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From Business Insider
Harry Reid Is The Democratic Party's Evil Genius
~ Romney has backed himself into a corner that will be tough to get out of. If he relents to Reid's demands, then Reid wins. If he doesn't, then Reid and other Democrats will keep making it an issue.
~ Reid has pretty successfully made this issue a loaded question. The only way to completely disprove Reid is to release the tax returns. And if he doesn't, it will add to the perception that there's something veiled behind his "put up or shut up" words. Because...
~ Keep in mind that a majority of voters — and, crucially, Independent voters — want Romney to release his tax returns, according to Gallup. In the clearest sign that Romney has bungled this issue, most people think that a presidential candidate's tax returns are irrelevant, except in Romney's case.
~ Reid doesn't have to worry about re-election — if, at 76 years of age, he will seek re-election — until 2016.
Reid was a boxer in his youth, and what he did to Romney was the equivalent of a head butt.
~ Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post
Four Pinocchios for Harry Reid’s claim about Mitt Romney’s taxes
This whole exchange poses a fact-checking conundrum. Generally, we maintain that the person or the campaign making the charge must back it up. Reid has refused to provide any evidence, except for the (unproven) fact that someone called him up and told him something that may be true — or simply a rumor.
. . . We use a reasonable person standard here. Without seeing Romney’s taxes, we cannot definitively prove Reid incorrect. But tax experts say his claim is highly improbable. Reid also has made no effort to explain why his unnamed source would be credible. So, in the absence of more information, it appears he has no basis to make his incendiary claim.
~ So-called "Fact Checker" for Wa Po, Glenn Kessler admitting that he can't check anything, which illogically proves somehow that Harry Reid is wrong
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
When is the last time any of these a$$hats scolded, say, Mitch McConnell or John Boehner for acting inappropriately for their "position of authority"?
The double standard is ridiculous.
~ comment by happy camper on Daily Kos
Kessler, like other fact-checkers, is really hung up on this idea that tax experts—as opposed to, say, Mitt Romney—can clear up whether Harry Reid is lying, which is irrelevant to anything because the issue is not about Harry Reid. It's about Mitt Romney. But that's something lost on the hacktastic fact-checkers. Kessler even speaks to "a number of tax experts," who agree . . .
The idea that asking tax experts to explain what might be in Mitt's taxes, or how much he might have paid, or which loopholes he might have exploited is a gigantic steaming waste of time. Why speculate? Why not just look at Mitt's tax returns to know for certain what's in there? Oh yeah. Because he refuses to provide any evidence to back up his incendiary claims.
. . . Reid holds a position of great authority—Mitt Romney merely wants to be president of the United State of America. Clearly, Reid carries that additional burden of accuracy that simply does not apply to Mitt.
~ Kaili Joy Gray on Daily Kos
Reid is punching away, having the time of his life. Nancy Pelosi has his back. It's not Democrats who are shirking from the attack, despite the fact checker's bullshit "tsk, tsks," it's the Republicans who are in disarray over how Romney should respond (read this National Review editorial, and then for laughs, read the comments).
We wouldn't have Republicans and the Romney campaign so dramatically off-message, for yet another week, if it wasn't for Reid. The old boxer is showing some fight, and if he had to go down into the gutter to land his blows, all the more props to him.
~ Markos on Daily Kos, after making Reid the "Democrat of the Week"
I have no idea why Reid decided to go all-in on this point. Maybe he's just fed up with the Republicans and what they've done to the Senate that he loves. Maybe it's some sort of intramural Mormon brawl that the rest of us just don't understand. I am open to any suggestion based on the concept of pure old-dude cussedness. I don't have any idea whether Willard Romney paid no taxes, or some taxes, or paid an annual tribute to Anubis, Egyptian God Of The Dead, over the years in question. Neither, I would point out, do Glenn Kessler, or his tax experts, or the PolitiFact elves, or Reince Priebus. This is because Willard Romney, unlike any presidential candidate of my experience, declines to share those details with The Help as he seeks to be appointed CEO of America.
~ Charles P. Pierce on Esquire
The media tolerates no end of birther nonsense and other paranoid fantasies from the right, but let Harry Reid accuse Mitt Romney of not paying his taxes and all hell breaks loose. . . . What really seems to be going on here is that a Democrat is successfully engaged in the sort of hardball tactics that Republicans usually have a monopoly on, and the media don’t quite know what to make of it. When it comes to making wild, unsubstantiated allegations, the GOP benefits from the soft bigotry of low expectations—at this point, few people can bring themselves to get that worked up about insane Republican mudslinging. Yet when a Democrat even tiptoes in that direction it’s news, and a chance for pundits to demonstrate the bipartisan bona fides so valued in the Beltway. ~ Michelle Goldberg in The Daily Beast
A major case of Reid-Rage.
~ Rachel Maddow
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HURT: The improbable reign of Harry Reid, mumbling gangster - Washington Times: washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/… via
— Patrick Malley (@OleSarge51) August 7, 2012@washtimes
Yep, Henry Reid is my hero of the week week, too.Dems can learn a lot from him! dailykos.com/story/2012/08/…
— Lorena Gonzalez (@LorenaSGonzalez) August 7, 2012
Liars, Damned Liars, and Harry Reid: americanthinker.com/2012/08/liars_…
— MBKing (@imsure) August 7, 2012#tcot#Romney#USA#NObama
Harry Reid is a genius!
— Cate Kurtis (@CateMayday) August 7, 2012
It's been 8 days since Harry Reid released his statement about Romney not paying taxes.. Come on, Mitt - Show us your taxes!
— Doug Porter (@dougporter506) August 7, 2012
