News Roundup for 7/18/12

Rep. Marsha Blackburn thinks you're really nosey

-Headline of the Day-
"RNC Finds One Republican Who Doesn’t Believe Romney Should Release Tax Returns."

Mitt Romney's released about five minutes worth of tax records and that's enough! My God, what does it take to sate your blood lust? Ten minutes? Fifteen? Can't you see the poor man's done enough? For the love of God, all he wants to do is run your entire country! How much do you really have to know about him?

That's the way the Republican National Committee wishes people would talk about Romney's tax returns. The problem is, that's the way no one's talking about Romney's tax returns. Even Republicans are going on the teevee and wondering aloud what the heck the deal is. They have to get everyone off this tax return kick and back to hating President Obama -- so they got Rep. Marsha Blackburn to talk about Romney's taxes. Because they're smart like that.

"[W]hen it comes to tax returns, it’s my understanding that the governor has released the same amount of tax returns as Sen. McCain had released," Marsha said on a conference call with reporters. "And quite frankly, what the American people are talking about is not tax returns, what they’re talking about is jobs and the economy"

A couple of problems here. One, the American people most definitely are talking about Romney's tax returns -- if they weren't, you wouldn't be talking on this here conference call -- and two, McCain kind of didn't really so much win. Using McCain as your yardstick for what people expect from their candidates isn't really all that wise. The report points out that "John Kerry, Al Gore, George W. Bush, Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, and Michael Dukakis all released many years of tax returns" and some of those guys won. There is no list of winners as chintzy with their returns as McCain and Romney.

Sorry. (Talking Points Memo)


-Who is Willard Mitt Romney?-



Wouldn't you like to know? (Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Report: Voter ID Laws Put Undue Burden On 10 Million Voters."

Let me translate that for you conservatives out there -- "Voter ID laws work exactly as intended." (Talking Points Memo)