The Other McCain

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Axelrod’s Nixonian Manipulations: Tax Flap Is About Mitt’s Mormon Millions

Posted on | July 24, 2012 | 63 Comments

Back in March, when the fight for the Republican Party nomination was still very much in doubt, I warned that the “electability” arguments made on behalf of Mitt Romney were apt to be falsified by a liberal media that would not hesitate to make Romney’s Mormonism an issue:

If they can’t beat Romney with the “greedy Wall Street 1-percenter” class-warfare argument, the Democrats will not hesitate to Do Whatever It Takes to Win.
If Romney gets the nomination and we reach late September with Romney leading the polls, what do you think the Democrat-Media Complex will do? Whatever It Takes to Win, sweetheart.
Can’t you see the five-part New York Times series on the history of Mormonism? Can’t you see Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News and David Gregory on Meet the Press doing Serious Journalism about all the beliefs and practices of the LDS, and ponderously asking What It Means for America?

That was March 6 — Super Tuesday — and I continued pointing out recurrences of the “Mormon Mitt” meme over the ensuing weeks. The closer Mitt came to clinching the GOP nomination, the less secretive the Democrat-Media Complex became about their belief that Romney’s religion would be a general-election vulnerability.

As I predicted in March, however, playing the Mormon card would be a last-ditch measure, to which the media and the Obama campaign (but I repeat myself) would resort only after the class-warfare argument failed. What I didn’t expect in March was that the class-warfare argument would fail as early as it apparently has, and that Democrats would arrive at their last ditch by late July.

The Obama campaign invested many millions of dollars in TV ads hammering Romney as a rich guy who outsourced jobs to China, blah blah blah and . . . Nothing. Zero. Zilch. The RCP poll average hasn’t shifted noticeably in Obama’s direction, his campaign spending is out of control, Obama stepped on a land-mine with his “you didn’t build that” gaffe, and the major swing states are still in play for the GOP.

If things keep going on the current path, Obama’s looking like a certain loser on Nov. 7. It is thus a curiously timed coincidence to see John Heilemann of New York magazine speculating that the reason Romney won’t release his tax returns is because . . . MITT’S A MORMON!

The depth to which Romney has dug in his heels has naturally provoked a welter of speculation about what in God’s name is in the returns—and just how bad it could be. . . .
My own guess, however, is that apart from one or more of these elements, what the Romney tax returns would lay bare is the extent of his donations to his church. In this case and all others, charitable donations are something to be proud of, an entirely honorable thing. But for a candidate who has taken extravagant pains to avoid discussion of his supremely prominent role in contemporary Mormonism, the idea of a wave of news stories detailing the tens of millions of dollars that he has given to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — surely making him among its most generous funders in the modern era — must be a kind of nightmare. . . .
One sign that this issue is weighing on Romney’s mind was the performance that his wife, Ann, turned in on Good Morning America last week. In an uncomfortable exchange with Robin Roberts about her husband’s position on the tax returns, Mrs. Romney said, “You should really look at where Mitt has led his life and where he’s been financially. He’s been a very generous person. We give 10 percent of our income to our church every year. Do you think that is the kind of person that is trying to hide things?”

Heilemann expresses this as his “own guess,” but then immediately points out how Ann Romney’s Good Morning America interview “was seen in Chicago,” i.e., by the Obama campaign:

[I]t suggested that, far more than Bain, the question of the tax returns is getting under the Romneys’ collective skin. That is certainly how it was seen in Chicago. And that is why, though some combination of Team Romney’s attacks on Obama, the Olympics, and the nominee’s selection of his running mate may have the effect of shifting the subject, the effect will only be temporary. For beyond what Chicago is gleaning from its polling and focus groups, the president’s people see in the issue of the tax returns a way to get inside his head.
“One of the things we learned during the Republican primaries is that you can rattle Romney more easily than people think,” says a senior Obama strategist. “And when he’s rattled is when he makes mistakes.”

Reverse-engineering Heilemann’s article permits us to understand what this “controversy” is really all about. The media have made a big deal about Romney’s tax returns at the behest of Obama campaign. Heilemann and others spent weeks singing in unison from this particular hymnal, eagerly and shamelessly doing David Axelrod’s bidding. And why does Obama’s campaign team want those IRS documents (which they’ve obviously already seen themselves) made public?

For the exact reason that Heilemann suggests: Because Romney’s tithing makes him one of the leading funders of Mormonism in the entire history of the LDS church.

Heilemann’s sycophantic stenography conveys Axelrod’s purpose: Mitt isn’t “hiding” anything that Axelrod doesn’t already know about, OK?

It would be a violation of federal law for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to provide copies of Romney’s tax returns to the Obama campaign, but when has Geithner ever shown any reluctance to violate federal law? Does anyone really believe that Obama’s re-election campaign is more scrupulously law-abiding than Nixon’s historically notorious Committee to Re-Elect the President?

Hell, no.

Axelrod and his henchmen know exactly what’s in Romney’s IRS returns and have a strategic purpose in mind for this information, but they also know that they can’t use it unless Romney himself releases those documents. And they’re so eager about this that they are unable (or perhaps consider it unnecessary) to conceal their intentions from friendly liberal reporters like John Heilemann.

So when I woke up this morning and saw Heilemann on MSNBC telling Joe and Mika what political use the unreleased IRS documents would serve for the Obama campaign, I knew that this was like a strategy memo straight from David Axelrod: If, as some have urged, Romney were to release a full decade of his tax returns, we would learn that Romney’s cumulative contributions to the Mormon church have added up to a Very Large Number. Imagine the reaction if the New York Times could publish this headline:

TAX FORMS SHOW MITT ROMNEY GAVE
MORE THAN $50 MILLION TO MORMONS

Getting that Very Large Number into the public domain is what this media-generated controversy is really all about.

Whatever else is in Romney’s IRS file is incidental to Axelrod’s strategic purpose of using the tax forms to make Mitt’s Mormonism a Legitimate News Story, to justify all those “in-depth reports” and “investigative series” about the LDS church.

And they think we’re too stupid to see what they’re doing.

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Category: Barack Obama, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Religion

Comments

63 Responses to “Axelrod’s Nixonian Manipulations: Tax Flap Is About Mitt’s Mormon Millions”

  1. Mortimer Snerd
    July 24th, 2012 @ 10:11 am

    Whatever the reason, Romney’s refusal to release the returns will continue to be the gift that keeps on giving from now clear up to the election.  The Demonrats would be stupid not to take advantage of it.  

  2. Bob Belvedere
    July 24th, 2012 @ 10:28 am

    Couple the amount the Returns will show that he has given* to his church with the — you have to admit — unusual, shall we say, beliefs and practices of the Mormons you know those future reports will intensely highlight, you can see clearly that Axelrod and company are planning on portraying Mr. Romney as ‘weird’ and ‘out of the American Mainstream’.

    This is particularly interesting because, in fact, it is Obama and his people that are those things — they are unAmerican in all they believe and do.

    Well put, Stacy.

    _
    *BTW: Isn’t Tithing a Protestant tradition, long considered normal and acceptable?

  3. Get Ready For Mormon Mania « The Camp Of The Saints
    July 24th, 2012 @ 10:57 am

    […] against Willard M. Romney effect the latter’s standing, so, as Stacy McCain points out in a well-done piece of analysis, it must time to go after Mr. Romney for his membership in the Church Of Latter Day Saints: […]

  4. Red Dawn
    July 24th, 2012 @ 10:58 am

    David “Pavel” Axelrod comes from a long line of Russian Mensheviks. 

    Seriously.

  5. Come, Come, Ye Saints | hogewash
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:08 am

    […] That means that rich Mormons give substantial sums of money to the LDS Church. As Stacy McCain notes, public release of the Romney tax returns would show how much he has given–at that could be […]

  6. PGlenn
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:27 am

    First-rate analysis, RSM.

    This raises a few follow-up questions. For example, any chance that the Beltway/establishment GOP figures who argued (or demanded) that Romney release all the tax returns also knew about Axelrod’s Nixonian plan?

    Either way, it doesn’t speak well of our alleged allies among the establishment that they might have indirectly helped facilitate Axelrod’s cynical ploy. Either, A). They inadvertantly but recklessly charged ahead before seriously contemplating reasons why the Democrat-media complex was going all-out on the “release the tax returns” campaign; or B). They knowingly helped to facilitate the ploy. Which is worse?

    Team Romney is right to ignore this silly demand.

  7. W. J. J. Hoge
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:29 am

    Mitt Romney’s charitable giving compared to Barack Obama’s charitable giving may be a feature instead of a bug.

  8. Joe_Detweiler
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:30 am

    My gut instinct is that this will backfire. Almost all the prejudice against Mormons that I’ve run across in my life has been by liberals and Obama is already getting their votes. I think most religious conservatives and moderates will interpret this as an attack on religion in general.

  9. Peter Ingemi
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:43 am

     Agree it’s a logical democrat move, disagree that it will make a difference

  10. Adobe_Walls
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:49 am

    Mitt should give the numbers (ball park) of his charitable giving while not releasing his tax returns and then highlight what that money is used for.
     One of his PACs should be trumpeting the little remarked fact that he donated his inherited money. Only liberals think giving money to ones church is wrong.

  11. Dianna Deeley
    July 24th, 2012 @ 11:57 am

    Also take note that Bloomberg Business Week had an article/hit piece on the Mormon Church’s businesses as its cover story last week. 

  12. Killian
    July 24th, 2012 @ 12:29 pm

    When Romney was getting bruised on this in the Primary by his Primary opponents (unfairly, I might add) is when he should have gone forward and just released 10 years.  It should have just been like a bandage he ripped off and gotten over with.

    At the end of the day, Romney only releasing 2 years of tax returns versus 10 years is not going to sway any votes, no matter how much Democrats want to talk about it.  You haven’t seen any movement in the polls as a result of Obama spending $100 million talking about it along with the MSM pushing it at every opportunity.  Also, I don’t think Romney being generous to his church is going to hurt him with anyone but militant secularists that already hate Mormons and conservatives,

    I’ve been pleasantly surprised that for the most part, Romney’s campaign has shown some spine.  My only real criticism is I think Romney should have demanded his own disclosure of Obama’s academic transcripts as soon as Obama brought up tax returns.  That would have shut Axelrod up in a hurry.

  13. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 1:34 pm

    The problem is, that while tithing is a long established tradition — and as such inconsequential — it goes a bit beyond that with the LDS.  They have to tithe that 10% in order to get their recommends (or whatever it’s about).

    This will seem a bit bizarre (and/or can be made to look so) to the rest of America.  Couple this with the secrecy of the church itself, and it’s a ploy the Dems were bound to try (and it does take some of the heat off of their boy and his weirdness/weird associates).

    It is what it is…not as though nobody saw it coming.

  14. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 2:52 pm

    There’s nothing that unusual about Mormon practices. The LDS church is a christian church that follows the teachings of Christ. Sure they lend credence to Joseph Smith as a restorer of the Word of God. That’s why the Book of Mormon is referred to as “Another testament of Jesus Christ”. The LDS faith puts Christ first in all things. No more strange than the practices of Catholics with their saints, bishops, cardinals and pope; or any other faction of christianity really. People get wigged out about stuff they don’t know or understand. If anyone has questions, the church website is very open and forthright about their beliefs and practices. Unfortunately Many Americans rely on “Big Love” and “Sister Wives” as their source of knowledge which is completely false and misleading.
    We all know Romney is a wealthy man. And guess what? Since he’s an active member of the church, he tithes. I for one hope he doesn’t release his tax returns  because for one it’s a non-issue and two; simply to not give in to the Democrats rabid need to wave them about in some distorted way being the religious bigots that they are.

  15. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 2:57 pm

    Tithing ten percent is a commandment. It’s not just about getting a temple recommend. In order for Mormons to gain a Temple Recommend they have to demonstrate they are faithful to God’s Word. That’s all it is. 
    Temple work is sacred, not necessarily secret like a some History channel conspiracy show, LOL.

    I can just hear it now, “Mormons: what are they really up to?” dun-dun-DUN! LMAO!

  16. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:00 pm

    I know Michelle Obama has been very charitable…to herself. Anyone remember Majorca? The alligator clutch? The $600 sneakers? She’s quite giving indeed.

  17. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:02 pm

    Why should he? Who cares x it’s nobody’s business, really = bury Obama with some real issues already.

  18. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:05 pm

    There’s a good post on that article here.

  19. Saul
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:16 pm

    Stacy wrote: 

    Romney’s tithing makes him one of the leading funders of Mormonism in the entire history of the LDS church.

    Bullshit. There really isn’t any factual basis for this claim. You know Romney’s a Mormon, and you know he’s rich. That does not mean he’s paid the most tithes in the 174 years Mormons have been paying tithing; nor that he’s even among the richest Mormons in history, tithe-paying or not. He’s just the only rich Mormon you can name without even bothering to think about it.

    Helloooo. Does the name Jon Huntsman Jr. ring any bells? In 2001, Forbes estimated his father’s fortune at $3.8 billion. That put Huntsman Sr. at No. 104 on the list of the world’s richest people. Romney’s not a billionaire, so he’s never even come close to being on the list. There are at least four Mormons on the current Forbes list of billionaires — all of them far, far richer than Romney: Jannard, Peery, and two Marriotts. Romney’s piddling $250 million isn’t even in the same league as those guys. And that’s just this year’s list of living billionaires — never mind all the other Mormons since 1838 who’ve been richer than Romney.

    I hate it when writers make facts up because they’re too lazy to even type a few words into Google.

  20. Adjoran
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:29 pm

     If he released three years, they would demand six.  If he gives them six, they want ten.  It’s a no-win game, so why play?  Two years of tax returns has been enough in the past – in fact it wasn’t so long ago that no candidate released them at all.

  21. Adjoran
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:31 pm

     Badges?  Stacy don’t need no stinking facts!

    He even takes victory laps on the OFF CHANCE a prediction MIGHT come true.

  22. Quartermaster
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:34 pm

    It’s an Old Testament command that was not extended to the Church. For a Mormon, OToH, it is a requirement for getting and keeping a Temple Recommend.

    For many years what went on in Mormon Temples was secret, but it’s a secret they have not been able to keep of late. People leaving Mormonism have let the cat out of teh bag time and again.

  23. Mikey NTH
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:45 pm

    So the Democrats are so desperate to use this as a club that they are openly saying that they will use this as a club if given the opportunity.  And there is wonder that Mitt is denying them that opportunity?

    That seems like sound thinking to me.

  24. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:45 pm

    But the tithing is required in order to get the recommend, right?

    And yeah, it won’t be hard to talk up the notion of the weird, secretive Mormon church — this has been shaping up for at least a couple of months now.  They did jump with it early, but it was still going to happen at some point.
    Now, Mitt’s got a stack of cash, and how he wants to use it is his business — but by the same token, this shouldn’t come as any suprise.

    Hopefully he gave a big, fat stash to the March of Dimes or the ASPCA or a soup kitchen…because that sure would mitigate the potential damage.

  25. Quartermaster
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:52 pm

    The God and Christ of Mormonism is foreign to scripture. Mormonism has failed to gain recognition as a denomination of Christianity because their God is a figment of Joseph Smith’s imagination. Smith saw the trinity as 3 created beings. Scripture tells us that God is “from everlasting to everlasting.” Smith’s God is also just an exalted man with others coming before him and after him. God tells us in scripture that there is no other like Him.

    Mormons may gain recognition from the Religious left like Jimmah Cahtah, and others that don’t much care for truth, but that’s about as far as you will get.  You can call me anything but late for chow, including “religious bigot.”

  26. Quartermaster
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:55 pm

    My understanding 30 years ago, Marriot outstripped everyone else at the time. Don’t know if that’s still true or not. The only thing breathtaking is the Zer0 campaign’s  idiocy in the matter.

  27. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 3:55 pm

    No, nope, sorry — they are not a Christian church An offshoot of traditional Christianity, ok; free to worship as they will as long as they don’t impose themselves on non-believers (I say this because that base has to be covered now thanks to another religion), certainly — but they are not a Christian church in the mainline tradition nor definition as some of their beliefs are very far from Christianity.

    To be honest, I’m not sure that line of argument is going to help anyway — probably they should have stuck with “we are a peculiar people” and just been done with it.

  28. Mortimer Snerd
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:04 pm

    Wny play?  Simply because if he doesn’t, they will continue to beat him over the head with it right up to November.  Let me ask you this:  Why not play?

  29. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:32 pm

    Maybe not the same as far as differing church dogmas goes but that is argued between all christian factions. Mormons believe in God the Father and Christ his Son and they believe the Holy Spirit as three separate entities, not all one being.
     Check out the Articles of Faith on their website lds.org.

  30. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:37 pm

    Mormons don’t really impose themselves. If you want to take part in the discussions you can or you don’t have to. It is left up to the individual whether to believe the Book of Mormon as a truth or not to–to “pray and ponder”.  What is it that you think is not Christian about Mormon beliefs?

  31. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:44 pm

    Just as following all other commandments is a requirement to get a recommend, yes, being a full tithe payer is also one.

    What potential damage is there to mitigate? Is it because he is a wealthy man that this is an issue? What if Mitt didn’t donate to any charities? What if he did? In light of who he is running against I think this is a blip on the election radar at most. But if Obama wants to take a crack at Mitt as to how he spends his money, then all anyone has to do is look at the past four years of how Obama and the missus spent tax payer money on top of their own funds. Obama doesn’t have a leg to stand on and I’m looking forward to this blowing up in his face.

  32. Saul
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:49 pm

    He even takes victory laps on the OFF CHANCE a prediction MIGHT come true. 

    Cogent — and very funny — summation.

  33. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:56 pm

    Do other Christians believe in the Celestial Kingdom?  Do they believe that we are all “gods in the making”?  Do they believe that Jesus and Lucifer were spirit brothers, or even the idea of Jehovah/Elohim and a Heavenly Mother (or mothers) up in heaven having sexual intercourse thus producing us as spirit babies?
    And while Mormons may believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost , they most certainly do not define them as mainline Christianity does  — I believe they consider the Nicean Creed to be a corruption if not false doctrine;  mainline Christian churches do not.

    As for Mormons imposing themselves…what do you mean?  I find this insistence on “we’re just like every other Christian church”, when 1) they are not; 2) up until relatively recently they themselves identified as most certainly not being just like every other Christian to be not so much imposing as disingenuous (and counterproductive in the long run).

  34. Saul
    July 24th, 2012 @ 4:59 pm

    Nice link, Red. The title of that blog refers to Mormon intellectual Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Ulrich is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a MacArthur genius grant recipient. And she’s the author of a very popular aphorism: “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” The blogger is either making a self-deprecating statement about herself, or taking a slap at Ulrich. If the latter…grrrrr.

  35. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 5:10 pm

    “When the Lord reminded His people of this law through the prophet Malachi in the Old Testament, He promised to bless those who were willing to pay an honest tithe”

    ” 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

    People who talk about what goes on in the temple do themselves a disservice more than any ‘damage’ that could be perpetrated by ‘exposing’ temple practices. It is disrespectful to others who choose to remain in the church. People will be as they are. Not much you can do about it.

  36. Bob Belvedere
    July 24th, 2012 @ 5:12 pm

    You just saved me some time – thanks, PW.

  37. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 5:14 pm

    Ok.

  38. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 5:18 pm

    Being familiar with the writer’s style I would say it’s a humorous jab at self-deprecation.

  39. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 5:23 pm

    Don’t forget Covey (R.I.P.) Maybe Stacy meant that to read that Heileman is suggesting that or perhaps he was being sarcastic? I agree that it is quite a stretch to promote Romney as the “one of the leading funders of Mormonism in the entire history of the LDS church.” (emphasis mine)

  40. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 5:27 pm

    He would have been labelled a ‘birther’.

  41. Saul
    July 24th, 2012 @ 6:15 pm

    Stacy offered it as his — not Heileman’s — explanation for why the Obama campaign wants Romney to release more tax returns. 

    Heileman only went this far: 

    [Romney is] among its most generous funders in the modern era.

    (emphasis mine)

    That’s false enough — Romney doesn’t come anywhere close to being the richest Mormon of even just the last decade — but Stacy went miles beyond with his ridiculous “entire history” claim. 

    That was a Brian Ross move on Stacy’s part. It just invites smart-alecks to ask, “So where did you find this database of all Mormon tithes throughout history?” C’mon Stacy. Name the Mormons whose tithes you compared to Romney’s to determine his ranking. 

    I think Stacy’s got a thing about Mormons. He HATES Jon Huntsman; and he did the very thing he’s accusing Obama of during the end-stage GOP primary, to try to give Santorum traction against Romney.

  42. M. Thompson
    July 24th, 2012 @ 6:29 pm

    Increasingly, it looks like pissing off a lot of people who think they know better than me is why I’m going to vote a certain way.

  43. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 7:30 pm

    Red — and of course an LDS promoting and/or apologetics website would never, ever be biased now would it?

    They’d never ever want to portray their religion in the best and most attractive light.

    Come on!  (and yes, this goes for any other religion out there too — you’re probably not going to hear about the warts of their religion on a website devoted to apologetics for said religion).

  44. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 7:59 pm

    Because: if it can be insinuated or proven that Mitt’s charity only extends to giving money to his church (and from there the public will get to hear about everything contained within the Bloomberg article, and let’s just be honest, it will be slanted — and perhaps more insinuations yet to come) then yeah, it could be a thing which swings a few percentage points.

    That’s all the Dems are looking for — for now (if they can get more from it, then of course they can be trusted to do so).  

    Right now just having Mitt refusing is working for them — it makes Republicans look like hypocrites for demanding release of records from Barry (fair enough demand by the way), but defending Mitt’s refusal (and how does this get spun to the public in USA Today, etc?  that’s what you have to worry about, not people on political blogs), and it is causing at least some of the public to question why he won’t (cue the whispering campaign about the Swiss bank accounts and then the Bloomberg article).

    He probably should have just released the damn things back during the primaries and been done with it — just sayin’.

  45. Beeblebrocs
    July 24th, 2012 @ 8:38 pm

    There is zero reason to play the game these totalitarians want Mitt to play. Instead, Mitt needs to go on serious offense on the document issue. He should release his transcripts then a day later, his social security card. Next he could release his birth certificate and then his selective service app. Then subtly suggest that his opponent do the same.

  46. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 9:08 pm

    @ Pathfinder’s wife:

    ” Red — and of course an LDS promoting and/or apologetics website would never, ever be biased now would it? They’d never ever want to portray their religion in the best and most attractive light.”

    Like I wrote earlier, they have a website that is quite open and articulates their beliefs pretty well. One can take it or leave it.

  47. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 9:12 pm

    —

  48. Red
    July 24th, 2012 @ 9:13 pm

    I don’t know about it being a full on ‘Brian Ross move’ but it certainly was an exaggerated opinion.

  49. Adobe_Walls
    July 24th, 2012 @ 10:09 pm

    The “Nicean Creed” was as much “political” as it was “religious”.

  50. Pathfinder's wife
    July 24th, 2012 @ 10:51 pm

    I read it long ago.  It’s an apologetics/promotional site — everybody’s got one (Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Jews, Muslims — if the Amish were into tech, they’d probably have one too).