| Romney to Obama: Thanks But No Thanks |
| Aug-17-2012 |
| Keywords: romney, ryan, campaign, issues, medicare, taxes, tax returns, messina, obama |
Try as hard as they might, the Obama campaign seemingly can't shake the Romney/Ryan ticket from its message on Medicare and fiscal responsibility.
"Thanks for the note" -- but no thanks.
That was the message sent from team Romney to Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. The brief retort was made in response to Messina trying to extract more tax documents from the Republican president candidate. On Thursday, Messina offered to refrain from criticizing Mitt Romney's transparency if he agrees to release five more years of returns.
Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades wrote a brief email in response to Messina's offer.
"Thanks for the note. It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending," he wrote.
"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."
Attempting to allay the Republican candidate's suspicions, Messina offered some assurances that the release of five years of tax returns would bring the issue to a close.
"So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: 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," Messina wrote.
However, what wasn't stated is the obvious; Democrats didn't pledge to not criticize the Republican millionaire presidential candidate based on the information contained in the returns.
Democrats -- most notably Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- have hounded him for months over the issue. Reid went so far as to claim on the Senate floor, without offering proof beyond an unnamed source, that Romney hadn't paid taxes for 10 years, and then challenged Romney to prove him wrong.
Mitt Romney tried to clear the air on Thursday over the issue.
"I did go back and look at my taxes," Romney said. "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 like that." |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 7:00 PM Email to a friend |
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