On Romney Taxes - Speculate This

[Tom Rinaldo]

Suppose, just suppose, that Harry Reid's source has an agreement with Reid. What if, as a last resort, he or she is willing to go on record regarding Romney's taxes? Except that he or she really would rather not have to go there if at all possible. So first Harry gets out in front and passes on the claim made to him in private in a public attempt to force Romney to release more of his tax returns. The clock keeps ticking toward an agreed upon date. When time runs out Reid's source goes public if all other efforts fail to flush out the Romney returns.

What if that's the deal that has already been made? If so it could help explain why Harry Reid seems so very confident in his position. One way or the other Reid will be vindicated. I wonder how many people are in a position to spill the beans on Romney? I wonder how many people now or formerly close to him the Romney campaign is paranoid about. It must make life uncomfortable within his circle.

I don't know the likelihood of any of this being the case, but it doesn't matter what I do or do not know. Romney has created a gaping void that we all are free to speculate about as long as he keeps hiding his tax returns from the public. In fact it's hard not to. As long as taxes are a campaign issue, and Republicans love to campaign on tax rates as an issue, this will not go away.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. It wouldn't make any sense for the accuser to go on the record.

That is just another rabbit hole of he said/she said - unless the accuser is in possession of the physical returns, as filed with the IRS.

My bet is that it is someone who Rmoney considered his "people" and under the inner circle dome of silence, listened to Mittens brag about his cracker jack tax team.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. I'm not convinced on that

Rabbit holes work against Romney on this because everyone knows that he has the power at the wag of a finger to end all speculation and void all "he said/she said" controversy simply by releasing the returns he has already filed with the IRS. Right now Reid and Romney are the role players in the "he said" controversy, and that alone isn't working for Romney he could supposedly shut down Reid by releasing his returns but refuses to.

A named source would dominate the news cycle for an entire week, with or without the physical returns in hand. That would just amp up the public impression that Romney is trying to hide something if he still refused to release more returns. All that time of course he would be pinned to playing defense

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. But rather than defense against a sitting Senator

this now turns to the press digging up the phone number of the 8th grade girlfriend and HS football coach of someone just to discredit them.

The proof is in the returns, and diversion from that is exactly what Rmoney wants. ANYTHING to get the focus off of the returns, and as any port in a storm, Reid's source would do just fine to them.

Rmoney has invited unlimited speculation as to what he is hiding - we are a lot better off just staying that course and granting him his wish.

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Classic Win/Win/Win

I am certain Democrats win if Romney releases his returns. That is probably the biggest win. Reid's comments helped provide legs to help this issue go the distance even if Romney never releases more returns. Big win that way too. I still disagree with your assessment of the repercussions of a source coming forward however. I am confident Reid is reporting accurately on this - it isn't in any way in his nature to go public with a false story of his own making. And I strongly suspect that anyone who got Reid's ear on this to the point where Reid went public with the allegations is a reputable source. The source going public IMO would NOT help Romney take the focus off his unreleased taxes. If the source agreed to be outed he or she would know they would be doing interviews about Romney's tax strategy on multiple network shows - NOT good for Romney. Yes they would attack that source, it would be the best of a poor set of choices for them assuming they still refused to release returns. But Romney needs to attack Obama, not keep the debate flaming over his own taxes. It would totally dominate the news cycle for a critical week down the stretch.

[sadbear]

2. It really doesn't matter if the source is real or not.

For Harry Reid's sake, I hope the source is real, but in the end, he can only lose if Mitt Romney releases his returns and totally disproves Reid.

Who actually thinks that's going to happen? Certainly, and we all know how Reid operates, Harry would only do this if he's got nothing to lose.