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By Karoun Demirjian (contact) 
Thursday, July 12, 2012 | 4:18 p.m.
As the flame-throwing over Mitt Romney’s Bain background grows more heated on the campaign trail, Sen. Harry Reid has dedicated himself to stoking things from the sidelines.
Romney has been taking heat from all corners of the Democratic Party lately over reports that he was at the helm of Bain Capital when decisions were made to send American jobs overseas. Romney has denounced such reports, arguing that he had long since severed ties with Bain -- but won’t release tax returns his opponents say they need to see to believe him.
Reid is so committed to his adopted role in this affair that he spent this week one-upping himself to drive home the message that Romney should be opening his books.
“I never met George Romney, but I always admired him,” Reid said earlier this week, musing about the Republican presidential candidate’s father, himself a presidential candidate back in the ‘60s. “He’s the one who started the process that has happened ever since he ran for president: If you’re running for president, your finances are an open book. He surprised everyone and gave the press 12 years of his tax returns.
“Mitt Romney talks about this great family he comes from and I acknowledge it is -- but why doesn’t he follow the example set by his father and release his tax returns?”
That was on Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday morning, Reid interrupted himself while making a case for a small business jobs bill to take a stronger swipe at Romney, suggesting his clandestine history at Bain -- or at least his unwillingness to be forthright about it -- made him unfit to be president.
“If Governor Romney came before this body to be a cabinet officer he couldn’t get approved! He won’t show anybody his income tax returns,” Reid said. “So he doesn’t qualify to be cabinet officer, how could he qualify to be president?”
By Thursday, Reid was raising the stakes on Romney once again.
“He not only couldn’t be confirmed as a Cabinet secretary, he couldn’t be confirmed as a dog-catcher,” Reid told reporters emphatically. “Because a dog catcher - you’re at least going to want to look at his income tax returns.”
(Democrats do love Romney-and-dogs references, don’t they.)
Hmm. Wonder what Reid thinks about Mitt Romney not releasing his tax returns.
Is this the same Harry Reid who has basically never held a real job??
It has come down to this......how sad
Glad to see that our majority leader in the Senate has followed through on the Presidents idea that a civil tone should return to American politics.
Reid Wow! What a piece of work. Condemns everyone that is not the same party as he is....Maybe Reid and Obama should both open all of their records for public scrutiny! The only way Reid knows how to get elected is through name calling and filthy politics. It is time the garbage ended and Obama should have to run on his own record....Which is marked with failure, lost jobs, overseas outsourcing of billions of taxpayer dollars....Tell the people the real truth of this administration that is tearing this country apart....I never voted for Reid and I will not vote for Obama.......He is a loser!
As a side note I wonder what he plans on doing for Russia when he told Putin that he would have more lee-way after he is re-elected....I hope we never have to find out!
And what make Reid so sure he is qualified as a representative from the fair State of Nevada.....his over-inflated opinion of himself?? When Reid becomes the Senate Minority Leader, and Mitt is the Prez...is not going to be pretty.......
Never has anyone drug his feet as much as Mitt Romney has in releasing his tax returns. Has he committed fraud? or not declared everything he should have? has he hidden assets? has he collected money he hasn't reported? Harry Reid is simply pointing out that 'full disclosure' is the standard for anyone seeking higher office or appointment. I believe there is something quite damning in those tax returns that Mitt doesn't want folks to know about. Why else would not be releasing them. It smells deceitful and rotten to me. Release your returns Mr Romney and let the chips fall where they may. Its the right thing to do.
Perhaps Romney is waiting until he is officially nominated. That is the only logical reason I can see for him to delay.
After that, I will be critical if he doesn't make them public. It would certainly raise questions as to why he won't do it.
Democrats will keep the pressure on, just as Republicans have done in the past. Equal Opportunity Partisan Politicians!
And what make Reid so sure he is qualified as a representative from the fair State of Nevada? (Mark Dunton)Hmmm...ugh, Mark, WE ELECTED HIM! He was confirmed by the vote OF the people of Nevada. That qualifies him for a full SIX YEARS. If you don't like it then you know how I felt when Ensign was elected.
Oh, you Harry Haters...
'Never had a REAL JOB'!!!
'What makes him QUALIFIED'???
ha ha ha ha!!!
Nevadan's have elected ol' Harry to the U.S. Senate for the past 23 YEARS...
And he's done a FINE JOB for the state.
As for his quote that Mittens Howell-Romney couldn't be confirmed as 'Dog Catcher'...
An astute observation!
Another observation;
TEN YEARS OF TAX BREAKS FOR THE ROMNEYS OF AMERICA...
where ARE the JOBS???
Gmag, that must be some great tasting kool-aid.
Harry has publicly opened the door for even more hate in politics..... I am glad you think that's a good thing.
The release of tax returns by candidates should have never happened. But once the cat was out of the box, there is no end to it. Tax returns should be a non-issue and nobody's business.
YES, Harry Reid is 100% correct.
SHOW THOSE TAX RECORDS, WILLARD.
NO MORE FLIP-FLOPPING, MAN UP!
Harry Reid is the best Senate Majority Leader in
our lifetime.
KEEP GIVING EM HELL, HARRY!!!
Romney has been busted and these republican liars
don't know which way to turn.
Heartless, greedy republicans destroyed our middle
class and economy.
AMERICANS KNOW THE TRUTH!!!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!
Another issue about Romney's refusal to release his State tax return for 2010. The State tax return could prove if Romney was guilty of voting fraud (a felony) when he voted in the special election in Massachusetts in 2010.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/100...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abram...
Whenever there is such a clamor over a candidate for the Presidency or Congress, it makes me go looking for answers. I like to get information unrelated to partisan meme.
I wondered why all the suspicion around Romney not releasing tax returns. I must have missed something.
Here is one source and what I learned...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/U...
The business, investments, and money may not be illegal. However, with his statements about removing regulation on the same, it becomes an important issue.
We are in a global economic crisis precisely because the regulation on banking and investments were removed. Failures in our system involved Europe and others.
While Dodd-Frank has not been fully implemented yet, and is insufficient, it is a response to the the need to protect citizens money deposited in banks and investments, including pension funds. It ultimately protects our economy as a whole, but needs to go further.
FDIC insurance does not mean one could recoup all of the money they deposited since our government is in the whole. Imagine being reimbursed for only a % of your money if there was a run on banks, which could happen in the future. All is NOT "It's a Wonderful Life".
Therefore, the questions about Romney releasing his tax returns is significant disclosure that should be made public so the voters can see what & who he might be favoring or protecting through his policies.
The fact that he has refused in past elections and is still holding back makes it all the more questionable as to what he has to hide.
That goes for any candidate for the Presidency and Congress, no matter what party they belong to.
Financial special interest's have caused and could continue to cause further harm to our economic stability.
That is an important issue that should concern most Americans.
I believe Mitt Romney should release his tax returns and I also believe he will eventually be forced to. When he does we'll find out what we already know. He's very, very rich. Perhaps more so than we previously thought. But I don't think Democrats have a legitimate right to criticize him. Are there any high ranking politicians in Washington that aren't millionaires?
Most of us look at politicians as people that represent us, in fact that they work for us. However the reality is that we work for them. Somewhere we got turned around by the idea that having lots of money makes you a smarter and better person. So if you inherited it, you still have the same prestige as if you earned it yourself.
The truth is rich people are like royalty. And if they're born into it then they know that they are truly better than you and they have been taught to hide those feelings. If anyone of the readers here would wake up tomorrow in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just knowing who you are and where you come from would give you a tremendous feeling of superiority. Now multiply that times one hundred and you'd understand how most politicians and celebrities feel.
I weep for the Republican party. The man with the magic underwear is the best they could do. Not that the man he's running against is any better because he believes in talking animals and zombies. We are truly doomed.
Reid a bit over the top, but Mittens has issues like being for everything he is now against.
Abortion? Was for it, now against it.
Health care? Was for it now against it.
Ron Reagan? Was adamant he was not in the mold of Reagan/Bush.
Poor Mittens now has to run against pretty much everything he was for just a few years ago.
Mittems is going to look realy bad in the debates, when Obama rips him apart.......will be soooo easy.
The objective of 9/11 was to put America into such financial turmoil that it would bring the country to near bankruptcy and possibly beyond. Spot-on 11 years later.
The $4 trillion debt spent on 'Homeland Security' during the Irag War was only the beginning.
George W. Bush insisted on Bible quotes with the daily War Report. He had Generals perusing the scriptures to make the Prayer in Chief happy, yet only prayers of bin Laden were being answered. Binnie prayed for civil turmoil and economic destruction of the US Government and was granted his wishes.
Romney is there to complete the job of taking the Government apart to increase Defense spending, but the new enemies will be Russia, China and Venezuela. Terrorists have fallen out of favor. No amount of spending will ever satisfy the Anglo-Christian paranoia of diverse cultures so be ready for more debt if he wins.
Satan has never been known to chase dogs and prefers to harass morons instead, which is the biggest reason Romney could never be confirmed as dog catcher as he is going after bigger budget busting targets. It is not possible to disrupt Social Security and Medicare with dog catching budgets.
What would Harry really know...
http://m.nydailynews.com/news/politics/u...
I am reminded of a story once upon a time. Any similarities with Shifty Mitt Romney, the flip-flopper who promised to repeal and replace Affordable Care Act on his first day of office if elected are unintentional and a coincidence. In Krypton, there were once two opposing candidates vying for the highest office. Yusef Smith, a tax evader, draft dodger, represented the nation's top 1 % of the population, disclosed $250 million networth but the bulk of his billion- dollar empire is unknown in tax-haven offshore banks and was transfered into the names of his wife, children, blind trusts, lawyers and corporations with the sole purpose of not paying taxes. With a mastermind group of tax lawyers, clever accountants, best that money can buy, Yusef Smith provided a doctored income tax return of one year and was adamant in denying knowledge of the whereabouts of his holdings offshore. Mr. Blackmann represented 99 % of the working class struggling for survival and provided previous ten years' tax returns. Granted that tomorrow were Election Day and Yusef Smith had clearly bought his way into the oval office with his well-financed political campaign of mass deception. If this crook had gotten away with criminal tax evasion, crimes and misdemeanors for so long, can you imagine the monopoly, power and absolute control he and his undisclosed billionaire bundlers, here and abroad, could wield nationwide and worldwide, if he were elected president in a new world order?
Better late than never, here is what you can do as a concerned citizen: (1.) Forget party affiliation. Wake up, take action, make time to exercise your right to vote for the right honest candidate and bring your identification card or state drivers license with you on Election Day.(2.) Be a whistleblower and report criminal tax evasion and fraud about anyone that you know of. (3.) Be bold to speak out if you know anything and expose the kind of deceit, crimes or misdemeanors that you know somebody is guilty of. (4.) Use your intellect in making suggestions for change, reforms and make our country great again.(5.) Vote out of office all members of a (GOP) Greedy Obstructionist Party also known as Party of No or Do Nothing Congress. (6.)Use simple common sense and conscience as your guide to elect the right candidate for president. Now you can smile and be happy.
I more interested in Obumma's grades and Harvard Law Review articles. The only thing we really know about him is dope-smoking with the Chooms.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) talks about how he enjoys hearing the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the Senate session however does not say "under God." Instead, he says "one nation, indivisible." What do you expect from America hating communist. Both him and the Blamer/Complainer/Campaigner-in-Chief need to go. Yeah go to the holes they crawl out of!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2...
Want to bet?
Neither could Obama be confirmed as dog catcher..
Comment removed by moderator. Name Calling
Harry, you're a political hack. You live "off the system" and have never -ever- created an honest private sector job in your entire adult life. You loath people like Romney because they have the courage to put their own capital to work, and when they do so successfully, they are rewarded for the risk taking. Yours is a life of squeezing people for support and seeing if they can get on bended knee deeply enough to slather kisses on your hand that iinsrinctively grabs at others' pocket books in the twisted name of "social justice." Be it state employee unions, environmental lobbyists, land developers, or any industry reliant on government largesse....these are YOUR constituents. At some point, Nevadans will wake up from being impressed by your brand of Cronyism and realize you're about as far from the spirit of independent success typified by the history of Nevadans as anyone could be. We should buy you a place in France where the new Socialist President Holland could really use an experienced guy like you.
What's Willard hiding?? When did he leave Bain? Where are his tax returns?? Aside from damning Obama at every turn- what is Willard's vision for the future of the country?? After he repeals Romney-er-Obamacare what does he replace it with? I know- it's the Republican healthcare plan for those unfortunate enough not to have employer-provided health plans: if you get sick, die quickly; or is it the unfunded Ronnie Raygun plan- go to an emergency room so the medical providers can pass the unpaid costs on to the paying(insured) customers? Does he plan to solve the deficit problem by giving himself and the rest of the 1% crowd more tax cuts- further reducing revenue, exacerbating the Bush-induced deficit, and following austerity loving England into a second recession??I know- he can do as he did in his Gordon Gekko days- piece off the national assets and outsource all the government jobs to China and India.
What is he hiding and what's he planning?