Because President Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, did not get the answer the American people wanted from the Romney campaign on taxes, I have sent them another. Perhaps this will be more successful.
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Dear Matt (Rhoades, Romney Campaign Manager):
I know you feel harassed about former Governor Romney's tax returns. After all, only 63 percent of the American people, whom your candidate considers "small-minded", want them -- and who cares what the American people want anyhow, right?
Like you, I would like to get back to the big issues of this campaign, such as the Ryan budget, Republican obstructionism, Medicare for people other than Paul Ryan's mother, your candidates' total lack of experience in foreign policy that was evidenced by Governor Romney's insult-cum-apology tour, and women's health, to name just a few.
But, my readings about the Watergate affair prevent me from shirking my civic responsibility in putting to rest one of Nixon's own criteria: "The American people are entitled to know whether their president is a crook".
So, here is my simple proposal. I do not really need all of Governor Romney's tax returns. We already see his "love for America" in his setting up bank accounts with tens of millions of U.S. dollars in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Luxembourg and god knows where else other than the United States. We already know that the entire middle class has been paying the taxes that Mitt escaped. If he paid a single dollar more in taxes than he could get away with, Governor Romney believes he would be disqualified from being president.
Here's what we need: just tell us whether Governor Romney received an amnesty from prosecution from the IRS in exchange for paying back taxes and a penalty on one or more of his overseas accounts.
If the answer is "no", then permit the IRS Commissioner, who would have been the person who granted the amnesty, to verify it.
You see, Mitt did not disclose his foreign bank holdings in his initial disclosure and retroactively amended it, so I cannot really trust him to be honest. Plus, I would be violating President Reagan's rule, "trust, but verify". We all know that violating a Reagan rule guarantees eternal damnation.
If his answer is "yes", or the IRS Commissioner rebuts Romney's "no", then we need just two more pieces of information: what were the total taxes he paid retroactively, and what was the amount of his penalty. Again, permit the IRS Commissioner to verify your candidate's statement, and we are done.
If my history is correct, when President Nixon stated that the American people (he did not call us small-minded or refer to us as "you people") were entitled to know whether their president is a crook, he stated, "well, I am not a crook", and presented his tax returns to prove it.
All I ask is a simple answer to the amnesty question, a tiny amount of information, and verification. Quick, easy, painless. Then, we can get this all behind us.
That cannot be too taxing.
Yodelingly yours,
Paul