The difference between Harry Reid and a birther
Stewart on Reid. dailyshow.com
3:00 pm Aug. 7, 20124
Harry Reid's just like those birthers who hounded Barack Obama into proving he was an American citizen.
At least that’s what commentators as diverse as Jon Stewart, Ann Coulter and Frank Bruni all told us, after Reid said that an unnamed Bain investor informed him that Mitt Romney hadn't paid his taxes for ten years.
“Stewart’s point—an excellent one—is that the crazies who insist that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States are Reid’s philosophical and strategic kinfolk,” Bruni wrote.
This is arguable.
The charge Reid has leveled against Romney, citing a source he won't name, is that Romney is a rich man who figured out a way not to pay taxes. Reid maintains that he is not accusing Romney of breaking the law, leaving unexplained the part about how Romney could have managed this feat of evasion legally, and says he doesn't even know if the rumor he's airing is true.
By contrast, people like Donald Trump (a onetime leading G.O.P. presidential candidate and Romney fund-raiser) allege that America's first black president isn't legitimate.
We should assume what Reid's saying turns out to be precisely as false as the birther stuff. In that case, one tale will have been an appeal to resentment of Americans whose personal finances are literally too big and complicated for average people to comprehend, and the other will have been an appeal to xenophobia and racism.
The burden on Obama to demonstrate his citizenship also happens to be one uniquely imposed on Obama—and no other president in modern history. Romney, at the moment, is the only presidential nominee in decades who hasn’t released his tax returns.
These things are not equally extraordinary.
Actually, though, the comparison between Reid and the birthers is beside the point, in the context of this presidential race. That's because Reid himself is beside the point. The Obama campaign would be hammering Romney on his taxes whether or not Reid was carrying out his side operation, and Romney would have to reckon with the issue regardless.
Likewise, the American people will be able to judge the superficiality of the charges and decide whether they're being fed a line. That's what happened with the birth certificate crusade, where what started out as a nutty-sounding slur was comprehensively marginalized, after Obama produced proof that it was bunk. It's surely within Romney's power to demonstrate that Reid's accusations are, at the very least, similarly ridiculous.
The fact that Romney isn't making the decision simply to provide the documents and make Reid look like a lying idiot suggests one of two things: Either he's adhering to ironclad principle in not disclosing his tax returns under duress, or he thinks they're somehow too damaging to release.
Romney is a quintessential pragmatist, and not big on inflexible stances, principled or otherwise. (See his positions on guns, gays, abortion and health care.)
So it’s probably the other thing: that he's worried about what's going to happen when the public sees the details of his finances.
Which is actually the biggest difference of all between the birth certificate stuff and the tax accusations: Reid's wild tale, for whatever reason, seems to be having the desired effect.
I think that Stewarts money is speaking for him. Too bad.
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!
NO if’s, ...No and’s, ...and NO big fat but’s about it!
ESPECIALLY someone like Mitt -whose past life if 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 dancing Ponies.
COME CLEAN MITT : Come out of your gold-plated 10-car closet,
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 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.
Rich, arrogant, power-hungry Republicans are people too!
It's just their "culture" that bothers me (as you are so fond of saying, Mitt). For making money can be SUCH a dirty business. Right. fella?
He won't release his tax returns for the same reason Barack Obama won't release his records from Columbia - there's something damaging in those records. My guesses: for Romney, disclosure of financial actions which, while legal, support the narrative that he's an out-of-touch rich guy; for Obama, disclosure that he got or did something that gave him an advantage not available to most people.
And to Stan Chaz...lighten up! Your sniping reads like jealous whining!
"Harry Reid's just like those birthers who hounded Barack Obama into proving he was an American citizen."
But Obama hasn't "proven" anything. In fact, according to the Office of Inspector General of the The Department of Health and Human Services, "A birth certificate is "Proof" only that a birth occurred and was recorded."*
What this means is, the only thing Obama's two Hawaiian birth certificate prove is that a child named Barack H. Obama was born alive and the Hawaiian Health Department recorded it. The rest, as they say, "has to be proven the old fashioned way...by a preponderance of evidence."
If there is no independent, corroborative evidence to substantiate the information contained on Obama's two birth certificates, an examination of the Hawaiian Health Department records should be undertaken immediately to trace the evidence the Hawaiian Health registrar used to create their file and trace their path to a live birth decision.
When you stop and consider what's at stake here; how hard can this be when the worse case scenario for Barack Obama is that he's proven qualified?
ex animo
davidfarrar
* My source: http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-99-00570.pdf
I don't understand the passion about Romney's taxes. No one is claiming that he's broken any laws. He's just accused of paying as little tax as possible - something everyone does if given the chance. I think Romney's a douche-bag, but I want him to unseat Obama, because Obama is a murderer.