What you’re looking it is one of the more histrionic of the many, many rightwing headlines calling out Harry Reid. Earlier this year, Reid said a Bain investor told him that Mitt Romney had not paid taxes for ten years. Now, Mitt’s released his 2011 tax returns and it turns out he paid almost $2 million that year.
You do see the problem here, right? Yeah, it turns out that 2011 wasn’t a decade-long year. Here’s the specific conversation from the Huffington Post who first reported the charge:
Saying he had “no problem with somebody being really, really wealthy,” Reid sat up in his chair a bit before stirring the pot further. A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.
“Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years,” Reid recounted the person as saying.
“He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain,” said Reid. “But obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?
“You guys have said his wealth is $250 million,” Reid went on. “Not a chance in the world. It’s a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don’t pay taxes for 10 years when you’re making millions and millions of dollars.”
Notice where Reid said which ten years he was told constituted Mitt’s free ride? Yeah, you didn’t because he didn’t. Romney’s release of his 2011 return proves absolutely nothing on this point.
Look, I don’t really believe Reid either. But I’m not going to claim I’ve got proof when any idiot can see that I don’t. This triumphalism is completely unsupported by any fact. This is lazy-assed bullshit and anyone who had any interest in even appearing to be serious would be ashamed to pull this crap.
If you’re a rightwing blogger and you wonder why we all think you’re idiots, look no farther. We’re just taking you at your word when you pretend to be idiots.
At least, I hope for your sake that you’re pretending.
