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Musicmystery -> RE: Mitt Romney: Cayman Islands Accounts Used By Foreign Investors To 'Not Be Subject To' U.S. Taxes (7/20/2012 6:24:27 AM)
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quote:
Romney's ongoing refusal to publish his tax returns is hard to fathom ......... unless those tax return contain devastating facts, damaging enough to torpedo his bid for the White House.
The longer he refuses to publish, the more suspicions will grow, the more the media will burrow, the more little leaks here and there will become enormously damaging
Well, first, despite the glee displayed by a few posters, the truth is this is and will remain a very close race. The Republican base will vote for the Republican candidate even if it's a cartoon character. The Democrats' base will vote for Obama, period. The people in play are the minority in the middle and how that will play out in the crucial swing states. None of this changes that; in fact, nothing will change that. The only other factor is perhaps people staying home instead of voting.
That said, yes, this let's the Obama camp control the message and overshadow anything Romney would rather say, and yes, Romney's campaign would do better to end this. I'm not a proponent of the silly "where there's smoke there's fire" version of pseudo-logic. But if those returns are damaging, he's really in a pickle. Still, as Nixon learned the hard way, it's the cover-up that gets you. If he's just standing his ground--it's not working.
All THAT said--this won't last forever. The American people don't have the attention span for it. In a week or few, everyone will be looking at the next shiny object to hit the "news." And that won't change any voters' minds either.
The political situation since 2000 has in fact only worsened this hardening of the categories. In 2006, people who LIKED their Republican representatives voted against them, reporting that they just couldn't let them go back and rubber stamp Republican policies. The GOP's own tight discipline, in its bid to grasp permanent power, made voting party line far more important than previously. Since then, the GOP has only gotten more insane with the naive Teas on one side and the quasi-looney Pauls on the other. I'd have considered a Republican in 2000 -- I liked McCain, and would have had to decide between McCain/Gore (not a Gore fan). Then they ran an idiot instead. By 2008, McCain had become Republicanized, and choosing Palin was just over the top idiocy.
I became a Democrat when Reagan embraced Falwell and the Religious Right. Today, still not enthused over the Democratic party, the Republican Party has just become even more of a threat, and third parties are still anchored to essentially single issue myopia, not ready to govern. Meanwhile, the GOP becomes more and more if not a single issue party, certainly a very few issue party. I can't imagine what its leaders are thinking, or how they see any of this as serving their long term interests.
Some reporters are noting Romney insiders say he wouldn't have run if he had known his taxes would be an issue. That's not a good sign. And yet, what can he do? Quit the race? THAT would make for an interesting convention! (Yes, not likely.)
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