Jon Stewart’s Harry Reid Call Out On Mitt Romney Taxes Purely Right But Politically Wrong

[egbertowillies]

Original Post HERE.

I started writing this blog and came up with the following.

Title:
“Jon Stewart Right-Sen Reid: No Need For Hear-Say Tax Info on Romney–His Anti-Middle Class Actions Suffice”.

Blog:
I will be honest; as soon as I got the tweet stating that Senator Harry Reid said that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for 10 years my brain waves went abuzz. This was the smoking gun many bloggers were waiting for. Before I blogged about it I had to do my research. After-all I do not want to provide my readers with bad information that I then have to redact.

When I read the Huffington Post article all I could say was “Darn, I can’t write that”. I try to keep gossip on my blog to a minimum and facts to the max. This morning in going through my news feed Jon Stewart in his ever funny but accurately interpretive form expressed most of my sentiment. Watch the video here.

We have spent three and a half years with the Right Wing misinforming Americans. They have spent millions if not billions convincing Americans to vote against their own interest or convince them to oppose middle class centric policies like healthcare reform, banking reform, Wall Street reform, and much more. Having the majority leader of the Senate put this message in the public domain will give the Right Wing carte blanche to accuse us of misinformation.

Before I could complete the blog my phone rang. It was Dr. John Theis, one of my good friends, professor of government, and political activist. He said in his normal raspy voice, “Egberto, did you read the article a few days ago about Harry Reid saying a Bain Capital guy told him Romney had not paid taxes in 10 years?” This guy must have ESP. I told him I did but was disappointed with Harry for the reasons I stated up in the original blog. While I stand by the above statement in a pure world I had to listen to Dr. Theis’ point of view because his was the only way that would likely move the issue forward.

We have little information on Mitt Romney’s business dealings and their tax implications. As I stated in this blog post, if he wants to be president America has a right to know about these issues. He found some method to get between $21 million and $102 million in a IRA, an impossibility for most Americans following the letter and spirit of the law.

As Dr. Theis said, both the President and Senator Reid may already have the real information and attempting to force Mitt Romney’s hand. As long as Mitt Romney holds on to the information neither the President nor Senator Reid can put it out there so some third party likely would. The gravitas of Senator Reid along with others making these statements however unsubstantiated but plausible forces Romney to release the information if they got it wrong or continue to hold on to his returns if they have it right or less wrong.

Does the end justify the means? For a potential president the answer is a categorical yes. The president is the head of the largest economy in the world and his views and implementation of capitalism is relevant. If Romney shows that he paid no taxes, or shows an inordinate amount of sheltered monies overseas, or betted against America during the financial collapse, or took amnesty to bring his monies back into the US it makes him unfit to serve. At that point he would have failed the most important test of being a good patriotic American.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

Jon Stewart, while the video is amusing and funny and right in a pure world, you are absolutely wrong in the political world.

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[high density]

1. Jon Stewart is not a politician

I simply skipped the segment on the show... I see where he's coming from but it's about time the Democrats started utilizing some of the Republican tactics. We've seen over and over that even if the Democrats play nicely, they get accused of something ridiculous via false equivalence anyway. We need to win elections, not worry about being Mr. Nice Guy.

[roguevalley]

4. Harry should have left off editorializing about his dead father's feelings of shame

over his son. That is not his to decide. However, Dana bash said its true. Outside confirmation. You know it will be coming and his hand will be forced. Or he will quit.

[Enrique]

2. Jon Stewart is wrong, imo

And not just on the politics. I think there is nothing wrong in any way with Reid's speculations.

there is the assumption that Reid is accusing Romney of something, but that assumption is wrong. If Romney paid zero taxes it would not be a crime and it would not be wrongdoing. It would be just the way things are.

Reid is speculating, is this the way things are? Mitt has said that he SHOULD minimize his taxes to the fullest extent, his is OBLIGATED to do so. Ok, so what does that mean, what exactly are you obligated to do? Let's see the returns and see what we're talking about.

[malthaussen]

3. Tactically sound, but the personal cheap-shot unwarranted.

That's my take. I think the expanded quote encompassing what Mr Romney's father "might" be thinking was totally uncalled-for, in poor taste, and nothing more than a personal attack. There is no political or tactical content there.

As for the hearsay portion of Mr Reid's statement, I think that is simply good tactics in this election. It would be nice to live in a world where hearsay and innuendo did not circle the globe before truth could get its shoes on, but we do not live in such a world and probably never have. But personal sneers are right out, as far as I am concerned.

-- Mal

[stanchaz]

5. DEMAND the returns!

Hey Jon Stewart....what are YOU hiding in your tax returns? contributions to Romney?

We have a RIGHT to se the tax returns of everyone who wants to be President!

If Romney is not lying about paying "lots" of taxes then it probably means 4 or 5 % on his millions

which is "alot" BUT...while the rest of us pay double-digits in percent.

Demand the Romney returns! And shape up Stewart!

[Liberalynn]

6. Totally Agree With You!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. YES!

[Jennicut]

7. It's nothing different then the Repubs have done to Dems for years.

It's about time we fought back as ruthlessly as they attack us. The bottom line is Mitt Romney won't release his taxes and the question is why. He brought the speculation on himself.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. I totally agree and it's about time we fought back

time after time if the GOP complains we back off - why?

We need to go for the jugular now!

[Evergreen Emerald]

8. Stewart's analysis is superficial...and does not ferret out Romney's history. But:

Stewart is not a journalist. I should expect more from journalists.

The standard response from main stream media is to cover for the republican and avoid journalism.