Further Light and Knowledge

Romney:


We all know about the flip-flopping and closely related pandering, but, until now, I've always thought Romney was quite intelligent. Well, I guess I still do. But why he's relying on this argument is unknown to me. Unless, and perhaps rightly so, he thinks most americans are so dumb they'll say, "yea, he's right!".

If he had a tithe of W's personality he would be running away with this shit. Lucky he doesn't.

Btw, the attack from Reid, Romney's brother in the gospel and in the priesthood, is interesting. I'm wanting to see that rivalry develop. I've never been too much of a Reid fan, but I love it that he called Romney out.



quote source: http://www.boston.com/politicalintellig ... story.html

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He never said it would be worth it; He only said it would be easy.

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The apple cannot be stuck back on the Tree of Knowledge; once we begin to see, we are doomed and challenged to seek the strength to see more, not less. ~ Arthur Miller

It wasn't an issue, I don't think, because Heinz-Kerry was not running for president. My understanding is that their finances have remained fairly segregated due to her family's wealth.

Bottom line is that is a straw man fallacy in the argument.

In this case, I really think that Mr Romney should take the advice of his father, who said (in paraphrase) that any presidential candidate that did not release tax returns for (I think he said 25 years) public scrutiny is trying to hide something.

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"To those seaching for truth - not the truth of dogma and darkness but the truth brought by reason, search, examination, and inquiry, discipline is required. For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope." - Thomas Edison

i don't get what you guys are talking about

Start with reading the story: http://www.boston.com/politicalintellig ... story.html

Then read the posts again. If you still don't get it, fuck it.

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He never said it would be worth it; He only said it would be easy.

It's obvious that Romney thought he wouldn't have to release those tax records - - he's counting on it. And it's also obvious that there's something there - - because if there wasn't, he wouldn't have a problem releasing them. So, there's something there that's worse than having the Senate Minority Leader tell the country that you didn't pay anything for 10 years.

McCain saw multiple years worth of Romney returns, and he picked Palin as a running mate.

This issue isn't going away.

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- CV Rick
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I had a friend who recently told me that Romney won't show anything earlier than 2010, because in 2009 there was an amnesty for people who had stashed huge amounts of money overseas to avoid taxes. They could come clean and not be charged or something. So in 2009, the speculation runs, he took the amnesty (which I assume means he paid his back taxes), but that returns going back any farther would show that he hadn't paid any taxes at all for X number of years until 2010.

My friend couldn't give me any sources, but claimed this is the current speculation about Romney's behavior around this issue. I haven't seen this anywhere myself, so I'm not sure whether it IS the current speculation or not. But if there is something to this, then Romney's behavior would make a lot of sense. He really can't show anything earlier than 2009 without serious political damage. It would be a calculation, as you say, Rick, of what damage would be worse - not showing anything and being THOUGHT a tax cheat, or showing the records and removing all doubt.

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The apple cannot be stuck back on the Tree of Knowledge; once we begin to see, we are doomed and challenged to seek the strength to see more, not less. ~ Arthur Miller

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/201 ... _see_.html



I don't know, I may disagree on this point. I don't really have a problem with the "I won't dignify that question with a response"--type response. If a claim is made without evidence it can be dismissed without evidence, right? I mean, if he had a bona fide meritorious position on this, I wouldn't have a problem with it. The problem is, he doesn't.

Now he has this ad (I think it was) where he admits asking Kennedy in the past for his tax returns was wrong and very conveniently now just realizes it? He's also taking the stance that it violates his privacy. Dude, you're running for president, you don't have privacy anymore.

This guy is just all over the place. As smart as he is, Obama is going to have a field day with him. And from watching Romney in the republican debates, even when he's winning he just comes off as a total asshole.

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He never said it would be worth it; He only said it would be easy.

BTW, if he indeed did take the 2009 amnesty, I wonder what his 2009 return looks like? I'm guessing he had to declare income from the past several years made from tax sheltered bank accounts. What do you think that amounts to? 10M? 40M? (the actual interest income, not the amount of funds) Shit, no wonder he won't release it.

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He never said it would be worth it; He only said it would be easy.

It seems that there are two competing claims at this point - one being that he paid a lot of taxes and one being that he paid nothing in taxes. The simple answer is the one that's going to resonate with the majority of voters - Let's just see the returns.

Reid's master stroke in making the accusation and then claiming it's from an unnamed source is that this is the exact kind of sourceless basis Fox News has been using to gin up a hundred stories over the past decade, but turned back around on the Republicans, they're going apeshit. I'm not in favor of using the "I was told" or "some people say" basis for a story, but I am in favor of giving someone a taste of their own medicine . . . and for using cliches in place of logic.

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- CV Rick
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If I were a rich bastard like Romney, I would do everything I could to avoid paying taxes. Hell, I'm not a rich bastard and I do what I can to legally pay the bare minimum. He probably found a loophole...so what? All sorts of banks and companies like GE do it all the time. To me, this isn't really the fault of these institutions and Romney. They are simply playing the system to their benefit. They would be stupid not to do so.

It is the fault of the congress for writing overly complex and therefore loophole friendly shitty tax law.

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All views expressed by jahedgpeth are the sole property of jahedgpeth inc. and subject to change by edit without notice.

I don't think anyone seriously believes that Romney broke the law. But if Romney made, say, a hundred million dollars over the last ten years, and paid nothing in taxes (or, best case for him, paid an average of 14% in taxes), it underscores just how incredibly slanted the entire system is toward the wealthy.

And this is the guy who wants further tax cuts for the rich.

*That's* what's politically damaging. Not that he did something illegal. But that he wants to take a system that hugely rigged for the benefit of him and his rich friends, and he wants to give himself an even BIGGER advantage over the rest of us.

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"If my life is mine,
what shouldn’t I do?"

--"Help, I'm Alive", Metric

++ This

I haven't heard anyone contend that Romney broke the law. But this is the dagger in the heart of free marketism - - if a man can have a net worth of between a quarter and a half a billion dollars - and that man can pay absolutely zero in taxes for ten years - and subsequently that man creates a net-zero or even a net-negative number of US jobs . . .

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- CV Rick
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I'll play along...

Why should anyone pay a higher percentage of their money than anyone else? 14% is already a huge dollar difference for Romney versus myself. Why should he pay 30% and I pay 15%?

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All views expressed by jahedgpeth are the sole property of jahedgpeth inc. and subject to change by edit without notice.

I have it on good authority that Harry Reid is a pedophile. I'm not going to provide any evidence, and I think Reid should provide proof that it is not true.

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"It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office."

- H. L. Mencken