do for them NOW, not what he may or may not have done 10 years ago.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

If there was nothing wrong, he might barely manage to turn this into a positive, but it's been too long. He should have just been 100% honest from the get-go.

[Stranger in a strange land]

yes, unless he's done something blatantly illegal.

[Maxwell]

if he did commit some sort of crime, no.

Otherwise, it would absolutely shatter the attacks from the Obama campaign and really help his poll numbers, maybe even break the 46 ceiling that he has.

But, keep in mind that if there are skeletons to hide that basically prove he was another guy that fired hundreds/thousands and made millions doing so, then you get the top 1% label that won't wash off.

But... doesn't he already have that label?