Even Republicans are now begging Mitt Romney to put out his tax returns and “take the hit for a day or two.” And Romney is flat-out refusing. That’s what this new Obama ad is all about.

Here’s some of the text of that ad:

Romney admits that over the last two years heโ€™s paid less than 15 percent in taxes on $43 million in income. Makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. We donโ€™t know because Romney has released just one full year of his tax returns. And wonโ€™t release anything before 2010…What is Mitt Romney hiding?

This isn’t a deliciously brilliant ad like the one that appeared over the weekend, but it’s a solid attack ad. And as a graduate of Glenn Beck University, I have to note that this Obama ad steals a page from Glenn’s I’m-just-asking-questions-here school of inquiry. That’s a smart move in this case.

I can’t imagine that the Romney campaign hasn’t run the public-relations calculations on these tax returns. And if they’ve run the calculations and they’re stonewalling on releasing the returns, that means that whatever is in these returns is a campaign-ending issue. So now they’re betting that the imagination of the American public isn’t as terrible as the truth of what’s in these returns. That’s a risky bet.

9 replies on “Man, Mitt Romney’s Taxes Must Be Really Bad”

  1. It seems like a pretty effective line of attack in making undecided (read: stupid) voters question Romney’s candidacy, but are we really going to post every campaign ad between now and November?

  2. I’m lazy – does anyone know if SLOG readers eat this shit up or something?

    WHY IS PC ALLOWED TO SHIT IN OUR EYES ABOUT THIS TEN TIMES A WEEK?

  3. Romney is either the dumbest, the most cynical, or the most arrogant politician we’ve seen in a long time. Or maybe he’s all three.

  4. How is the public supposed to “vet” a candidate without knowing how he made his money? Would “run-the-government-like-a-business” Romney takeover a company without looking at the books first? I doubt it.
    Its called due diligence.

  5. When Romney was in charge of the Salt Lake City Olympics, he openly said he took ONE MILLION DOLLAR$ from the Department of Education and funneled it into the Olympic coffers so HI$ bottom line would look good. Peter Ueberooth didn’t use a DIME of federal funds for the LA Olympics… Peter was a man of honor….

Comments are closed.