Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's tax returns are back in the spotlight.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina offered the Romney campaign a deal on Friday: "If the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more—neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign."
Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades replied:
"If Governor Romney’s tax returns are the core message of your campaign, there will be ample time for President Obama to discuss them over the next 81 days."
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid previously charged that Romney has not paid taxes for a decade.
Romney told reporters he has paid a tax rate of at least 13 percent per year for the past 10 years.
The Obama campaign called on him to prove it.
Republican vice-presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, recently released two years of tax returns.
Romney is often reminded that his father, George, released a dozen years of tax returns when he was a candidate.
So, what should Mitt Romney do? Vote in our poll and tell us in the comments.
Let's set higher standards for ourselves when choosing what to believe. We certainly cannot be critical of Obama maintaining a friendship with a financial donor without being critical of every politician ever. Carl Davidson? Really? You know, he lives in Beaver County. Why don't you go ask him about his connections to Obama.
_Both_ Romney and Obama campaigns/supporters have put out a ton of lies already. To claim that it is only Obama advocates and the Obama campaign that is "using blatant untruths to defend him" is false. I think what we have to remember is that Republicans mainly view republican news sources and the same is true of Democrats. What does one get on a Republican news source? "the Obama campaign is lying..." What does one get on the Democrat news sources? "The Romney campaign is lying..." I watch both. I know. Truth: Both campaigns are lying. So what are the issues that we really care about? And can we talk about them without parroting slander? Case and point, Concerned Citizen refers to Obama as a "corrupt socialist." That right there signals to me that Concerned Citizen is partaking in some very misinformed, biased, and hateful news sources. If one knows anything about socialism or communism, you know that Obama is not a socialist and does not support socialist policy and the PPACA is not socialist policy. I think most people are aware of this, so I am not going to go into detail. Sue, I am surprised that you would champion someone calling Obama a "socialist," and proclaim that he has summed your feelings up "exactly." Do you believe that Obama is a socialist?
Obama's interaction with radicals goes way beyond mere "association". He was trained by the Industrial Areas Foundation which was started by Mr. Alinsky, an acknowledged communist. Obama served on the radical supporting Woods Fund (they worked in the same office). He was mentored by Frank Marshall Davis, an avowed member of the Communist Party USA. In Obama's first book, he refers to "old Frank" being a father figure for him (old Frank was also a convicted pedifile). Obama spent time working for ACORN, a convicted voter fraud group. Talk about a disfunctional childhood.....Obama only saw his natural father for one week out of his whole life. The "Dreams" Obama received from that father were of a socialistic government in Kenya. His mother was named Stanley because her father really wanted a son. Obama was ultimately adopted by Lolo Santoro....moved to Indonesia and became a Muslim. By his own words, Obama stated that while in college, he was more comfortable in the presence of radical professors and students than with the normal population. This list of radical evolvement could go on and on and on..........(Odinga, Reverand Wright, Father Flager, Kalidi, etc). Those stories, dear reader, will be reserved for another time.
Sounds like you are league with Rush, Hannity, Savage, Drudge, etc! (Jk, as I am referencing your comment listing a bunch of nonsense information with extreme bias right up to scrutinizing Obama's "dysfunctional" childhood and linking that with "socialism."). You are really making some extreme leaps from one accusation to the next, forming unlikely connections (two examples previously mentioned in this comment), and going with those unlikely connections/leaps as fact. Criticizing Obama's birth certificate and calling him a socialist and then criticizing the left's attacks of Romney and blogs like the "Daily Kos" is extremely hypocritical. You are only encouraging the continuation of distracting, nonissues put out by both parties.
Are you linking a dysfunctional childhood with socialism? Obama worked along side the Department of Justice to defend a law that gave people the ability to register to vote when they got their license...This was the only case in which he worked with ACORN. Obama also worked on Project Vote (encouraged people to vote). This group was separate from ACORN, but they both worked on projects that encouraged urban youth and minorities, etc to vote. These are Obama's only ties with ACORN. I don't have time to address the rest.
This panel is functioning under the inspiration provided by Dr. Ezekeial Emmanuel, designer of "the complete life system". What this says in short is that if you are over 55, you are not considered a productive citiizen and the curve of medical care diminishes steeply. If anyone doesn't believe this, read the 2700 page Obama Care Act for themselves. The only way left to repeal this horrible legislation is to repeal Obama on November 6th !
Now is not the time to divide, but to unite. Look not with a cold heart, but with a warm one. Extend the hand of friendship, not of war. Now is the time to mend bridges, not burn them. Let us all find it within ourselves to put aside petty bickering. Let us all care more about each other than the accumulation of what we believe to be wealth. The pursuit of worldly wealth leads not to our happiness, but to our destruction. We succeed or fail together and I believe in our collective ability to succeed. As a fellow brother has suggested, let us take a break and watch children play at the park. Let us view their innocence and come away refreshed and determined to live compassionately.
I form my own opinions and do not rely on talk radio. Obama for your information, represented ACORN IN A LAW SUIT AGAINST CITY BANK, alleging that the bank was not granting a sufficient number of niga loans as provided for under the Community Reinvestment Act. That single piece of legislation lead to the CRASH OF THE BANKS IN SEPTEMBER 2008 and ultimately deepened the recession. That's history kiddo.....
Here is the conclusion of the case: The parties settled the case on May 12, 1998, with an agreement that provided for waiver of some fees for class members, should they reapply for a loan, and also for various procedures to ensure that Citibank followed its own loan policies in a race neutral way. http://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=10112 Doesn't exactly amount to the crash of banks in september 2008. This case began with one woman claiming she was denied a mortgage based on her race while white people of similar financial situations were approved. Obama was a junior lawyer on a team so not exactly championing this case. Whether or not you are denying that redlining exists, I do not know. But, when it comes to evaluating history, it is _always_ a mistake to say that one instance (in this case an unrelated instance of racial discrimination that was settled out of court) led to a catastrophe. Obama worked on a lot of cases fighting against discrimination of minorities. That is a good thing. So are you saying that redlining (discriminating against minorities in the cases of loans and such) does not exist but is actually a cover? A cover for what?
The "Why won't he release more tax returns?" question is a loaded question fallacy. It predisposes that there is something there to hide. Given that we know Romney to be wealthy, just like Obama, it is almost a certainty that the IRS has reviewed his returns very closely. If there was an issue, the IRS would have dealt with it. I believe that this is both a “squirrel” issue to distract from the real issues and it is a fishing expedition, by which the opposition will demagogue anything they can (e.g.: class warfare). Romney will likely not release any other returns other than his 2012 return. I hope you don't exclude him for consideration based solely on that. Thanks.
He needs retired. Please let him go back to Chicago with his friends.
Well actually, I have to quit now bc I am going to be late for dinner reservations. I will check back later as I am interested and would love some unbiased, nonpartisan, intelligent sources. I am not always a big fan of Obama, but his minor associations with ACORN were not evil. He was fighting a good fight.
I am well aware that lies are perpetrated on BOTH sides of the election (and arguments about the candidates). You totally twisted my words around and proved my point about apologists rationalizing everything. Your posts come across as arrogant. So...if I read what you've posted correctly, no one else is as informed as you (thank GOD you are around to enlighten us) and everyone else is "uninformed"? You need to re-read what I posted because you obviously have my post confused with another post. My "transgression" was stating my OPINION (that Obama is a socialist) among the facts. But the way you twisted my words are very appropriate for a political argument, though.
You did say that Obama was a socialist, correct? I am not an Obama apologist. You should hear me go on about Abduhlrahmen Al Awlaki and predator drones.
You said Obama's last involvement with Acorn was Operation Vote. I merely pointed out that he was involved in the City Bank matter. Again, you miss the reference since I was not contending that this singular episode wrecked the banking industry, but instead there were 8% of loans that could never be repaid .... these turned toxic...and...wrecked the banking industry. I don't know if you realize that your photo has appeared along with your comments. It is obvious by your photo that you are a very young woman and as you've often heard...with age.....comes wisdom, not idealism. With all due respect, I am wondering if you have had enough life experience to realize the eminent devistation of our wonderful country if things remain status quo. In my many years, I have tasted bitter pills. I just hope they do not become poisoned.
I will agree. So using the same reasoning... Romney was on the board of directors for Damon when they were committing fraud against medicare and sold the company the same month that the subpoenas were issued. So Romney was guilty of fraud. So why are we not demanding a legitimate third party candidate since both of these politicians, using your own reasoning, are both scandalous frauds?
I don't know if it is life experience that enlightens one to the "eminent devastation" of this country. I think you mean imminent. And it is Citibank. And it is project vote. and that particular case had to do with one very specific moment of discrimination against one woman, and not "niga loans." Did you mean "niga loans?" Because that is either a very unfortunate misspelling or you just made an incredibly offensive and racist statement. I am going to believe that it was an unintended misspelling. The term that you are referring to is "Ninja Loans." NOT "niga loans." You can see how that is a horrendous looking mistake.
I see that you have not been able to address section 3403. To enlighten you, Dr. Ezekiel Emannuele (check the spelling for me) believes in his so called "whole life system".This is a misnomer since his philosophy embraces death. He advocates abortion, late term abortion, accidental birth killing, aborting life up to six months, assisted suicide and euthanasia. These are the building blocks the 15 member panel is using to structure the foundation for the medical standards that, God forbid, we have to face if this horrible legislation becomes law in 2014. Patch is out of line having one of their workers continue to debate on any of these issues. If you are reflecting the attitude and political stance of Patch, that tells me this is an informative local site I would no longer be interested in reading.
I think that if you are this passionate about a political debate, you need to host your own blog, not use your position as editor to state your views (and insult others with your arrogance). You made a statement that I don't know anything about communism or socialism because I called Obama a socialist; how do you know that? (no one even mentioned communism, maybe you don't know the difference...?) It's okay to disagree with my opinion, but don't call me stupid because I don't agree with you. You're no better than any of the other namecallers on this site. I am officially done with Patch. I had been reading it to find out what's going on in my community, but it's not even useful for that anymore. Letting an editor of a site call people names and incite anger is irresponsible, and if your need to weigh in on a political matter with your ultra liberal positions is too great to resist, then maybe you need to step down as editor. This site is a joke. Not a funny joke either. You can keep it. Seriously though. What a HORRIBLE editor!
So what if it said his dad was African. Maybe he was. What does that have to do with where his child was born? It's where you're born not where your parents are from. Then again, only people like you made his birth certificate an issue. Move to another country if you don't like who was elected into the presidency by the american people. And put on your tin foil hat while you're at it.
Yeah, you're a genius alright.
I can tell you were never on a debate team.
As for monitoring the comments section, it's very difficult to do when we have hundreds of them coming in each day. It's very difficult to patrol and, unfortunately, things slip through the cracks. Since it seems like things are getting out of control (have been out of control?) I'll discuss with my boss about shutting down the comments section. It's probably time to move onto other topics anyway. And we'd love to have everyone comment on some of the happier stories we post. Take care, and thanks for reading.