Reid Gives Republicans A Taste of Their Own Medicine

Did you hear how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to accuse Mitt Romney of not having paid income taxes in 10 years? He says someone with deep knowledge of Bain Capital finances told him that, but he’s unwilling to reveal his source, and the Republicans and Romney are going absolutely out of their minds about it. 

Is the charge true? Is it false? Who knows? Obviously, the easiest way to prove its falsity is to release 10 years’ worth of tax returns – something Romney has repeatedly refused to do. The Romneys say we people have all we’re going to get from them – an incomplete 2010 return and a 2011 estimate. Romney deliberately omitted a document he would have filed with the IRS detailing the holdings he has in foreign banks in Switzerland, the Caymans, Bermuda, and other traditional tax-evasion havens with expanded secrecy laws to help, e.g., absolve Americans of their duty to pay taxes (and more nefarious reasons like money laundering). ABC News pointedly asked Romney whether he’s ever paid less than 13.9% in income taxes, and he said he’d go back and check – that’s not a “no”. He never came back to tell us one way or another. 

The Republicans are going nuts, demanding Reid’s taxes, Pelosi’s taxes, Obama’s college transcript – they’re grasping at completely manufactured straws and bringing up remarkable non-sequiturs to avoid one salient fact: 

While the rabid right-wingers in Breitbartland demand a “vetting” of Obama that happened in 2008 and they’ve conveniently ignored, they absolutely refuse to vet their own nominee. That refusal to vet – hey, rich white guy, former Governor – is already haunting them. You can’t complain about transparency when you have a candidate who’s hiding something. You can’t complain about job creators and taxes when your ultrawealthy one percenter candidate pays no taxes. 

(Why aren’t we demanding to see how much Chris Collins has been paying in taxes?)

But if you read anything about the set of balls on Harry Reid, you should read this piece from the Rude Pundit. His writing is NSFW, but I haven’t yet found anything that more creatively and pointedly explains why this is all fantastic.  (Quote after the jump, due to language – those with vapours should avoid). 

Politics is not an ethical game. Governing should be, but isn’t. However, politics is a wallow in filth that’d make farm hogs say, “Whoa, save some shit-filled mud for the rest of us.” For years, we on the left have had to sputter and suffer as Republican after Republican has lied willfully and consciously about the records and lives of Democrats. We have tut-tutted and demanded retractions and corrections. We have slapped our foreheads bloody as we’ve seen the lies become what many, many people believe is the truth, whether it’s Dukakis being soft on crime or Clinton having Vince Foster killed or Gore saying things he simply never said or Swift-boating or birthering. Outrageous, easily proven lies, and we have been told to suck on them like they’re a candy cane sticking out of the pants of Uncle Sam. 

So you know what? What’s good for the motherfuckin’ goose is good for the motherfuckin’ gander. How’s it feel, conservatives, to be helpless in the face of both the allegation about Romney’s taxes and your candidate’s smug refusal to release any information that would disprove the allegation? Pretty sickening, isn’t it? Hey, that candy cane actually tastes like cock when you have to put it in your own mouth.

Reid’s charge is just the beginning of the payback for decades’ worth of Republican electoral gains through lying. What Reid is doing is directly from the Rove handbook. Good for a Democrat for not taking the Republicans’ shit anymore. 

10 comments

  • Thank you for pointing out that Romney’s 2010 taxes are incomplete.  He failed to show his “Foreign Bamks and Accounts” form.

    If you want to see a blank copy of the form Romney forgot to disclose, it’s at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f90221.pdf  . (this is not a blog or a report.  Just a blank tax form posted by the government)

  • Uh, well, some people actually kind of like the taste of cock in their mouths.

    That aside, there’s probably a better way for Harry Reid to play hardball with the Republicans: instead of imitating their shit-hurling, why not argue loud and long for prosecuting and imprisoning Wall Street corporate criminals? calling for an end to the wars and a peace dividend? calling for assuring Social Security’s future by levying deductions on ALL income? In other words, try to act like a decent small d democrat rather than a wannabe Republican.

  • Kevin Drum from Mother Jones today:

    “Take a deep breath, folks. This is contemptible stuff and it’s not just business as usual. We’ve spent too many years berating the tea partiers for getting on bandwagons like this to get sucked into it ourselves the first time it’s convenient. It’s time to quit cheering on Reid and get off this particular bus.”

    Guess the bus doesn’t smell bad enough, though, for this site to get off it.

    Personally, I’m forever grateful that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi continue to be the face of the Democratic Party.

  •  “Is the charge true? Is it false? Who knows? Obviously, the easiest way
    to prove its falsity is to release 10 years’ worth of tax returns –
    something Romney has repeatedly refused to do.”

    The point is to win the election.  Why would anyone hand over anything that the opposing party will twist and massage into what they want it to mean?

    President Obama and crew should run on their record but the fact is the record isn’t very good. 

    • I don’t think there would be any need to “twist and massage”, the tax returns would likely show Romney is indeed a tax dodger, why else would he fight the release with such intensity. Few Americans would care about minute details of his tax returns,  the fear from the Romney camp is proof positive there is something big they are trying to hide.

  • Isn’t that the kind of thing some Democrats shriek “false equivalence!” about? Reid and Pelosi are both making this charge over and over against Romney, but I don’t recall the R top leaders in Congress making claims about the Clintons having Vince Foster murdered.

    In fact, when Michelle Bachmann made unsupported claims against a State Dept official, Speaker Boehner publicly denounced Bachmann for it.

    I think it’s awesome to see leaders Reid and Pelosi behaving toward Romney like Sheriff Arpaio does about Obama’s birth certificate, Bachmann did about Ms. Abedin, and similar to what you did with a false charge of which side did Erie Co ballot tampering last year – especially since it looks as though Reid-Pelosi are failing to even hurt Romney in the polls.  In early July, Obama had a consistent 4% lead in Gallup’s daily tracking of registered voters. Today the gap is 1%.

    Civility-minded independents can see that Reid is labeled a pants on fire liar by Politifact’s Truth-O-Meter and awarded a full four Pinnochios by the Washington Post.  All good stuff.

  • Romney obviously has something to hide, this isn’t a matter of him fearing some nitpicking of obscure details of his tax returns. He likely paid less than the average working American and knows this will not play well to the voters. His off shore accounts should be enough for any patriotic, intelligent,  and fair minded voter to reject him outright. Romney is the problem in America today, he is the face of the entitled class, bending the rules and stepping on others to advance his own fortune. It is sad that he is seen as a credible candidate, sadder still that Republicans will vote for him just out of hatred for Obama.

  • I’m not really sure how this is equivalent to saying that Obama wasn’t born in America.  That’s demonstrably false, and pretty nutty on its face.  It seems very likely that Willard Romney managed to avoid paying any taxes for over a decade.  If GE can do it I don’t see why he can’t.

    I think a more comparable claim would be that Romney has more than one wife, but then Reid’s a Mormon too, so he’s hardly going to say that.

  • Awwwwwwwwww.  Poor Poor Republicans.
    They can give, but they can’t take.
    Listen guys:just  take  Two Trumps, …and DON’T call me in the morning.

    Reid is Right as Rain …and Willard is all Wet.

    ‘Cause Americans have a RIGHT to see the tax returns

    of anyone who wants to be their President –the highest office in the land.

    NO if’s, …No and’s, …and NO big fat but’s about it! 

    Case Closed.

    ESPECIALLY with someone like Mitt -whose past and present life is

    full of flip-flops, questionable business practices, tax loopholes,

    hidden assets and investments, …and who knows what else.

    Confession is good for the soul, Mitt. Even for someone as soul-less as you.  

    So just Relax, Repent, and Release your Returns, Mr. Romney 

    …OR… go back to Playing with your Pet Prancing Ponies. 

    Come out  of your gold-plated 10-car closet Mitt,  and STOP with this 

    “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” nonsense!  No problem -we’ll understand. 

     Unless …perhaps ….just perhaps …you’re HIDING something, dear Willard?

     Inquiring minds want to know.

    And you want even MORE tax cuts and loopholes for you and your rich buddies, Mitt?  

    WHAT GALL! These fat cats aren’t satisfied – they want it ALL …EVERYTHING!

    But tell me Mitt, just how MANY cars and houses can you hog? 

    And just how MANY silver spoons can you stuff into your smirking mouth? 

    Mitt baby, you can fool some of the people some of the time,but  -please-  take my advice:

     IF you just want to run for dog-catcher then KEEP your  precious tax returns,

    and clean off your car roof. OTHERWISE, if you wanna be our President, THEN PUT UP, 

    or shut up and go away ….preferably BEFORE the convention.

    The super-rich think that they have the God-given right to do anything  they want in this

    great country -while the REST of us get screwed!  ENOUGH!!! The divine right of kings 

    ended a long long time ago Mitt. And so should your sorry excuse for a candidacy.  

    Nothing personal, guy. Really.  Super-Rich, arrogant, power-hungry Republicans are people too!

    It’s just their “culture” that bothers me (as you’re so fond of saying).  

    ‘Cause making lots and lot of money can be SUCH a dirty business. Right, fella?

    BOTTOM LINE: It’s Laundry Time, Mitt.

     ——SO COME CLEAN——.

     I’m from the “Show Me” State….where  it’s not enough  to just SAY you’re “not a crook”

     ….AFTER you’re President …like Tricky Dick Nixon. 

     S-H-O-W   ME    NOW!

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