Category: Mitt Romney

His Initials Are W.A.R.

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The brilliant Wayne Allyn Root suggests that Mitt Romney call Obama’s bluff, Mitt offering to release his tax returns in return for Obama releasing his college transcripts:

My bet is that Obama will never unseal his records because they contain information that could destroy his chances for re-election. Once this challenge is made public, my prediction is you’ll never hear about Mitt’s tax returns ever again.

Of course, Obama would immediately fold under that circumstance — if there was nothing to hide in Obama’s Columbia transcripts, it wouldn’t be such a big secret — but I seriously doubt Mitt will take Wayne’s suggestion by raising the issue, so it will likely remain a moot scenario. (Via Memeorandum and Hot Air.)

When Liars ‘Win’

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Nothing should enrage honest people more than to see liars succeed through their skill at deceit — or, as often as not, to see liars succeed because so many people have become indifferent to truth, as in the case of the media’s favorite phony “expert,” Ryan Holiday.

When liars succeed, this represents the triumph of vice over virtue, the encouragement of evil and the discouragement of good. So we should take alarm when we see how Harry Reid’s vicious lies are being celebrated as successful politics:

L.A. Times’s Rainey: Hey, Maybe Harry Reid Is Lying, But
By Forcing Romney to Talk About His Lies, He Is Still “Winning”

A nation that considers it acceptable to “win” by lying is a nation far gone down the degenerate road to complete corruption.

James Rainey should be ashamed of himself, but if he had any sense of shame, he would not write for the disgraceful Los Angeles Times.

Panic Time in Hopeville: GOP/Romney Report Record July Fundraising

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OK, the important thing here is $185.9 million cash on hand for the Republican team, because we know that (a) DNC fundraising is in the toilet, and (b) the Obama campaign’s “burn rate” in June was already unsustainable. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

Team Obama was already more than $20 million down on cash-on-hand after June’s numbers, and with their burn rate, even a showing of fund-raising parity in July would probably put them further behind the eight-ball.

Three weeks before the GOP convention, the Romney campaign is clearly positioned to go toe-to-toe with Obama after Labor Day, when most people actually start paying attention. Now, if we can just talk Mitt into making Paul Ryan his VP pick . . .

 


GIVE US RYAN!

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This is an emergency post. Driving back from the AFP Defending the Dream Summit in D.C., I pulled off the freeway and logged on at a Burger King to get this online as quickly as possible: Mitt Romney must choose Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential nominee, period.

There is no time now to fully explain the emergency nature of this post, but let me quickly make three points:

  1. My hatred of media “veepstakes” speculation is well-known. When I turn on the TV and see a bunch of pundits talking about who might get the vice-presidential nomination, I turn the channel. It’s a bunch of useless noise, and I can’t stand to watch it. Nevertheless, a sudden crisis makes it imperative that I speak out.
  2. My first choice — and what I think was the most obvious choice — was Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. However, the word among Republican sources is that there were problems with Rubio in terms of vetting. Loath as I am to repeat this, I’ve heard talk that because Rubio is the son of immigrants, there is concern that this might cost Republicans the “Birther” vote. Crazy? Yeah. But whatever the basis for the objections, the general belief is that there is indeed some sort of vetting issue. And so the smart money says that, although Rubio is still officially on the “short list,” he’s unlikely to be the final choice.
  3. The emergency? Two words: Tim Pawlenty.

Friday night, I was talking to some top activists at the AFP summit and one of them assured me that the word among Minnesota Republicans is that T-Paw is at the top of Romney’s VP list, all but guaranteed to be the running mate. Do I have to explain why this shocked me?

So shocked was I, in fact, that I refused to believe it. Certainly, the smart guys at Team Mitt could see the obvious arguments against T-Paw. But then Saturday, I talked to some well-informed D.C.-based operatives and they, too, said they’d heard that Pawlenty was top of the list.

Now I was truly concerned. Dear God, not T-Paw!

Driving home, this worry weighed heavily on my thoughts, and so I called a well-connected and experienced conservative journalist to talk about it — and he’d heard the same basic thing: Pawlenty might already have the VP spot locked up, said my friend, who happens to be a supporter of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. According to my friend, the word is that T-Paw is at the top of the list, with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman the nearest rival. And this is even worse news. While I like Portman OK, he’s a Bush guy, and we don’t need any ghosts of the Bush administration haunting the GOP in 2012.

So if Rubio has been more or less eliminated from consideration, as my sources suggest, we’ve got to do something to stop this crazy talk about a Romney-Pawlenty ticket. You can’t beat somebody with nobody, and of the remaining guys on the short list, Paul Ryan is the obvious pick.

He’s an Irish Catholic from the Midwest, a hero of deficit hawks, young and handsome, and pre-approved by Bill Kristol, who deems Ryan “the Republican party’s intellectual leader.”

This is, I repeat, an emergency, because Kristol says Mitt’s VP pick could be announced as early as Wednesday, or more likely Aug. 13-15. So if conservatives are going to push back against an ill-advised choice of Pawlenty, we’ve got to start pushing now, and pushing hard as hell.

Ali Akbar started a hashtag, #GiveUsRyan, so you can tell @MittRomney you want @RepPaulRyan as VP. Make it happen!

UPDATE: Wow! Bobby Jindal, himself a short-list candidate for VP, praises Paul Ryan at the Red State Gathering. Momentum!

UPDATE II: Twitchy has more from the Red State Gathering:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, himself often mentioned as a top-tier candidate for vice president, today recommended Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan for the job.
Speaking this afternoon at RedState Gathering 2012 in Jacksonville, Fla., Jindal’s message of responsible spending and education reform had plenty of attendees sold on him as the vice presidential candidate. . . .
Asked by Breitbart’s Larry O’Connor his pick for vice president, though, Jindal named Ryan as his favorite of “a lot of great choices.” “Paul Ryan has been specific, bold and courageous in his budget plans,” said Jindal.

Linked by Jackie Wellfonder and the Daley Gator — thanks!

 


Obama Adviser on Solyndra: ‘Ugh’

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Congressional investigators got hold of some e-mails between Obama administration officials about the Solyndra deal, and White House adviser Stephanie Cutter’s one-word summary — “Ugh” — gets the headline treatment from Zeke Miller at Buzzfeed.

Y’know what I’m noticing about that e-mail, though? It was CC’d to President Obama’s campaign strategist David Plouffe. Kinda interesting.

Anyway, whereas most of the mainstream media publish “news articles” that are actually more like Obama campaign press releases, I thought I’d try something different: Re-print a Romney campaign press release and actually tell readers that it’s a press release! Enjoy!

* ROMNEY CAMPAIGN PRESS RELEASE *

“UGH”

“From the President’s senior adviser to his deputy campaign manager, it seems like every member of the Obama inner circle knew President Obama would pay a political price for his decision to sink half a billion taxpayer dollars into Solyndra. But that didn’t stop the Obama Administration – and American taxpayers and the 1,800 unemployed workers are the ones still paying the price.” – Ryan Williams, Romney Campaign Spokesman

 Internal White House Emails Reveal “Concern, Frustration” From President Obama’s Inner Circle On The Solyndra Loan:

Emails Between President Obama’s Senior Advisers “Reveal Concern, Frustration” As Solyndra Headed Toward Bankruptcy. “Emails between White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer and then-Deputy Senior Advisor Stephanie Cutter reveal concern, frustration as former poster-child for clean energy investment failed. The House Energy and Commerce Committee peels back the curtain on Solyndra in a new report.” (Zeke Miller, “White House On Solyndra Failure: ‘Ugh,’” BuzzFeed, 8/2/12)

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, On Solyndra’s Impending Bankruptcy: “This Is Going To Be A Real Pain…” PFEIFFER: “This is going to be a real pain, solyndra is about to go under apparently.” (Zeke Miller, “White House On Solyndra Failure: ‘Ugh,’” BuzzFeed, 8/2/12)

  • Pfeiffer: “And There Is An Additional Complication I Will Explain Tomorrow.” (Zeke Miller, “White House On Solyndra Failure: ‘Ugh,’” BuzzFeed, 8/2/12)

Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter: “Ugh.” (Zeke Miller, “White House On Solyndra Failure: ‘Ugh,’” BuzzFeed, 8/2/12)

But Pfeiffer And Cutter Aren’t The Only Obama Insiders Involved – Jacob Lew Ignored Solyndra Warnings And Ultimately Cost Taxpayers Millions:

“White House Chief Of Staff Jack Lew May Have Disregarded Warnings From Lower-Level Budget Employees That The Administration’s Efforts To Prop Up Solyndra Were Unwise And Possibly Illegal…” “White House chief of staff Jack Lew may have disregarded warnings from lower-level budget employees that the administration’s efforts to prop up Solyndra were unwise and possibly illegal, The Washington Post is reporting based on an upcoming House Energy and Commerce Committee report. The Post’s story says the report ‘suggests’ that Lew — in his previous role as director of the Office of Management and Budget — ‘let the refinancing move forward without intervening, even though some OMB analysts thought a refinancing plan that favored private investors might violate the law.’” (Bob King, “Solyndra Report May Implicate Lew, Washington Post Writes,” Politico, 8/2/12)

Lew Let The “Refinancing Move Forward Without Intervening,” Despite Warning From OMB Analysts That The Solyndra Restructuring Plan “Might Violate The Law.” “The House energy committee is expected to release the results of its 18-month investigation into Solyndra this week. Its report, parts of which were obtained by The Washington Post, suggests that then-OMB Director Jack Lew let the refinancing move forward without intervening, even though some OMB analysts thought a refinancing plan that favored private investors might violate the law. Lew is now White House chief of staff.” (Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “White House Analyst Warned Saving Solyndra Could Cost More Than Letting It Fail,” The Washington Post, 8/1/12)

Why Were President Obama’s Closest Advisers So Worried? Solyndra’s Bankruptcy Cost Taxpayers Over Half A Billion Dollars And Nearly 2,000 Workers Lost Their Jobs:

“Last Week, Solyndra’s Final Liquidation Plan Estimated That The Government Will Recover Just $24 Million Of The $527 Million That Taxpayers Lent To The Company.” “Even so, senior officials in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget did not discourage the Energy Department from proceeding with its plan to restructure a federal loan to Solyndra — a move that put private investors ahead of taxpayers for repayment if the company closed, the investigation by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee found. The restructuring went forward, but within months Solyndra failed anyway, leaving federal taxpayers on the hook for much of the half-billion-dollar federal loan. Now, a year after the company’s collapse, debate continues over whether the refinancing plan was legal or a wise investment. Last week, Solyndra’s final liquidation plan estimated that the government will recover just $24 million of the $527 million that taxpayers lent to the company.” (Joe Stephens and Carol Leonnig, “White House Analyst Warned Saving Solyndra Could Cost More Than Letting It Fail,” The Washington Post, 8/1/12)

Solyndra’s Bankruptcy Cost 1,861 Workers Their Jobs. “On the day it closed, Solyndra said it was laying off 1,100 full-time and temporary employees. But 1,861 workers lost their jobs as the solar panel manufacturer shut its doors, according to U.S. Labor Department documents provided to The Bay Citizen under the Freedom of Information Act.” (Aaron Glantz, “Solyndra Layoffs Larger Than Previously Reported,” The Bay Citizen, 6/13/12)

* * * * * * *

This Neutral Objective Journalism has been brought to you by the Citizens’ Committee for Vanuatu-American Friendship. IYKWIMAITYD.

Harry Reid’s Financial McCarthyism: ‘I Don’t Think the Burden Should Be on Me’

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The top Senate Democrat evidently believes he can make outrageous accusations based on anonymous secondhand “sources” and then require the accused to disprove his accusations:

Earlier this week, Harry Reid revealed why Mitt Romney is refusing to release more tax returns: He didn’t pay taxes for an entire decade! It almost sounds too crazy to be true, and in fact, Reid is “not certain” that it isn’t a total lie. However, he is sure of one thing: “I am not basing this on some figment of my imagination,” Reid told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I have had a number of people tell me that.” So we aren’t talking about just one anonymous Bain investor, but several people who have seemingly only shared this story with Reid.
In an interview with Nevada reporters on Wednesday, Reid refused to name his sources or back down on his accusation. “I don’t think the burden should be on me,” he said. “The burden should be on him. He’s the one I’ve alleged has not paid any taxes. Why didn’t he release his tax returns?”

This is preposterous and I feel compelled to offer an apology for using the term “McCarthyism” to describe Reid’s tactics, given that Sen. Joe McCarthy was an American patriot who never wrongly accused anyone of being Communist. (See M. Stanton Evans, Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies.) The comparison, however, is quite instructive: One of the reasons McCarthy’s critics were able to destroy him was because McCarthy’s investigations — like the investigations of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, with which they are often confused in popular legend — were often based on sources whose secrecy was a matter of national security.

McCarthy had access to information derived from FBI investigations, from CIA espionage and from the “Venona” decryptions of Soviet messages. He could not reveal the sources of this information (indeed, he was in most cases unaware of how the FBI and CIA got their information) without compromising the intelligence-gathering ability of these agencies. So when his critics accused McCarthy of making unsubstatiated accusations, McCarthy’s inability to say, “Here is the FBI report that supports the charge” made him look irresponsible.

What ultimately destroyed McCarthy was when he turned against the Eisenhower administration, and vice-versa. McCarthy knew that administration officials were aware of the factual basis of his investigations, and so when the White House showed, at best, lukewarm support for McCarthy, he began to suspect that they were “in on it,” complicit in a cover-up of Soviet subversion. The downfall of McCarthy was brought about by his fellow Republicans, and this produced a lingering suspicion that gave rise to the conspiracy theories promulgated by the John Birch Society (an organization that, whatever its errors, has been as unfairly maligned as McCarthy himself).

Compare this to Harry Reid’s claim that he has been told, by persons whom he will not name, that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years. Romney has committed no crime. If Romney has illegally evaded taxes all this time, why hasn’t Romney been prosecuted?

Is Harry Reid claiming that Eric Holder’s Justice Department failed to do its duty? Or does Reid believe there was some gigantic loophole in the tax code that permitted Romney — who by all accounts made a lot of money during those years — to avoid paying taxes legally?

I think it is neither of these. I think Harry Reid knows doggone well that Romney paid taxes, and if anyone has actually told him otherwise — if Reid is not lying about having “a number of people” tell him that Romney didn’t pay taxes — he knows better than to believe them.

How could they possibly know what’s in Romney’s IRS file?

That’s the real question, you see.  John Heilemann of New York magazine suspects that the real reason Democrats are demanding to see all of Romney’s tax returns is because it would show that he has contributed millions to the Mormon church over the years. And I believe the Obama administration, in Nixonian fashion, has actually provided Romney’s IRS information to the president’s re-election campaign.

Therefore, let us look at how Harry Reid originally made this accusation in his interview with Sam Stein and Ryan Grim:

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.

Hmmm. The obvious question, as Phil Klein of the Washington Examiner immediately pointed out, was how someone who was merely an investor in Bain Capital would know what was in Romney’s personal tax returns. The provenance is suspicious and, while I don’t think Harry Reid is as smart as Phil Klein, surely Harry isn’t so stupid as to believe that hhis mysterious source had access to such information.

When challenged on this claim, Reid doubled down, asserting that he’s talked to lots of people who say Romney paid zero taxes for ten years, and implied that reporters have been negligent:

Asked to elaborate on his sources, Reid declined. “No, that’s the best you’re going to get from me.” . . .
Reid challenged the media to be more aggressive in digging into Romney’s finances.
“What if he has paid no taxes, like I am saying he hasn’t,” Reid said. “What if he has all these moneys as we already know … in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Swiss banks. I mean, gee whiz, rather than ask me why I should do this, that is a story you should be writing.”

Hmmm. Harry wants to dictate to journalists what is a story (i.e., Romney’s finances) and what is not a story (i.e., the basis for Harry’s claims).

What if reporters refuse to play along? What if, instead, reporters bulldog Harry Reid and demand that he explain his accusations?

Now that Harry has claimed that he had multiple sources for his accusations, shouldn’t he provide some specific descriptions of his contacts with these informants? Shouldn’t reporters ask why Harry Reid was so confident that his sources were knowledgeable of Romney’s taxes?

Because frankly, I don’t believe this crap. I do not believe that Harry Reid’s interest in Mitt Romney’s tax forms is based on any phone calls or casual conversations with Bain investors or anyone else outside the world of Democrat Party politics. Harry’s tale is implausible.

What I believe is this: Whatever Harry Reid knows about Mitt Romney’s taxes, he obtained from Democrat Party sources who, in turn, got it via the leaking of this confidential information from IRS officials to individuals affiliated with the Obama campaign.

Reid is lying — mischaracterizing his sources — to conceal the fact that the Obama campaign has illegally obtained Romney’s IRS forms.

But don’t expect me to prove that accusation. I don’t think the burden should be on me. The burden should be on Harry Reid. He’s the one I’ve alleged is part of a Nixonian conspiracy at the White House. Why didn’t Harry identify his sources?

Also, somebody called me last month and said, “Harry Reid is a communist!” Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain. But I mean, gee whiz, that is a story you should be writing.

 





 

 

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Question the Timing (and Sample): Poll Shows Obama Leading in Swing States

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You will remember that Democrats were panicking last month at the realization that Mitt Romney and the GOP outraised the DNC/Obama team in June, and that Obama’s unsustainable “burn rate” — pouring on a 2-to-1 ad blitz — had failed to move independent voters.

Everything the Dems had done was being sabotaged by Obama’s tone-deaf “you didn’t build that” gaffe, and so the mainstream media (eager to do their part to help undo Obama’s self-inflicted damage) decided to recycle their IRS mantra and turn everything Romney said during his foreign trip into a scandalous “controversy.”

Nevertheless, the needle didn’t really budge: It’s still basically neck-and-neck in the RCP national average. So what does the MSM do next? Come out with a poll showing (or at least claiming to show) that Obama is leading, with more than 50% support, in two key swing states — Ohio and Florida — plus Pennsylvania, which isn’t exactly a swing state (no Republican presidential candidate has carried it since 1988) but where Romney hopes to be competitive.

Can you say “f–ked-up sample,” boys and girls? The so called “internals” on the Quinnipiac/CBS/NY Times Florida poll show a partisan breakdown in the “weighted sample” of Democrat 36%, Republican 27%, Independent 32%. This is Florida, a state with a Republican governor, Republican control of both houses of the state legislature, and a House delegation that is 19 Republicans and 6 Democrats.

Despite such obvious facts, we are supposed to believe that Democrats enjoy a NINE POINT ADVANTAGE among “likely voters” in Florida?

NINE F–KING POINTS?

Less than six weeks ago, a Quinnipiac poll of Florida had a “weighted sample” of Democrat 31%, Republican 28%, Independent 35%. We are supposed to believe that, since late June, there has been 6-point net swing of partisan ID from D+3 to D+9  among likely voters in a state where, I repeat, the GOP dominates elected offices.

I’ll be back to expand and update this just as soon as I can get my blood pressure down below the apoplectic stroke level.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey managed to avoid an apoplectic stroke this morning, which is encouraging. How can I describe this bizarre imbalance in the partisan ID of the “weighted sample”? How to put this improbable distortion in layman’s terms, as it were?

Let’s put it this way: According to a recent Quinnipiac survey, my penis is 15 inches long, with a 4-inch margin of error.