If you don’t stand for anything, you’ll fall for Mitt Romney
Some late Friday afternoon, probably in late July or early August, Mitt Romney will release his tax return for 2011. Though he’s been running for President for nearly a decade, he filed for an extension that is already months past the deadline most Americans abide by. He’s clearly taking all the time he can to make sure that it is released when it has the least possible impact.
Why? Mitt’s tax rate—under 15%–isn’t just lower than many bus drivers, it’s a perfect reminder of the ridiculousness of the Bush tax breaks for hedge fund managers that Mitt wants to extend and double down on. But Mitt has to release it eventually and will certainly do so when most of the media is on vacation.
You know by now that Mitt will never release the decade of tax returns that his father George Romney suggested that all candidates for president release. Why? Apparently he showed more than two decades of returns to John McCain and McCain picked Sarah Palin.
Hiding is Mitt’s best strategy. It’s how he’s raised his record low approval ratings. It’s how he keeps his campaign vague and his fundraising humming.
Let’s look at a list of what Mitt is hiding from the people he hopes will make him the most powerful man in the free world.
- Tax returns, 2011 specifically and the 23 years of returns he apparently showed to the McCain campaign
- The names of his secret bundlers who are raising millions on his behalf, breaking a bipartisan tradition of listing the names of these individuals who would have tremendous influence in a Romney Administration
- Digital records from his time as governor, all of which have been erased
- The names of the cabinet-level departments he’d eliminate
- A complete list of the tax deductions he’d eliminate to pay for another 15% tax break on top of the already unaffordable Bush tax breaks
- An actual plan to reduce the deficit
- An actual plan to improve the economy and create jobs
What do we have from Mitt Romney? A promise to defund Planned Parenthood. A promise to gut Medicare and public schools, funneling trillions into Wall Street. A pledge not to hire more fire fighters, police and teachers. Most of these pledges he’s since hedged or walked back. You can see why he’s reluctant to take a stand.
No one should doubt that a man who goes from being as pro-choice as Ted Kennedy to as anti-abortion rights as Pat Robertson virtually overnight will say anything to become president. For a Republican, this shiftiness may even result in a positive glow of moderation. That’s why I don’t bother calling Mitt a flip-flopper.
Where Mitt has ended up on every issue is right in line with Dick Cheney—except gay marriage where he sides with George W. Bush. Who looks at the last decade and thinks the lesson was “Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were right about everything”?
Only Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney is so extreme that his only solution is to hide this from the American people. And if we let him get away with it, we’ll get what we deserve.
[Eclectablog note: the mainstream media seems to be finally catching on to this. Check out this piece from the Associated Press from yesterday: Romney keeps secrets — unless law says he can’t.]
[Mitt/W. mashup picture by DonkeyHotey | Flickr]
