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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Farmboy who wrote (53742)	8/8/2012 1:17:51 AM
From: greatplains_guy	3 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71588

Harry Reid’s baseless drivel STEVE HUNTLEY shuntley.cst@gmail.com August 6, 2012 6:06PM Another bad jobs report, so it’s time to demagogue Mitt Romney’s tax returns, or so President Barack Obama’s campaign and his supporters believe. Their hope is that Americans care more about how much taxes Romney paid than they do about their own economic well-being after nearly four years of his failed economic policies. Such is the contempt the Obama camp holds for the voters. That attitude is equaled by a contempt for the notion of truth and fair play. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada took to the Senate floor to issue a charge from an unnamed source that Romney hadn’t paid income taxes for 10 years. So outrageous was this smear that even mainstream media types not known for their love of Republicans and conservatives, such as CBS veteran Bob Schieffer, likened Reid’s claim to the notorious Sen. Joe McCarthy and his 1950s destructive lies saying he had the names of communists in the State Department. In Reid’s book, re-electing Obama trumps everything, even the institution he leads. When Obama abused the recess appointment process to stuff the National Labor Relations Board with pro-union cronies at a time the Senate wasn’t actually in recess, you didn’t hear a peep from Reid about the constitutional prerogatives of the Senate. When Obama committed the nation to war against Libya without so much as a nod to the constitutional responsibility of Congress to declare war, Reid looked the other way. And by the way, the man who is calling on Romney to release his tax forms is a politician who made a fortune while in public life and has never revealed his tax forms in any election in his home of state of Nevada. Reid’s baseless drivel doesn’t bother any of the Democrats who a few months ago were demanding Republican leaders disassociate themselves from the birther nonsense. No major Democratic figure has repudiated Reid; rather they have doubled down by using his bilge as another opportunity to call for Romney to prove he paid taxes. This guilty-until-proven-innocent stance is nothing new for Democrats. During the 2010 elections, Obama adviser David Axelrod accused the Chamber of Commerce of illegally funneling foreign money into election advertising, was asked to back it up with evidence and responded, “Do you have any evidence that it’s not” true? That kind of reckless disregard for facts is worthy of a birther. So much for Obama’s pledge to elevate the tone of American politics. Romney is the definition of a straight arrow. There’s not an iota of a reason to doubt him when he says he’s paid a “lot of tax” on top of his very generous charitable donations. Then again, given the failure of Obama’s policies, what else do Reid and company have but to smear Romney? Anything but talk about the latest jobs report that saw unemployment rise to 8.3 percent and 150,000 more discouraged Americans drop out of job hunting in the Obama economy last month. The jobless rate for key 2008 Obama voting bloc, 18- to 29-year-olds, is even worse at 12.7 percent. The Obama campaign believes it can stoke the politics of resentment enough that young people, and voters in general, will care more about Romney’s taxes than their own futures. “Hope and change” now means Democrats hope voters will swallow Reid’s dirty politics and that will change the subject from the economy. suntimes.com