So, the word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t. We already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and a Swiss banking account. Mitt Romney makes more money in a single day than the average middle-class family makes in two years or more.
. . . I am not basing this on some figment of my imagination/ I have had a number of people tell me that. I don’t think the burden should be on me. The burden should be on him. He’s the one I’ve alleged has not paid any taxes.
~ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Well, it’s time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry’s going to have to describe who it is he spoke with, because, of course, that’s completely and totally wrong. It’s untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It’s wrong. So I’m looking forward to have Harry reveal his sources, and we’ll probably find out it’s the White House.
~ Mitt Romney on Fox
Harry Reid's statements are baseless and untrue, and I would ask him one simple question - 'Have you no sense of decency, Sir?' Is there nothing that you won't do to debase yourself and the office you hold, in the name of dirty politics?
. . . This reminds me of the McCarthy hearings back in the 1950s.
~ Romney Advisor Eric Fehrnstrom on Fox News
Fehrnstrom's line, "Have you no decency, sir?" is a paraphrase of what Army lawyer Joseph N. Welch asked Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in 1954, when he famously stood up to the powerful, witch-hunting senator who was falsely accusing people of being Communists.
~ Huffington Post
What needs to happen is the focus needs to shift to Harry Reid and his questionable legal behavior here. If anybody deserves to be investigated, it is Harry Reid for what he's doing and how he's doing it. The media has become a bunch of hecklers. They're not journalists seeking information. They're not asking questions that are on the minds of the American people. They're seeking to trip Romney up. Obama is nothing. He's not even president of the United States right now. He's not even celebrity of the US. He is the fundraiser-in-chief. We know that every poll out there, other than Rasmussen, is oversampling Democrats. Every one of them. We know that these people on the Democrat side are lying to themselves with their polls about how well Obama is doing. Harry Reid is starting to sound like an angry old white man. He's sounding deranged.
~ Rush Limbaugh
Reid's speculation on Romney's taxes is McCarthyism? Can a Godwin episode be far behind?
~ Meteor Blades on Daily Kos
It's always hilarious to hear the party of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove talk about the harsh tone of politics.
~ comment by jj32 on Daily Kos
"McCarthyism"??? RotFLMAO . . . This from the campaign that has, so far as I can tell, refused to comment on the true McCarthyism from Bachmann, Gohmert, Westmoreland, et al
~ comment by Its the Supreme Court Stupid on Daily Kos
Mitt Romney could "shut up" Harry Reid. Mitt Romney could "shut up" all of us by doing what every presidential candidate does and show his tax returns. Every day that Mitt Romney refuses to show his tax returns costs him politically and therefore logically casts more and more suspicion on why he is not releasing his tax returns.
~ Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC
Tax Montage & Discussion from Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We now have a couple of responses, Anderson. Let me read you the first one, that is, "Senator Reid stands by his comments. Governor Romney's continued refusal to release his tax returns raises legitimate questions about what he is hiding and whether he paid any taxes at all. Governor Romney can easily end this debate by following the precedent set by his father and releasing his tax returns."
And as you were coming on the air, Anderson, I got a follow-up like the statement, which also stands by what they call his credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for 10 years, and he's calling Romney playing tricks, many tricks at his disposal for avoiding taxes. So not backing down at all.
I got to tell you, covering Harry Reid for a lot of years, there are times when he says things off the cuff that make his aides wince, like talking smelly tourists in the capitol. I'm not making this up. This is not one of those times.
This is one of those times where he knows exactly what he's doing. He's doing it on purpose. He's doing it for political reasons because he wants this issue, Romney's taxes, to be talked about on programs like yours, and wants it to be headlines in newspapers, and wants Mitt Romney to respond on this issue, which they think is a negative for Romney as opposed to issues that Romney wants to talk about.
. . . But this is -- when Harry Reid doesn't like somebody, he goes for the jugular. And that is what he is doing now. He is an old boxer and he still likes to be a political street fighter. He knew full well that he was going to be questioned over and over again on who his source was. And he said -- he's told people close to him who I have spoken today that he didn't care. He's not telling going to tell who his source is.
But I did speak, I just have to tell you, that I did speak to one source who's very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who this Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that this is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand that they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney's tax returns. Whether we'll find it out ever, who knows. But they're doing this on purpose so that this is the discussion.
MORMON SMACKDOWN!
@mittromney vs@senatorreid: 'Extremely credible source says#MittTwit PAID NO TAXES FOR TEN YEARS'! huff.to/OMixum — βℒⒶℤΣ∞ℙℋ♀ξℕÎ✘ ☮❤Ⓐ (@BlazePhoenix_) August 3, 2012
#HarryReidsCredibleSource - You realize Mitt Romney could probably force Harry Reid to resign if he just released his taxes. Why won't he? — Hesiod Theogeny (@Hesiod2k11) August 3, 2012
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@mittromney Lemme tell ya how it works in real life.You prove Harry Reid wrong.If you can't, you have proven him right. — Sherrie Hussein GG (@SherrieGG) August 3, 2012
Instead of refuting Harry Reid's claims about Romney not paying taxes for 10 years, Adviser whines about it. huff.to/ODLBSR
#p2 — Simon Says (@SayethSimon) August 2, 2012
Limbaugh orders Romney not to release tax records b/c Obama wants to anger "uninformed class" w/ "complicated" files bit.ly/Oso2Ml
— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 3, 2012
Romney attacked his 02 opponent for not releasing tax returns saying the burden of proof was hers:"What is she hiding?" buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynsk…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 2, 2012
CNN is NOW CONFIRMING the earlier report about not paying income tax for 10 years. Thank you Dana Bash and
— Patrick Terrill (@PatricknSD) August 3, 2012@senatorreid
