Reid gave an interview to the Huffington Post in which he talked about Mitt Romney. I won't link to that site, but here is the story (with the HuffPo link) at Hot Air.
"His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son," Reid said, in reference to George Romney's standard-setting decision to turn over 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in the late 1960s. Saying he had "no problem with somebody being really, really wealthy," Reid sat up in his chair a bit before stirring the pot further. A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.
"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.
"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?
"You guys have said his wealth is $250 million," Reid went on. "Not a chance in the world. It's a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years when you're making millions and millions of dollars."
Naturally, as is the case with all baseless accusations and smear tactics, Reid would not reveal the name of the mysterious Bain investor. Huffington Post did point this out in the piece and also conceded:
Tellingly, neither Reid nor his office would reveal who the investor was, making it impossible to verify if the accusation is true. And as his quote makes clear, he's uncertain if the information is accurate. The Romney campaign's press secretary, Andrea Saul, has previously denied rumors that Romney didn't pay "any taxes at all."The average person might think that if Reid can't or won't back up his claim and even admits that he doesn't know if it's valid then responsible journalists would refrain from running the article. But of course, this is Huffington Post.
Romney's campaign adviser Kevin Madden told Huffington Post that Governor Romney had "gone above and beyond the disclosure requirements by releasing two years of personal tax returns in addition to the hundreds of pages of personal financial disclosure documents he has provided to the FEC and made public."
Madden added that it was "troubling and disappointing that Senator Reid would cite Governor Romney's father, George, as part of a personal attack against the governor. We have many substantive disagreements with the senator and his policies, but using insults about a father-son relationship is a step too far."
Allahpundit highlights the obvious weakness of this narrative:
Mitt Romney, who’s been running for political office for 20 years now, decided he’d gamble those prospects and risk time in a federal pen for tax evasion in order to save a few million dollars that he doesn’t need. And he made this decision year after year, for 10 years. Exit question via Philip Klein: “How would ‘a person who had invested with Bain Capital’ know about Romney’s personal tax returns anyway?”I've pointed out on Twitter that the only people who have a right to see the Romney tax returns - the IRS - have already seen them. And as far as anyone knows, there have never been any problems with them. Does anybody who isn't completely Kool-aid intoxicated think that Mitt Romney would actually run for the highest office in the land - twice! - while knowing that he has legal issues regarding his taxes lurking in the shadows? Of course not. But a man with an absolutely clean record might, which is what we have with Romney. He is correct in not handing even a minor victory to the Obama campaign by giving in to their blatant intimidation. They are the ones who are desperate and the more they squeal about it the worse it looks for them.
And as for Harry Reid...The Senate that he controls hasn't produced a federal budget (which it's supposed to do annually) since April 29, 2009. So who knows HOW taxpayer money is being wasted. Gee, thanks Harry Reid!
This is how the left rolls. Just like their trial lawyer constituency, throw some baseless claim out there for all to hear. It stays in jurors and voters minds. Great contrast you made with Harry's Senate not producing a budget for 3 years!
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