Mitt's Bain

 

Gov. Romney made Bain the #1 reference on his job application to the American people.

Gov. Romney's the one who decided his lack-luster term as Governor wouldn't serve the purpose. Bain is his whole campaign.

“The costs of not releasing the returns are clear, therefore he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them.” 

- George Will, pretty much the dean of conservative commentators

Now he shows us one year of info - a year during which he was already running for President and surely had at least one sensible advisor to help him keep his finances un-embarrassing.

Pitiful.

He has admitted that his records contain info that would be used by his opposition, and it must be worse than the info in the one he has already released. If the older records were virtually the same, he'd gladly release them and likely say "Na-na-na-na-na", at least mentally.

“He should release the tax returns tomorrow. This is crazy… you’ve got to release 6, 8, 10 years of back tax returns.”

- Bill Kristol, conservative commentator, Fox News

National Review, Will, Kristol, Perry, Paul, Bentley, Steele, Grassley, Barbour, Lugar, Frum, and lots more of the Republican leadership have called on him to, as Sarah! might say, "man up".

"The Romney campaign says he has released as many returns as candidate John Kerry did in 2004, and cites Teresa Heinz Kerry’s refusal to release any of her tax returns. Neither is an apt comparison [...]
Romney may feel impatience with requirements that the political culture imposes on a presidential candidate that he feels are pointless (and inconvenient). But he’s a politician running for the highest office in the land, and his current posture is probably unsustainable. In all likelihood, he won’t be able to maintain a position that looks secretive and is a departure from campaign conventions. The only question is whether he releases more returns now, or later [...]” 

- The National Review, leading conservative magazine

I disagree. I think he won't release them because he knows that he --
1) paid NO taxes one or more years,
2) will be documented to have seriously misled the public about his involvement with Bain after '99,
3) missed his financial commitment to the Mormon religion on one or more occasions, or
4) some other mortifying or even game-changing embarrassment.

“If you have things to hide, then maybe you’re doing things wrong. I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people.”

- Gov. Robert Bentley, (R-AL)

Gov. Romney really is in a Catch-22 bind. His emphasis on his business prowess demands he release them, but he has adamantly refused and will look weak if he backs down. And since by stonewalling he has succeeded in magnifying the issue, the embarrassment, whatever it is, will also be magnified.

“There is no whining in politics. …Stop demanding an apology, release your tax returns.”

- John Weaver, GOP strategist

Romney has been running for office for a lonnnnng time. He has won one race and served one unimpressive term as governor, renouncing his largest achievement. He is a smart, family-oriented, patriotic man but he is not, in my opinion, presidential material.

“…whenever you are asking for the vote of the American people you need to fully disclose what your holdings are, if you have any.”

- U.S. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)

Materially Governor Romney has some. And some.

I've said it before.

“Mitt Romney is not ready for prime time.”

- Terrell Shaw, Democratic blogger, Alone On a Limb