Ron Paul Calls on Romney to Release Tax Returns

[ClydeR]

Ron Paul has joined the chorus of Republican leaders calling on Romney to come clean with his tax returns.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78599.html

[WRoss]

Is this really a surprise? Ron Paul just got added to the RNC ticket, so if Romney is disqualified, Paul gets the nomination and PB loses the bet to PK.

[Androidpk]

Regardless of what MSM is saying about Ron Paul he has been eligible to be on the ballot since early May.

[Parkbandit]

Is this really a surprise? Ron Paul just got added to the RNC ticket, so if Romney is disqualified, Paul gets the nomination and PB loses the bet to PK.

$20.12

And there really shouldn't be a surprise at all. I think that if there is a law where a politician is required to turn over their entire financial background, then he should... as well as all federally elected
officials.

Do people honestly believe that the current administration hasn't already looked into Romney's tax records?

New unemployment report came out today.. Romney needs to hammer it.. as well as Obama not meeting with his own Jobs Council over the past 6 months because he has so much on his plate....

[Androidpk]

Bet.. :lol:

[Liagala]

Do people honestly believe that the current administration hasn't already looked into Romney's tax records?
Of course they have. That's why they're on his case so much about it. Fortunately for Romney, the general public is horrible at sticking to anything. If he ignores it long enough, the tax return problem really will go away. Most people will forget about it, and the rest won't be enough to have serious impact in November.

[Androidpk]

How has Obama seen his tax returns?

[Liagala]

How has Obama seen his tax returns?
Legally, he hasn't. It would be a huge abuse of power, illegal, yadda yadda. You know as well as I do someone has pulled them up for him anyway.

[~Rocktar~]

How has Obama seen his tax returns?

He's the motha-fuckin Messiah, don't you know that, he can do what he wants.

[Back]

Every presidential candidate does it. What makes Romney different?

What is Romney hiding from the general public?

It won't make a difference to me. I already know who he will really be working for if he were elected president. That's why there is no way in hell he would get my vote.

[Androidpk]

It won't make a difference to me. I already know who he will really be working for if he were elected president. That's why there is no way in hell he would get my vote.

You mean the same people Obama works for?

[Tgo01]

It's scary how this tax return thing so closely resembles the birth certificate issue. You even have Democrats screaming "Why won't he release the form?! What is he hiding?!"

Almost word for word of what birthers say.

[Androidpk]

It's scary how this tax return thing so closely resembles the birth certificate issue. You even have Democrats screaming "Why won't he release the form?! What is he hiding?!"

Almost word for word of what birthers say.

Except this is far more legitimate than the birther issue.

[Back]

You mean the same people Obama works for?

You know... I "get" the whole third party idea. Believe me, I would love to see a revolution in American politics that breaks us away from the deeply woven system of money and influence that we have now. One day that will happen. But that is not this election cycle.

One can say the lesser of two evils... or, the better of two goods. Until such time as we really do get a third choice we have the two. Hey, at least its not 30 parties like there are in Europe where hardly anything gets done because of gridlock.

[Tgo01]

Except this is far more legitimate than the birther issue.

I'm not a birther and I don't believe Obama was born in Kenya but I think verifying someone is a natural born citizen is 1000 times more of a legitimate issue than someone not releasing enough of their tax returns.

[ClydeR]

Fortunately for Romney, the general public is horrible at sticking to anything. If he ignores it long enough, the tax return problem really will go away. Most people will forget about it, and the rest won't be enough to have serious impact in November.

Did you go to the John Kerry school of politics?

[Androidpk]

I'm not a birther and I don't believe Obama was born in Kenya but I think verifying someone is a natural born citizen is 1000 times more of a legitimate issue than someone not releasing enough of their tax returns.

It has been verified multiple times over the past 4 years already.

[Parkbandit]

It has been verified multiple times over the past 4 years already.

It wasn't until 2011 that it was verified with a copy of the birth certificate.

[Tgo01]

It has been verified multiple times over the past 4 years already.

I'm not talking about present day birthers, I'm talking about birthers of the past.

[Tgo01]

People repeatedly asked Obama for something people don't typically provide--birth certificates. People are asking Romney to provide just as much transparency as every OTHER nominee for the presidency in modern history. That's the difference.

I knew you could pull through and show there is a "difference" here Ashliana! When in doubt I can always count on you.

[Tgo01]

the short-form ones meet the standards required for application for a passport/etc, which is considered definitive proof of U.S. citizenship.


People are asking Romney to provide just as much transparency as every OTHER nominee for the presidency in modern history.

I also giggled at this bit of double speak. So Romney is supposed to provide just as much "transparency" as every other nominee in modern history (even though there is no requirement to do so) but Obama just has to show as much "transparency" as is actually required of him?

[Parkbandit]

And what double speak is that?

Obama released his birth certificate almost immediately after it became an issue, even though birth certificates aren't something presidential candidates typically release as people don't typically question their citizenship.

Tax returns, on the other hand, are typically released by presidential candidates, with much greater transparency than Romney's given.

Tax returns released by candidates in past elections:

2008 -- Obama: 7 years. McCain: 2 years.
2004 -- Kerry: 20 years. W. Bush: 9 years+incumbent years.
2000 -- Gore, 8 years in office (public disclosure already required), W. Bush: 9 years.
1996 -- Clinton: 4 years in office+12 years, Bob Dole: 29 years.
1992 -- Clinton: 12 years. H.W. Bush, 4 incumbent years+14 previous years.
1988 -- Dukakis: 6 years. H.W. Bush: 14 years.

Get the picture? Romney's released a single year's, which isn't even complete. And you wonder why people think he's hiding something?

I believe he has said once the current return is completed, he will release that as well.. giving him 2 years and right in line with McCain of 2008.

Will that satisfy the desperate need by the left? I doubt it.. because lets be honest.. Obama's whole campaign hinges on the People not paying attention to his complete ineptness over the past 3 1/2 years and focus on Romney being an evil rich guy that is stealing all the money that could be going to the poor.

[Tgo01]

And what double speak is that?

I already explained what I meant by that comment of mine.

[Archigeek]

There's a clear reason he doesn't want to release more. He's practically said it will provide amunition for his opponents. I think it's likely that what it will show is that he has a ton of profit hidden in off shore accounts. While that may or may not be illegal, depending on how he's doing it, it certainly doesn't gain him any votes when a middle class voter sees that the Romney is paying a lower tax rate than they are.

[Androidpk]

Will that satisfy the desperate need by the left?

It's not just people on the left that want to see him release his tax returns.

[Back]

Will that satisfy the desperate need by the left?

People like Ron Paul, Richard Luger, George Will, Bill Kristol, Haley Barbour... those crazy leftists?

[Fallen]

There's a clear reason he doesn't want to release more. He's practically said it will provide amunition for his opponents. I think it's likely that what it will show is that he has a ton of profit hidden in off shore accounts. While that may or may not be illegal, depending on how he's doing it, it certainly doesn't gain him any votes when a middle class voter sees that the Romney is paying a lower tax rate than they are.

Agreed. I don't think he did anything illegal, more likely he (or his accountants, whatever) did everything possible within the extent of the law to maximize deductions and personal profit by dodging taxes.

[ClydeR]

A majority of Americans believe Romney should release his tax returns. A plurality believe the unreleased returns contain damaging information, including 15% who believe the damaging information would be so serious as to disqualify Romney from being president.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-07-19/romney-gallup-poll-tax-returns/56333412/1

[Archigeek]

Agreed. I don't think he did anything illegal, more likely he (or his accountants, whatever) did everything possible within the extent of the law to maximize deductions and personal profit by dodging taxes.

I am not saying one way or another. How would I know? I would go so far as to say that he might not even know. But one thing is for sure. If you lie about your income on your taxes by saying you have less than you really do, you've broken the law. On the other hand, perhaps he just doesn't want to have to constantly have the conversation be "how come you only pay 9% taxes when I pay 25% as a small business owner barely scraping by?" Until he releases more information, the conversation is going to be about why he hasn't. And from my perspective, that's OK too.

[Tgo01]

Which is to say, not at all. One form of disclosure is not the norm (birth certificate disclosure), but Obama disclosed anyway. The other form is disclosure IS the norm, and Romney has under-delivered, and is being called out by both Republicans AND Democrats. There is no doublespeak. I'm not sure why you're incapable of understanding the very obvious distinction.

Since you're insisting on pretending not to understand English (you are pretending, right?) I'll play along. Is it mandatory to release X number of years of your tax returns or is it "the norm"? Why was it such a shock and "racist" thing to do when people insisted on seeing Obama's birth certificate and then his long form birth certificate, because it wasn't "the norm" to request such things? Is that the only reason? Honestly I'm surprised it isn't mandatory to show your birth certificate but whatever.

If it was "the norm" for people to prove they are Christian would you hold it against someone if they didn't prove they were Christian? "But it's the norm!" you would cry right? Right.

[Androidpk]

People running for the most powerful position in the world, or at least one of them, should be vetted like crazy. If Romney has nothing to hide then fucking release them already. He says he doesn't want to give Obama ammunition to use against him but by not releasing them he's doing far more harm than good.

[Tgo01]

People running for the most powerful position in the world, or at least one of them, should be vetted like crazy. If Obama has nothing to hide then fucking release them already.

Exactly.

[Androidpk]

Exactly.

:lol2:

[Gompers]

Stop me if this has been mentioned before - but does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that Mitt's dad (George Romney) started this whole "tax releasing precedent" when he released 12 years of his own returns when he ran for president in '67?

[ClydeR]

Agreed. I don't think he did anything illegal, more likely he (or his accountants, whatever) did everything possible within the extent of the law to maximize deductions and personal profit by dodging taxes.

I've been reading up on it. The three best theories are, in order from most likely to least likely and also in order from least damaging to most damaging..

First, zero or low taxes paid in 2008 and 2009 because of 2008 tax loss harvesting (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/17/did-mitt-romney-pay-any-federal-taxes-at-all-in-2009/). It would only be 25% likely to affect the outcome of the election. Interestingly, many people think this would be the most damaging to Romney, but those people are wrong about the political consequences, and I am right.

Second, Son of BOSS (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-22/romney-as-auditing-chairman-saw-marriott-son-of-boss-tax-shelter-defy-irs.html) or similar tax shelter. It would be 65% likely to end Romney's political career. The only reason it would not be worse for Romney is because it's so complicated that voters would not take the time to study it.

Third, FBAR Amnesty (http://dailyagenda.org/2012/07/19/romneys-fbar-is-fubar/). This would be the 95% certain end of Romney's political career.

So says Clyde.

[ClydeR]

Stop me if this has been mentioned before - but does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that Mitt's dad (George Romney) started this whole "tax releasing precedent" when he released 12 years of his own returns when he ran for president in '67?

Or that Romney blasted Ted Kennedy over and over in the 1994 campaign because Kennedy would not release his returns and claimed to have his investments in a blind trust?

Or that Romney's 2002 gubernatorial opponent released her returns and challenged Romney to do the same, citing Romney's 1994 statement about Kennedy, but Romney refused?

[Androidpk]

Or that Romney blasted Ted Kennedy over and over in the 1994 campaign because Kennedy would not release his returns and claimed to have his investments in a blind trust?


Didn't know about this one, got a link handy?

[Tgo01]

Stop me if this has been mentioned before - but does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that Mitt's dad (George Romney) started this whole "tax releasing precedent" when he released 12 years of his own returns when he ran for president in '67?

Wasn't Romney's dad also accused of not being a natural born citizen and was harassed to show his birth certificate as well? That man is a trailblazer!

[Tgo01]

In response, his campaign quickly provided proof of citizenship, and proof of place of birth. That document was good enough for any purpose you can think of, in the United States. You can use a Certificate of Live Birth to apply for a U.S. passport, to apply for a driver's license, anything. It's proof of citizenship.

Proof of citizenship isn't proof that he was born in the US. Why didn't he release his long form birth certificate when people were asking? What did he have to hide?


You're the one who apparently doesn't understand English. Nothing I said is an example of doublespeak. Period.

It's funny because you never answered my questions, what do you have to hide?


If it was "the norm" for people to prove they are Christian would you hold it against someone if they didn't prove they were Christian? "But it's the norm!" you would cry right? Right.

[Gompers]

Wasn't Romney's dad also accused of not being a natural born citizen and was harassed to show his birth certificate as well? That man is a trailblazer!


You're right, I believe he was born in Mexico? One of them Mexican Romney's.


http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/EN2008%20Mitt%20Romney%20Juan%20Percent%20Mexican% 20immigrant.JPG

[Androidpk]

At this point I'm just going to have to assume Tgo01 is trolling.

[Tgo01]

At this point I'm just going to have to assume Tgo01 is trolling.

What do YOU have to hide?

[ClydeR]

Didn't know about this one, got a link handy?

A quick Google search produced these three links..

http://www.drudge.com/news/159069/romney-challenged-kennedy-release-tax

http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/25/mitt-romneys-potential-political-problem-with-blind-trusts/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/romney-campaign-attacked-opponent-for-refusing-to

[Parkbandit]

Facing questions about why she and other top Congressional officials won’t release their tax returns, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (http://www.rollcall.com/members/35.html)(D-Calif.) downplayed her previous demands for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to release his, calling the issue a distraction.
As recently as Wednesday, Pelosi had strongly urged Romney to provide further disclosure of his tax returns. But today, while maintaining Romney should release more documents because of “custom” and “tradition,” Pelosi said the issue was trivial compared with economic issues.
“We spent too much time on that. We should be talking about middle-income tax cuts,” Pelosi said after answering two questions about the issue.
The Minority Leader faced questions about the issue after a McClatchy News report showed only 17 of 535 Members released their tax returns when asked.
Romney has faced increasing pressure to disclose more about his financial history in recent weeks, including — as Pelosi noted — from top Republicans.
The former Massachusetts governor has released his 2010 tax returns and has promised to release the 2011 returns when they are available.
Republicans say Romney will release the same amount of information that Sen. John McCain (http://www.rollcall.com/members/26.html) (R-Ariz.) did in 2008 when he ran for president. McCain, however, had filed decades of financial disclosure forms from his tenure in Congress leading up to his presidential bid.
Pelosi also suggested that the media should face disclosure requirements.
“Some people think the same standard should be held to the ownership of the news media in the country who are writing these stories about all of this. What do you think of that?” she asked.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/nancy_pelosi_downplays_tax_return_demand-216283-1.html?pos=hln

[Gompers]

So...Nancy Pelosi is running for president now?

No?

Oh, well that argument is invalid then.

EDIT:

Replace argument with "shabby cut and paste job".

[Latrinsorm]

The Minority Leader faced questions about the issue after a McClatchy News report showed only 17 of 535 Members released their tax returns when asked.You stay classy, Congress!

[Androidpk]

I believe he has said once the current return is completed, he will release that as well.. giving him 2 years and right in line with McCain of 2008.



He didn't even fully disclose his 2010 returns, it's missing information about his overseas accounts, especially the Swiss bank account he closed that year. FBAR is going to FUBAR Romney's chances.

[Warriorbird]

You stay classy, Congress!

Speaking of Congress (and all of it, both parties and Independents) staying classy, there's now a loophole that got put on the anti Congressional insider trading bill.

[Parkbandit]

So...Nancy Pelosi is running for president now?

No?

Oh, well that argument is invalid then.

EDIT:

Replace argument with "shabby cut and paste job".

It was posted to show her sudden change of heart.

Do you believe that the President should be the only elected official to disclose their past tax returns?

[Parkbandit]

Speaking of Congress (and all of it, both parties and Independents) staying classy, there's now a loophole that got put on the anti Congressional insider trading bill.

This shouldn't surprise anyone.

What's the loophole?

[Warriorbird]

This shouldn't surprise anyone.

What's the loophole?

It's all right if their families (spouses obviously included) invest in stock that might get considered insider trading due to Congressional knowledge and access, just not them personally.

[Wrathbringer]

According to the Obama campaign, we're all supposed to be more upset with Romney for what he's done with his money than with Obama for what he's done with ours. Yeah, that makes sense.

[~Rocktar~]

It's all right if their families (spouses obviously included) invest in stock that might get considered insider trading due to Congressional knowledge and access, just not them personally.

It worked for Ladybird Johnson and Hughes aircraft stock during the Vietnam war.

[Latrinsorm]

According to the Obama campaign, we're all supposed to be more upset with Romney for what he's done with his money than with Obama for what he's done with ours. Yeah, that makes sense.This is a great reversal. Is it circling the blogosphere or did you coin it yourself?

Anyway, my retort would simply be that it's not just the Obama campaign or even just Democrats prodding Romney on this. When even your own party (albeit nominal) turns on you, it could be time to man up. I don't remember any D-teamers clamoring for Obama's birth certificate, you know?

[ClydeR]

Second, Son of BOSS (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-22/romney-as-auditing-chairman-saw-marriott-son-of-boss-tax-shelter-defy-irs.html) or similar tax shelter. It would be 65% likely to end Romney's political career. The only reason it would not be worse for Romney is because it's so complicated that voters would not take the time to study it.

Obama has a new teevee ad specifically mentioning the Son of BOSS tax shelter.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DABbkpHzg3o

[ClydeR]

When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

Sometimes, as the Bible says, something is so large with so many parts that one person cannot see the whole of the system. Successful tax shelters are like that. They have so many different parts that are so well hidden, often in tax haven countries, that the IRS seldom sees that it is actually a tax shelter. But when they do find it, it's a really big deal.

That the case with the Son of BOSS tax shelter. After CNN ran the article quoted below about Romney's involvement with the tax shelter, Forbes did an article trying to explain in a very simplified way how it works. I bet even if you read the Forbes article ten times, you still won't understand it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2012/08/08/son-of-boss-for-sons-of-you-know-if-marriott-did-it-did-romney/

From the CNN article, which doesn't even attempt to describe how the tax shelter works..


From 1993 to 1998, Romney was the head of the audit committee of the Marriott board.

During that period, Marriott engaged in a series of complex and high-profile maneuvers, including "Son of Boss," a notoriously abusive prepackaged tax shelter that investment banks and accounting firms marketed to corporations such as Marriott. In this respect, Marriott was in the vanguard of a then-emerging corporate tax shelter bubble that substantially undermined the entire corporate tax system.

Son of Boss and its related shelters represented perhaps the largest tax avoidance scheme in history, costing the U.S. many billions in lost corporate tax revenues. In response, the government initiated legal challenges that resulted in complete disallowance of the losses claimed by Marriott and other corporations.

In addition, the Son of Boss transaction was listed by the Internal Revenue Service as an abusive transaction, requiring specific disclosure and subject to heavy penalties. Statutory penalties were also made more stringent to deter future tax shelter activity. Finally, the government brought successful criminal prosecutions against a number of individuals involved in Son of Boss and related transactions not associated with Marriott, including principals at major law and accounting firms.

In his key role as chairman of the Marriott board's audit committee, Romney approved the firm's reporting of fictional tax losses exceeding $70 million generated by its Son of Boss transaction. His endorsement of this stratagem provides insight into Romney's professional ethics and attitude toward tax compliance obligations.

More... (http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/08/opinion/canellos-kleinbard-romney-taxes/index.html)

[ClydeR]

Washington • Mitt Romney says in a new interview that one of the reasons he’s distressed about disclosing his tax returns is that everyone sees how much money he and his wife, Ann, have donated to the LDS Church, and that’s a number he wants to keep private.

"Our church doesn’t publish how much people have given," Romney tells Parade magazine in an edition due out Sunday. "This is done entirely privately. One of the downsides of releasing one’s financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known. It’s a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church."

More... (http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54744938-90/romney-says-church-tithing.html.csp)

Does that make any sense to you? For months, Romney has been telling everybody that it doesn't matter that he pays a lower tax rate than middle class taxpayers, because he tithes to the Mormon church.

If he's already decided to keep his tax returns secret, why does he keep inventing new reasons that bring the issue back into the headlines?

If you want some well reasoned details about Romney's pre-2010 taxes, read this article..
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/business/in-romneys-tax-return-clues-in-foreign-taxes.html?pagewanted=all

[ClydeR]

I've been reading up on it. The three best theories are, in order from most likely to least likely and also in order from least damaging to most damaging..

First, zero or low taxes paid in 2008 and 2009 because of 2008 tax loss harvesting (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/17/did-mitt-romney-pay-any-federal-taxes-at-all-in-2009/). It would only be 25% likely to affect the outcome of the election. Interestingly, many people think this would be the most damaging to Romney, but those people are wrong about the political consequences, and I am right.

Second, Son of BOSS (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-22/romney-as-auditing-chairman-saw-marriott-son-of-boss-tax-shelter-defy-irs.html) or similar tax shelter. It would be 65% likely to end Romney's political career. The only reason it would not be worse for Romney is because it's so complicated that voters would not take the time to study it.

Third, FBAR Amnesty (http://dailyagenda.org/2012/07/19/romneys-fbar-is-fubar/). This would be the 95% certain end of Romney's political career.

So says Clyde.


Picture it. 1973. Nixon is in the White House. Some extremely annoying people are suggesting that Nixon might have done something wrong, and they are demanding that Nixon turn over secret tape recordings of his conversations.

Nixon said that although there was absolutely nothing incriminating on the tapes, he could not release them because it could jeopardize the relationship of the United States with foreign countries. In what became known as the "Stennis Compromise," Nixon offered to allow Democrat Senator John Stennis, who was notoriously hard of hearing, to review the tapes. Stennis would then present a summary of the tapes, and that would be good enough for everybody.

Mitt Romney engaged in his own Stennis Compromise last week when he presented a summary of selected information from his tax returns.

I am more convinced than ever that Romney is hiding something sinister. If he thought he needed to release information from his returns, then why not release the actual returns to put the matter to rest? I'm thinking it's either Son of Boss or FBAR. The summary information Romney released would not reveal either of those.

[Parkbandit]

After the latest release, it should be obvious why Romney isn't releasing more returns. The biggest "Gotcha" I have heard so far is that Romney didn't take a big enough deduction for his 30% charitable giving.

So we went from "He didn't pay his taxes" to "He overpaid his taxes!"

[Keller]

I'm thinking it's either Son of Boss or FBAR.

Why do you think that? Because they were common abuses?

[Wrathbringer]

This tax return stuff is getting pretty old. Frankly, if someone's policies are good, I don't care if they cheated on their taxes. To place such emphasis on any one negative thing about a candidate is to believe that another candidate has done everything perfectly and never made any mistakes or done anything blatantly wrong in their life. Here's a news flash: Romney isn't perfect. Obama isn't perfect. Johnson isn't perfect. There are no perfect people running for office because there are no perfect people. I sincerely hope we get to actual policy at some point, but I'm not holding out much hope.

[Keller]

After the latest release, it should be obvious why Romney isn't releasing more returns. The biggest "Gotcha" I have heard so far is that Romney didn't take a big enough deduction for his 30% charitable giving.

So we went from "He didn't pay his taxes" to "He overpaid his taxes!"

Didn't Mitt say that he didn't want a President that paid more in taxes than he owed?

"Mitt admits even he wouldn't vote for himself."

[Parkbandit]

Didn't Mitt say that he didn't want a President that paid more in taxes than he owed?

"Mitt admits even he wouldn't vote for himself."

Didn't Obama say that if he didn't fix the economy, he would be a 1 term President?

"Obama admits he's not fit to hold office"

[Back]

This tax return stuff is getting pretty old. Frankly, if someone's policies are good, I don't care if they cheated on their taxes. To place such emphasis on any one negative thing about a candidate is to believe that another candidate has done everything perfectly and never made any mistakes or done anything blatantly wrong in their life. Here's a news flash: Romney isn't perfect. Obama isn't perfect. Johnson isn't perfect. There are no perfect people running for office because there are no perfect people. I sincerely hope we get to actual policy at some point, but I'm not holding out much hope.

Really? You would elect a known fraud? How can a known fraud's policies be any good for the country?

[Keller]

Didn't Obama say that if he didn't fix the economy, he would be a 1 term President?

"Obama admits he's not fit to hold office"

Thread about Romney? Bring up Obama.

You're worse than WB and It (e.g., Thread about Obama? Bring up Bush).

[Wrathbringer]

Really? You would elect a known fraud? How can a known fraud's policies be any good for the country?

I'll take the known as opposed to the unknown any day. As I said, no one is perfect. Bill Clinton committed adultery in the oval office. Know what? I don't care. I care about policies that affect me/us. If a known tax fraud has great ideas for the country, I'm more interested in him than someone who is falsely claiming to be perfect who has bad ideas. I don't back Romney, just to be clear here.

[Parkbandit]

Thread about Romney? Bring up Obama.

You're worse than WB and It (e.g., Thread about Obama? Bring up Bush).

Oh, I was just playing into your trolling. Isn't that the reason you post?

I just felt bad for you and responded for your cries for attention.

[Keller]

Oh, I was just playing into your trolling. Isn't that the reason you post?

I just felt bad for you and responded for your cries for attention.

Based on your posting history, I'm going to pass on that excuse.

[ClydeR]

Why do you think that? Because they were common abuses?

Because the FBAR settlement program was offered by the IRS in 2009, the year that Romney is determined never to release even if it costs him the presidency. The FBAR program was mainly aimed at people with Swiss bank accounts who were not reporting their income from those accounts. Romney had a Swiss bank account at the time.

And because Romney headed the audit committee at the time Marriott made extensive use of the Son of Boss tax shelter. Marriott was later found to have broken the law.

[Parkbandit]

Based on your posting history, I'm going to pass on that excuse.

Based upon your posting history, you should just accept it.