Banter Voices

Don’t Ask Mitt, He’s Not Telling

By Oliver Willis · August 23,2012

| 530 Views | Elections Politics

Amazing. Mitt Romney’s campaign is in such dire straits that they are now providing a list of topics to reporters not to ask the candidate. Right now it’s abortion and Todd Akin, but you can probably add such touchy topics as his hidden tax returns, specificity in his tax, economic, and foreign policy plans. Or any topic that might give the voters some idea of whether they should vote for him or not.

Mitt Romney reached the Republican nomination by beating the likes of Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum. It’s the political equivalent of a minor league baseball player beating a bad Little League team and thinking that he’s ready to play in the World Series.

Dont ask Mitt. He won’t tell you anything. Which tells you everything.

db

Dennis,

“You didn’t start that rumor, you read it on another liberal blog”

Really? & here I was congratulating myself on my creativeness.

“Conspiracy theorists can never be satisfied.” (!)

Do you write for Steven Colbert? I’d swear that some of your idiocies are the very stuff I see on the Colbert clips I see on the internet. Colbert’s delivery carries the jokes better than they appear in print though. For example:

“Even though WMR hasn’t released enough to get past a Senate confirmation for much lesser offices?

He didn’t run for Senate.”

You need the Colbert eyebrow to get the laugh there. It doesn’t work in print. Anyone can see that I said confirmed by the Senate & you switched it ti run for the Senate.
- Plunket
  
  db- It’s still a moot point. You can come up with a million reasons why you think he ‘should’ release more tax returns. You’ve clearly decided that you’re going to get more mileage out of it if he doesn’t release them anyway, so why don’t you just admit that and be honest about it instead of playing this concern troll game?
  
  You do that, you know. You play this stupid charade game where you pretend to be sincere in your questioning. It’s weak, it’s immature, it’s dishonest and you couldn’t be any more obvious about it even if you tried.
  - db
    
    Dennis,
    
    But that’s the whole point !!!
    
    If you’re right &, “You’ve clearly decided that you’re going to get more mileage out of it if he doesn’t release…”
    
    Then why doesn’t WMR release them to dump us all in a huge hole? What’s he hiding?
    
    It’s not like all the other recent presidential Candidates didn’t release years of tax returns. It’s not like he’s being asked for anything out of the ordinary. Because that was the point of our Guest Author’s post these years ago. Demanding President Obama’s birth certificate is something out of the ordinary. It’s never been done before for a Presidential Candidate. Doing so to the “black guy” is demeaning to him.
    
    WMR is taking a unique stand. Why?
    
    “You play this stupid charade game where you pretend to be sincere in your questioning. It’s weak, it’s immature, it’s dishonest and you couldn’t be any more obvious about it even if you tried.”
    
    Now there you go again.
    
    If I’m mocking you with my questions; then I am trying to do so.
    If my honest questions confound you; then I’m not trying to mock you.
    
    I can see no construction where your last sentence makes any sense.
Plunket

db,
Why is it that you guys to a person can’t make a reasoned argument without starting a sentence out with “So” and then mischaracterizing what the other person just said.

You’re now asserting that compliance with the minimum disclosure is all that’s required?

No, I didn’t say that, I said their reasons for not disclosing information they’re not required but that other politicians have done before, is similar.

You’re not bothered that your candidate is so ashamed if his income that he refuses to let us see where it came from?

He’s not ashamed of either his income or where it came from. At all. Shame doesn’t enter the equation here.

Even though your guy’s Father is on record for saying there’s something fishy about a candidate that won’t release his tax records?

I’m not aware that he said that, in fact, I don’t think he did. 1967, different political climate, different tactics, and much different tax structures. This isn’t 1967, and we don’t know what George Romney would be saying right now. It means nothing at all what he said then.

Even though WMR hasn’t released enough to get past a Senate confirmation for much lesser offices?

He didn’t run for Senate. If you want to change the disclosure laws for presidential candidates, vote for candidates who are serious about doing that, and not just ones who yap about it when they think it’s in their interest to do. Moot point.

Even though rumors of his paying absolutely nothing persist?

Conspiracy theorists can never be satisfied.

Okay I’ll start another rumor: Romney won’t release his taxes because they’ll show that he consistently shorted his church their mandatory 10%. Wouldn’t do to run for President & get thrown out of your own church.

You didn’t start that rumor, you read it on another liberal blog, and even as an idiotic liberal blog rumor, it won’t last the weekend. Have fun with it, though, if that’s your cup of tea.

Harry Reid stuck his head in a political noose. All Romney has to do is pull the cord tight. Romney won’t. Why?

Reid’s already been shamed, and no one’s going to give a shit about that delusional idiot if Romney releases his returns and proves he paid taxes the last ten years. And Reid will just say that he got that information from a Bain investor and was just passing along what he said, which is pretty much how he excused himself already. Your question makes no sense. There’s no incentive personally for Romney to see Harry’s nuts twisting in the wind any more than they already are, and no upside to it. He still goes back to being Dingy Harry, and a despicable d-bag, which is what you guys want him to be. Do you not see that?

The guy who got to see the taxes (John McCain) immediately decided that Sarah Palin would make a better Vice Presidential Candidate. Why?

More conspiracy-theory-like questions, db. There are a million reasons why a presidential candidate picks someone and not another guy. If you want to make that presumption, you’re free to do that, but it’s not factual. McCain could’ve easily seen why a political rival of his in the primary wouldn’t have been his best option right then. Two fantastically rich white guys after 8 years of two very wealthy rich guys in Bush and Cheney, after libs were already pounding him on his wealth? C’mon, wake up and smell the coffee, dwee-bee. You’re stuck on stupid and hopelessly gullible to left-wing blog idiocy without any discrete ability to apply your own logistical analysis.

You keep equating President Obama’s college papers & Romney’s taxes. Do you really not see the difference?

You’re consistently dishonest and eternally idiotic, db. I didn’t equate the two, I said their reasons for not wishing to disclose any more than they’re required are similar.
db

So Dennis,

You’re now asserting that compliance with the minimum disclosure is all that’s required? You’re not bothered that your candidate is so ashamed if his income that he refuses to let us see where it came from?
Even though your guy’s Father is on record for saying there’s something fishy about a candidate that won’t release his tax records?
Even though WMR hasn’t released enough to get past a Senate confirmation for much lesser offices?
Even though rumors of his paying absolutely nothing persist?

Okay I’ll start another rumor: Romney won’t release his taxes because they’ll show that he consistently shorted his church their mandatory 10%. Wouldn’t do to run for President & get thrown out of your own church.

Harry Reid stuck his head in a political noose. All Romney has to do is pull the cord tight. Romney won’t. Why?

The guy who got to see the taxes (John McCain) immediately decided that Sarah Palin would make a better Vice Presidential Candidate. Why?

You keep equating President Obama’s college papers & Romney’s taxes. Do you really not see the difference?

el,

Frank can be opinionated, but when he writes, he usually makes sense. I don’t have to agree, but I see his point. Dennis must think that “logic” means covered in timber.
- enlightened liberal
  
  db,
  I can agree to disagree about Frank.
  
  Romney is refused to release tax returns for the last decade, a precedent for candidates for federal office that started with his own father.
  
  Obama hasn’t released information that has NEVER been asked of any candidate, solely to harass him. Many of the document requests imply racist motives on behalf of the requester, such as the birth certificates and school records. Some of the requests are tit-for-tat to deflect from Romney his refusal to show tax returns.
  
  I don’t think Reid thinks that Romney paid no tax. I think he thought that his declaration would trick Romney into releasing the returns to prove him wrong, and then we would find that he took advantage of the amnesty in 2009. Either way, he has something to hide.
  - Plunket
    
    Harry Reid wants liberal blog idiots to come up with conspiracy theories. It’s not hard to plant the seed. And it’s certainly not rocket-science.
  - db
    
    el,
    
    Indeed, I thought we dealt with the “birther” movement as an insult to President Obama based on race years ago. I remember a guest author who was particularly compelling, though the details escape me at the moment.
    
    I don’t know what harry Reid thinks. I know that he made an extreme claim about WMR’s taxes & WMR could shoot them down in a moment. But he doesn’t do so. Reid just upped the ante by putting “slam Harry Reid” on the scale. Still doesn’t match what’s hiding in WMR’s taxes.
    
    Hmmmm.
    - enlightened liberal
      
      I think it’s the 2009 amnesty. You don’t get amnesty without illegal acts. Or perhaps the tax returns will explain why he has $100 million in an IRA. We don’t know because he won’t release his tax returns. He’s no George Romney, that’s for sure.
Zython

Romney says he should be president because of his business record, but don’t you dare ask about his business record!
- Justanotherrighty
  
  His income tax returns are a record – as the name suggests – his income, not his business practices. If you want to know about his record as Governor of Massachusetts, you can find that out without his tax returns. If you want to know about his record as CEO of Bain, you can find that out without his tax returns. If you want to know about his record as Director of the Olympics, you can find that out without his tax returns.
  I would rather have that information than knowing what stocks he sold in 2004.
  - enlightened liberal
    
    You heard it here first folks. Income tax returns have NOTHING to do with how Romney does business so stop saying that!
    - Justanotherrighty
      
      Income tax returns have NOTHING to do with how Romney does business so stop saying that!
      EITHER
      E L is agreeing with me for the first time,
      OR
      He is being sarcastic, indicating that he doesn’t know the first f’n thing about business related individual tax returns…
      
      Obama hasn’t released information that has NEVER been asked of any candidate, solely to harass him.
      Because the press seems to have made no effort to obtain, let alone reveal this information.
      Why did we see Bush’s attendance record in the Texas Air National Guard – a copy of the original, by the way – but we can’t see Obama’s Occidental transcript, Obama’s Columbia transcript, or Obama’s Harvard transcript? Are you telling me that there is no employee that, for $100 or so, wouldn’t slip copies to a reporter? . Talking about having something to hide.
      
      You can “imply” racism all you want, and I call B.S.
      Are you asking for Romney’s tax returns because he’s a Mormon? Yes, that’s the ticket! All you people that want to see his tax returns are anti-Mormon bigots.
      
      I don’t think Reid thinks that Romney paid no tax.
      I guess that makes him a goddamned liar then , eh?
      Yes or No?
  - Zython
    
    His income tax returns are a record – as the name suggests – his income, not his business
    
    Actually, I was referring to this.
    
    If you want to know about his record as Governor of Massachusetts, you can find that out without his tax returns.
    
    True. I’d rather see the emails from then, but he had those destroyed.
    - Justanotherrighty
      
      From your linked article: “…his tenure at private equity firm Bain Capital may be getting under the presumptive Republican presidential candidate’s skin.”
      I’m getting tired of hearing about Bain, too, so I don’t blame him.
      
      but he had those destroyed.
      
      Source, please …
      - Zython
        
        From your linked article: “…his tenure at private equity firm Bain Capital may be getting under the presumptive Republican presidential candidate’s skin.”
        I’m getting tired of hearing about Bain, too, so I don’t blame him.
        
        Which wouldn’t be an issue except that before that point, he had been using his experience at Bain as the major reason he should be President.
        
        Source, please …
        
        Coitenly.
Justanotherrighty

As opposed to His Majestyness, who is still looking for Romney’s tax returns , and talking about dogs on the rooftop from two decades ago…
- enlightened liberal
  
  I don’t know what it is with “His Majestyness”. Care to enlighten us?
  
  How about the other two points? What the hell are you talking about? When has the President talked about Seamus? Other than some oblique reference in a campaign appearance that only someone who knew the story would get?
  
  I’m looking for Romney’s tax returns too. What is he hiding?
  - Plunket
    
    Cayman-domiciled Gawker Media just posted 950 pages of Bain/Romney tax and financial information, el.
    
    Like Mitt and Ann Romney said, you’ll never be satisfied.
    - db
      
      Phlunk,
      
      Do you really see no difference in releasing your own documents & having someone else leak some of the stuff you refuse to provide?
      
      Are you just playing games with us or are you really that clueless?
      - Plunket
        
        I see a vast ocean of hypocrisy with you guys and I see an even greater level of stupidity when it comes to taxes, which is the aim of the Obama/Axelrod/Scutter/Blabbermouth–Schultz re-election team with regard to the information they’re hoping to get, which is appealing to the moron vote.
        
        All you need to do to see my point is log on to any liberal website now trying to decipher the 950 pages that Hungarian-owned with Cayman branch Gawker Media dumped yesterday and read the comments from idiots who sound like they’ve never even looked at a tax form more complicated than the 1040EZ Form. Obama/Axelrod don’t want to shed light or uncover anything other than words like ‘Grand Cayman’ and ‘tax dodge’ and ‘foreign assets’ and ‘Swiss Banks’ and ‘tax schemes that you and I don’t have access to’, all of which are meaningless but the average liberal dildo somehow thinks equates to ‘felony’, of which Stephanie Cutter called him but Obama denied that anyone did. It’s a big circle jerk of stupidity.
  - Justanotherrighty
    
    I don’t know what it is with “His Majestyness”
    E L – I thought you were enlightened … You should have no trouble figuring it out … You know who I mean, don’t you? Then you should what I mean.
    
    Here are two clues : Steve Colbert and this
    
    How about the other two points?
    I was referring to the tenor of his campaign. He is not talking about what he has done (because he can’t?) or what he plans to do (because he can’t?).
    Yet, in typical liberal fashion , you want all kinds of details from your opponent – which you hope you can use to defeat – while supplying none. I don’t blame Romney for denying your requests for his tax returns, when we still haven’t seen tons of information about Obama’s background.
    It has always my understanding that when I am competing with someone, I do it my way, not their way, and we play by the same rules.
    - db
      
      Frank,
      
      You’re slipping into Dennis area.
      
      “I don’t blame Romney for denying your requests for his tax returns, when we still haven’t seen tons of information about Obama’s background”
      
      You admit that President Obama has released his tax returns.
      But you assert that WMR doesn’t have to. (because President Obama has not released his college term papers? Has WMR released HIS college term papers?)
      
      “we play by the same rules.”
      
      Right. (Sarcastic)
      
      Really Frank,
      
      I’d expect such absurdities from Dennis. You’re usually much more rational than that.
      - Plunket
        
        Romney has complied under the rules, db. So has Obama. Obama doesn’t have to release anything from his college days if he doesn’t want to, and Romney doesn’t have to release 5 or 10 more years of tax returns if he doesn’t want to. If you respect Obama’s desire not to do that because he knows it will open the press up to more scrutiny and more needless clamoring about his past, then you should respect Romney’s same concerns. You can justify it on any grounds you’d like, but your aim here isn’t to claim something you have a right to know about, your aim is to hope there’s information that becomes a political liability to Romney and an asset to Obama, and nothing more than that.
      - enlightened liberal
        
        Since when is he more rational? I have never come across a person so assured of his own genius that is so lacking in it.
      - enlightened liberal
        
        We still haven’t seen Romney’s long form birth certificate.
        
        WHAR BIRF CERTIFICAT WHAR?
      - Justanotherrighty
        
        EL More like acting like he’s King. And, BTW. he is not uppity; he is arrogant, self-centered, and narcissistic – unlike any President I can recall (and I can remember the Presidents back to Eisenhower). So he is definitely not acting like a President. He is acting like a college sophomore pretending he is President.
        
        db: Obama has not released what was asked for. Once again, you are trying to make the rules: “I showed my tax returns; now you show yours.” But that is not what we asked for. We asked for his school records – not shown. We asked for his State and US Senate records – not shown. His Passport and travel records – not shown.
        The point I made – re-read it if you doubt me – was that “we still haven’t seen tons of information about Obama’s background.” You keep asking for the same thing after it has been denied to you, and you want to use that denial to infer some nefarious activity.
        But when Obama continues to deny requests for information, no such inference is made; instead, the people asking are called racists.
        You call that “playing by the same rules”?
    - enlightened liberal
      
      I have no time for your passive-aggressive guessing games Frankie, so I am assuming you mean “that there 0Bama is all uppity acting like he’s President or something.”
      
      Bet I’m right.
      - Plunket
        
        enlightened liberal always wants to be the first lily-white liberal to play the race card on every thread.
        
        He’s like “Hey, new thread…..First!!”
    - oi ly
      
      That’s a great photo of the Pres, Frankie. It’s like he’s the King of Africa!!
  - Zython
    
    I don’t know what it is with “His Majestyness”. Care to enlighten us?
    
    Well, conservatives believe that Obama wasn’t leigitately elected, what with all those minorities voting and what not. Fortunately, this horrid perversion of democracy will be solved by implementing voter ~~suppression~~ ID laws.
enlightened liberal

Surely you can’t be this dumb—oh, it’s save ferris of course he can be.

Asked and answered isn’t an acceptable response if it has never been answered.
SaveFarris

Acting more Presidential every day.

Just curious, why is “asked and answered” not an acceptable response?
- http://www.thedailybanter.com/author/oliver-willis/ Oliver Willis
  
  From your link: “The reporters were able to ask about other topics.”
  
  One day, you guys will stop posting links that refute your own arguments.
  - db
    
    OW,
    
    This is Farris we’re speaking of.
    
    But you had your answer on why WMR is so amorphous a few threads ago. He’s trying to run as Anti-Obama. The less specific he is, the less detailed he is, the more voters can project their own desires on him. The “fuzzier” he is; the more he can be all things to all voters..
    
    The actress in the Wendy’s commercials of the 1980′s has passed byt I’m waiting for someone to ask Romney, “Where’s the beef?”
oi ly

Was Mitt in support of don’t ask, don’t tell?
M2

Questions legitimately rape Mitt.

Banter Voices

Don’t Ask Mitt, He’s Not Telling

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