That's what Romney's advisors are banking on, that they can degrade the source... without releasing the returns.
Mitt has a habit of this. From the Gov. emails/hard drives, that he said were taken and erased so that no one could use them against him politically. And yet, people support that guy? And the olympics records? gone to a sealed location at a Unversity, DONATED so no one could use it against him politically.
I think the most disturbing thing about this, beyond the taxes, is that we're seeing the coverup of a person that could be the most ruthless, most secretive and deceptive, candide in history. I know that everyone who runs, wants to have that job.. but Romney seems to have spent his entire adult life ORCHESTRATING all of this. From his early days of deleting information, lying, and absolutely egregious attacks on anyone who runs against him.
Bush was a nincompoop. He destroyed so much, but he was not as ruthless and power-hungry as Romney. Perhaps only Nixon could match or even get close to Romney's lack of morals and authenticity. But I still think Romney is worse. A candidate that is changing by the minute, who outwardly lies as easily as breathing, who devastates anyone who runs against him, and who has burned bridges and files in his wake, should never never be President. I know that people poo poo the whole White Horse thing (unless it's Glenn Beck,) but sometimes.. I wonder if this is part of something larger.
ETA: It also struck me the other day that we never seen photos of Romney with friends. No one seems to really like that guy at all. Even his surrogates that want either a VP slot, or some slot in his cabinet, or money from military contracts, NEVER say anything GOOD about him...