Written by Rene Thompson   

Trying to pin Mitt Romney down about his tax returns is like trying to nail Jello to the wall.

Releasing tax returns has been a rite of passage for presidential hopefuls since his father, George Romney, started the process decades ago. The process which provided transparency concerning the financial dealings of presidential candidates has become a stumbling block for Mitt Romney.

It’s a stumbling block that he himself created.

By steadfastly refusing to release the returns, he has made it supremely obvious that there’s something in those returns that he does not want the American people to see. He might as well have placed a spot-light on it. As far back as June of last year people were asking where they were and with each passing week, the question became more and more important…to everyone accept Mitt and Ann Romney.

Mitt, apparently, is of the mind that, given enough time, the peasants will forget the question and just elect him ‘cause he’s pretty. That if he waits long enough, the problem will go away. That as long as he doesn’t release the tax returns, he’s still has a chance at this election. He’s annoyed that voters aren’t just willing to take him on his word in the same way that his employees, stockholders and parishioners did. What he doesn’t understand is that by withholding the returns he’s coming across more and more as not only the used car salesman but also as the used car he’s trying to pawn off. And people want to see the Carfax.

Because every time he and his campaign are caught in a blatant lie, his reputation as a truthful Mormon bishop/businessman slips and he is seen more and more as just another politician out for a scam. Less and less will he be able to insist that people take his word on the issue, because we have seen what his word is worth.

And while, in his mind, keeping the tax returns in the locked box, may keep his campaign chances safe, the statements coming from the Romneys tell a much different story.

“The blind trust is an age-old ruse, if you will, that is you could say, you can always tell a blind trust what it can and cannot do.” – Mitt Romney, 1994

“prove you have nothing to hide” – Mitt Romney to Ted Kennedy demanding he release his tax returns, 1994

“With regards to income taxes, that’s not something that’s required by the law…I’m not planning on releasing my income taxes anytime soon.” - Mitt Romney, Dec. 2011

"In the political environment that exists today, the opposition research of the Obama campaign is looking for anything they can use to distract from the failure of the president to reignite our economy. And I'm simply not enthusiastic about giving them hundreds or thousands of more pages to pick through, distort, and lie about," - Mitt Romney, July 2012

"We've given all you people need to know." - Ann Romney, July 2012

"Fascination" with his taxes was "small-minded compared to the big issues that we face." - Mitt Romney August, 2012

"But I did go back and look at my taxes, and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13 percent. I think the most recent year is 13.6 [percent] or something." Mitt Romney Aug, 2012

"We have been very transparent to what's legally required of us,",
"there's nothing we're hiding",
"There's going to be no more tax releases given." ,
unveiling a more extensive record of their tax history would "only give [Democrats] more ammunition"
"It's been managed by a blind trust since before Mitt was governor, you know, 2002 forward," - comments made during one interview Ann Romney 2012 where she forgets her husband’s comments in 1994


What do these statements tell us? That Mitt and Ann are hiding plenty and have known for some time that there are things that have been done that wouldn’t pass the sniff test with the public. And that they are apparently under the impression that, if they act haughty, insult those who are questioning them and attempt to deflect the issue to something else, this will all go away.

Since that has never worked before in politics, one has to wonder if this attitude comes from arrogance or sheer stupidity.


So I now propose a political science addendum to the Schroedinger’s cat experiment, the Naithom Addendum, as it were – that the condition of the hidden object can be best ascertained by the reaction of those in closest proximity to the hidden object.


Based on Lord Mittens and Queen Ann’s reactions and attitudes I think it’s a clear bet that, in this case, this is an ex-kitty, as is this campaign.