Robert Gibbs, senior adviser to the Obama re-election campaign and his former White House press secretary, kept up the pressure on Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns during a feisty exchange on Morning Joe Monday.
"The next four years we’re going to have to undergo comprehensive tax reform. Is someone who has sheltered their income taxes in Switzerland, the Caymans, and Bermuda, really someone who’s going to get under the hood and get us to a place of tax fairness?" Gibbs said. "We need to know why he’s got that money there. The American people deserve to know if he’s sheltering this money somewhere, or quite frankly, if he’s not paying the taxes he owes and the only way to do that is to release more tax returns."
Dan Senor, a senior adviser to the Romney presidential campaign who earlier on the show defended low tax rates for the wealthy based on their charitable giving, reiterated the Romney camp's statement that this line of attack from the Obama campaign is nothing more than a "character assault."
"There's nothing secretive about these accounts," Senor said. "Are you suggesting that Mitt Romney is guilty of some kind of felony here?"
"Dan, what I'm suggesting is that nobody has any idea because the only person with the tax returns are Mitt Romney," Gibbs replied.
Senor countered that Romney had released some tax returns, which is from where much of the information on the candidate's finances has derived. Recent reports from the AP and Vanity Fair resurfaced questions over how much is—and is not—revealed by those tax returns.
The exchange got more heated with Gibbs at one point taking a jab at the fact that the John McCain presidential campaign vetted Romney, alongside other candidates for his 2008 running mate, but ultimately chose Sarah Palin. Both advisers accused the other of stretching the facts.
"The notion that somehow Mitt Romney has somehow been transparent about the fact that he has off-shored money all over this world is patently ridiculous," concluded Gibbs. "Release the tax forms—put all this to rest."
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Republicans actually argued during the Clinton Administration that it was the wrong time to raise taxes on the rich "job creators" and that it would ruin the economy and kill jobs. The Republican Congress, then run by Newton Gingrich, shut down the government twice until Clinton convinced them to raise taxes on the rich by 3% and what happened? Tens of millions of jobs were created, the budget was balanced, we created a surplus, tons of new millionaires were created, thousands of new small businesses popped up and there were record profits in small businesses and corporations alike. The Republican's were wrong, Clinton was right and we as a country made massive profits.
Then Bush was elected and he and the Republican's immediately declared two wars and dropped taxes, and what happened? The great recession of 2008.
Now President Obama wants to do what Clinton did and the Republicans are making the exact same arguments as before. The thing is they claim tax cuts create jobs but where is their proof? They have had their tax cuts for over a decade so where are the jobs? They destroyed the jobs and the economy. They destroyed the balanced budget and the surplus. They declared two wars without paying for them and without exit strategies.
These Republicans have NO IDEA how to run a government, how to run an economy, how to handle out of control healthcare costs, how to handle wars or how to tell the truth. They are only interested in personal profit. Read Ayn Rands books, they all admit she is their demi-god. Once you read her philosophy you will understand.
It's time to replace all of the Republicans with real proven leaders who will once again balance our budget and solve our problems, not children who just bitch, moan, lie and do nothing but look out for their own self interests.
Obama has a Swiss bank account too....
Your point is??
There was a time when 'traditional Catholics' didn't L.I.E !
If it makes you feel "bigger"..........((wink))
no he doesn´t you liar
I may be the only one who looks at taxes as the best insurance you can buy. Thats right I said insurance. I pay about 10 grand a year to insure my possessions, family and lifestyle.
Everyone else calls it taxes but in reality we pay for national security, emergency services, basic education and a whole lot more. I get alot in return for my insurance premium. In fact everything about my life is made possible by paying taxes. I get security, no ones going to steal my house. I have roads to drive to work. My kids ride the bus to public school. We live in a funcioning society. All because and from taxes. I definetley get my moneys worth, everyone does.
Without government we wouldn't have security, we would be living in chaos. This is an undeniable fact. Only ignorance would dispute that.
Now to my point. I have 5xx,xxx net worth and it costs me 10,xxx a year to insure it. thats really not that much to lose if I quit paying taxes but if I have 5xx,xxx,xxx net worth I have a whole lot more to lose while paying the same rate at 10,xxx,xxx. So the more you have the more you get for your money. Thats wrong, I should be paying a higher rate because I have more to lose.
Make sense?
Outsourcing Pioneer Mitt Romney and his Republican enablers are incredibly blatant liars.
Their assumption is, and their hopes are, that the American People are too dumbed down to see through their mistruths and lies.
We are not.
What we do see is a pathetic and desperate attempt to convince voters that their candidate is honest and trustworthy enough to be elected President.
And come November, the American People will punish them heavily at the polls for their willful attempts to deceive the public.
Does Dan Senor give anyone else PTSD?
Yes, absolutely. If that ferret-face continues to be a regular on this show, I will stop watching. As a former advisor to the president that gave us the worst deficit in history and the worst recession since the Great Depression, I don't feel that he is even marginally qualified to speak about fiscal policies.
Glad to know I'm not the only one who can't stand this combative prick!
I can not stand that guy!!!! Guys like him are responsible for the controll the Republicans have over so many people. Controll by deception and false information .
Finish the sentence......
I turned on the TV and Joe scarbrough, Dan Senor and Peggy Noonan were all sitting around the morning joe table. Suddenly I ____— all over the TV. Then my_____exploded with all the______they were spouting.
Romney hides everything .. his tax returns, his cultist beliefs and tax deductible grants to the LSD used to advance their political agendas, his offshore investments to escape taxes, foreign bank accounts, computer purge of governorship, refusal to be interviewed on any other channels but FOX and CNBC, his university records, his birth certicate, his corporate ties and outside funding support (superPacs), and so forth. All of this is fair game because Obama has been scrutinized for all this and more.
I do not mind normal republicans but Noonan,Senor,Cantor,and the like ruin the whole day you have to change channels they make you gag does Joe [normal republican] know that?