“You’re going to have to trust me on it”: While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may have gone too far in his accusation that Mitt Romney did not pay any taxes over ten years, there’s a simple way for the Republican presidential candidate to end this -- release more tax returns. But that’s unlikely to happen, if history is any guide.
In 2002, when Romney was running for governor of Massachusetts, his candidacy was almost disqualified for failing to meet the state’s residency requirements. Romney maintained for years that he had paid taxes in Massachusetts, and thus qualified as a resident, despite living in Utah to run the Olympic games, but it eventually came out that he had actually been paying taxes in Utah. Asked about the discrepancy, Romney claimed he didn’t read the tax returns he signed and submitted (under penalty of perjury). When it later came out that he had received tax breaks in Utah, he blamed a clerk in a local tax assessor's office in the state. When a reporter said Romney had told him something that conflicted with his story, the reporter was subpoenaed. When Romney was asked by another reporter about tax breaks in Utah, Romney said he would get back to him, but then refused to. "You're going to have to take my word for it,” he said at the time. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has the story:
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We found some jobs: The government’s official jobs report for July, out this morning, shows the economy added a surprisingly strong 163,000 jobs in July, the most in 5 months, though the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 8.3 percent. The two figures are calculated from different surveys, so they can move somewhat independently of each other. Private sector payrolls were up even higher, to 172,000 jobs. Analysts had expected much weaker growth of under 100,000 after several months of disappointing numbers, so the report is a nice positive surprise.
Steve King’s epic week: The Iowa congressman known for outlandish comments is hitting it out of the park this week, perhaps jealous of all the attention Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Muslim witch hunt has received. On Monday, he defended dog fighting. On Tuesday he went hardcore birther, saying Obama’s family may have placed birth announcements in Hawaii newspapers via a “telegram from Kenya.” On Wednesday, he defended his comments about dog fighting by stating (inexplicably) that it’s “not against the law in the United States of America” to rape and kidnap a little girl, then force her to get an abortion. And yesterday, he said that he hates ATMs that let you choose between English and Spanish, explaining, "The argument that diversity is our strength has really never been backed up by logic.” So hats off to you Steve King, you are are once again the craziest person in Washington.
Ann Romney’s horse ballet: Ann Romney’s dressage horse Rafalca came in fourth place yesterday in the Olympics, a strong showing, but not enough to podium. Still, as the Guardian notes, she did better than her husband: “Never for a second during her seven-minute performance did a hoof stray dangerously mouthwards, nor did she do anything at all to offend or upset the host nation.”
The DCCC, Sheldon Adelson, and prostitution: The campaign arm of House Democrats has issued an apology to the GOP’s number one money man, Sheldon Adelson, after implicating him in a prostitution scandal. There have been news reports that Adelson was in bed with Chinese mob leaders to bring prostitutes to his casinos in China, but the DCCC must have gotten a letter from someone’s attorney, since just a few hours after they put out a press release noting the prostitution issue, the committee issued this statement: “In press statements issued on June 29 and July 2, 2012, the DCCC made unsubstantiated allegations that attacked Sheldon Adelson, a supporter of the opposing party. This was wrong. The statements were untrue and unfair and we retract them,” the DCCC wrote. “The DCCC extends its sincere apology to Mr. Adelson and his family for any injury we have caused.”
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