Mitt Romney is taking a beating only a red-headed step-child could fully understand. And he’s taking it from conservatives who want nothing to do with his obfuscation and lack of transparency.
Said [George] Will: “If something’s going to come out, get it out in a hurry. I do not know why, given that Mitt Romney knew the day that McCain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president again that he didn’t get all of this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts and all the rest. The cost of not releasing the returns are clear. Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them.”
GOP strategist Matthew Dowd had a similar view: “There’s obviously something there, because if there was nothing there, he would say, ‘Have at it.’ So there’s obviously something there that compromises what he said in the past about something.”
Meanwhile, William Kristol told Fox News: “He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy. You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two.”
Hell, even the governor of Alabama thinks that Romney should release his tax returns, even if he’s kind of waffling about the issue.
If Mitt Romney thought the Republican Establishment or the base was going to have his back on this, he was obviously mistaken. So, what can we conclude from this? Why are high-powered Republican commentators and politicians knee-capping their nominee in such a public manner?
Don’t be tempted to believe that these folks are standing up for principle. I know you can’t be that stupid. They’re probably in two camps. The first camp thinks Romney is merely making a miscalculation and they think they’re offering him savvy political advice. The second camp knows why Romney isn’t releasing his tax returns and they’ve given up on him winning the election. They’re straight-up saying that Romney’s hiding something so devastating that he’s unelectable. They just want to disassociate themselves from him and hope that he doesn’t have negative coattails on House and Senate races.
William Kristol is in the first (stupid) category. George Will and Matt Dowd are in the latter (smart) category.
I would bet he “shorted” the American dollar during the recession. Just a wild thought but I get the impression that Mitt can’t resist making money.
Actually during most recent recessions / downturns we’ve seen a deflation trade (i.e. going long the dollar rather than short the dollar) be the profitable one since the dollar is seen as the strongest world currency and thus the safest bet in a bad economy.
Convention is still plenty in the future – possible they’ll change nominee? (not that that will help)
Who’s going to rescue them? Why would a guy with a legitimate shot in 2016 want to blow that to run a last minute campaign against an incumbent? No doubt they could recruit Santorum or someone else not ready for prime time. But that would be suicide for down ticket races. I think the reasoning is what Booman said — correct the candidate or dissociate from a sure loser and hope he doesn’t do too much harm down ticket.
William Kristol is in the first (stupid) category. George Will and Matt Dowd are in the latter (smart) category.
It doesn’t mean, though, that Will or Dowd are very bright over all. Just two chumps trying to stay relevant if Willard gets smoked this fall.
I think the question is: who would McCain whisper a juicy rumor to?
Because McCain knows what’s in Mitt’s tax forms. Oh, I’m sure that forms are massive, with lots of places to hide dirt, but likely some obvious candidacy-killer stuff as well.
After the “good turn” that Kristol did for his campaign in 2008, I doubt that he could get the time of day from McCain. But Will? Quite possibly.
Anybody ask Joe Lieberman what he thinks about it?
In addition to what Booman said, I think some of these guys don’t like being put in the position of having to take an indefensible position. They see Mitt going down and don’t want to damage their own reputations, to whatever extent they would, by making a foolish argument on behalf of a fool.
George Will just made an idiot of himself again on climate change denial, what, last week? And you’re thinking he’s worried about an indefensible position?
These guys will advocate ten indefensible positions before breakfast if they think there’s money or power as a payoff for it. I think Booman summarized what’s going on pretty well. Rats fleeing the sinking yacht.
Exactly. I figure they’re pissed at Romney because they prefer lying that is brazen, not weaselly.
Lord, may it be so.
I think the second camp also wants a brokered convention and Jeb Bush to come riding up on a white horse.
Jeb is precisely the kind of guy who stands to lose a contest in ‘012 against an incumbent when he could just bide his time and mount a much stronger run in ‘016. Not to mention the extra cushion of 4 more years disassociation and “uniquely American” amnesia from his brother’s disastrous reign. Iirc, he’ll only be 64, perfect time to launch an 8-year presidential career. He’d be a supreme fool to run against Obama now.
And anyway, brokered conventions are icky. He’ll have legitimacy problems on top of everything else.
So if, in the face of all this, Jeb turns out to be the man, be afraid. It means he’s 100% confident he’s not throwing away a better prospect 4 years down the line.
Any chance he might quit the race, maybe told to do so by party elites? I wonder what would happen then.
That would be a mess. The Primaries are over.
I don’t see them getting another nominee at the Republican Convention. Yet.
Hey, Ron Paul has lots of delegates!