Romney: ‘I have a letter from my tax accountant’
September 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
So Willard "Mittens" Romney wants to end what has been perhaps the worst week of his campaign (so far) with a Friday news dump of his 2011 tax return and, get this — a letter from his tax accountant summarizing the tax rates he has paid since 1990. Is this guy for reals? Romney says he paid tax rate of 14.1% in 2011:
Romney released his 2011 tax returns at 3 p.m. Friday, as well as a summary of his effective tax rates dating back to 1990. Romney tax documents (PDF).
Mitt Romney earned $13.69 million in 2011, mostly income from his investments, and paid $1.9 million in taxes for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign announced Friday.
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Romney’s 2011 income and tax obligation are significantly less than what his campaign estimated earlier this year. In January, the Romney campaign released an estimate saying that Romney had earned $20.9 million in 2011 and would pay about $3.2 million in taxes, for an effective rate of 15.4 percent.
Oops! Wait, it gets better:
Romney and his wife, Ann, donated $4.02 million to charity in 2011, nearly 30 percent of their income, helping to reduce their tax obligation, the campaign said.
The Romneys only claimed a tax deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions to engineer a higher tax rate than they otherwise would have paid. This move was to “conform” to the candidate’s statement in August that he paid a federal income tax rate of at least 13 percent of his income in each of the last 10 years, Brad Malt, Romney’s trustee, said in a statement released by the campaign.
Obama campaign ad: Where Change Comes From
September 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I like it! Aggressive advertising. As I posted yesterday, Willard "Mittens" Romney and the GOPropaganda right-wing noise machine were once again taking a line out of context from remarks by President Obama to the Univision town hall yesterday:
"The most important lesson I've learned is that you can't change Washington from the inside. You can only change it from the outside."
Media villagers echoed Mittens' claim that Obama had thrown in the “white flag of surrender” on his 2008 campaign promise to change the tone in Washington.
The Obama campaign released a new video overnight contrasting Romney's "47 percent" video with the president's remarks on Univision, embracing his comments with the tagline, "Do you want a President who thinks change comes from you? Or one who has totally written you off?"
Video below the fold.
Fact Checking the mendacity of ‘Mittens’
September 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Time once again for Steve Benen's weekly fact check of the shameless shapeshifter and pathological liar, Willard "Mittens" Romney. Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXV: I thought many months ago that it was at least possible that Mitt Romney would be more cautious about telling falsehoods as the election drew closer. After all, … Read more
WaPo editorial opinion: The ‘Show Me Your Papers’ state
September 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Both The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star subscribe to the syndicated Washington Post op-eds. Somehow I don't think they will be republishing today's editorial opinion from the Washington Post. Arizona’s bad immigration law takes effect:
AFTER A TWO-YEAR struggle, a federal judge this week authorized Arizona law enforcement agencies to require officers to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. Wearing the wrong clothes, speaking with the wrong accent or having the wrong skin color could land you in hot water in Arizona.
The state’s “show me your papers” provision — one of the most bitterly contested parts of the obnoxious immigration law enacted in 2010 — is the second such measure to receive a green light from federal courts. The first was from Alabama, where a similar policy was implemented about a year ago.
There, according to a recent report by the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant advocacy group, law enforcement officers have created an “environment of racial profiling” that has encouraged private citizens to discriminate and abuse people they regard as foreign. The report, based on thousands of calls to a hotline, recounted instances of Hispanics, including legal residents, who were repeatedly stopped by police on flimsy pretexts and, in some cases, subjected to prolonged roadside detentions.
Arizona has a far larger population of Hispanics than Alabama does, including citizens, legal residents and illegal immigrants. Many of them have good reason to brace for similar treatment. Although the Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s “show me your papers” provision, the justices warned that it could be struck down if it gave rise to a documented pattern of racial profiling or if it caused detentions to be prolonged. The Alabama case suggests that is highly likely.
Dr. Word says: Romney is no master of the “elegantly stated” statement
September 21, 2012
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by David Safier Dr. Word thinks Mitt Romney is being too hard on himself when he maintains his 47 percent comments were "not elegantly stated" because he "was speaking off the cuff." His cuffs are permanently soiled and threadbare, whether his words are prepared or spontaneous. Witness the wording of Romney's attempt to respin his … Read more
More on Prop. 204
September 21, 2012
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by David Safier For anyone who wants a clear explanation of the nine state ballot measures we're voting on along with sensible suggestions for how to vote, check out Craig's post right below this one. Shorter Craig: Yes on Prop. 204; No on everything else. I write a monthly column for the Explorer. Here's my … Read more
Arizona Ballot Propositions 2012
September 20, 2012
By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
Mike Bryan wrote a post on this very topic a few months ago, but he invited the other writers here to weigh in on the subject. Here is my contribution.
At last count (and subject to change, depending on court rulings), Arizona voters will be considering nine ballot questions in November. While I've pretty much decided how I'm going to vote ("no" on all questions except for Proposition 204), a look at each question is merited. I'll be taking a position on each measure and stating why I hold that position. However, I urge all readers to read and study the propositions for themselves and cast their votes based on what they think is best for the state.
First, some resources –
The League of Women Voters of Arizona ballot proposition guide is here – English/Spanish.
The Arizona Secretary of State's webpage for its proposition publicity pamphlet is here.
Michael Bryan of Blog for Arizona offers a thorough and well-written guide here.
The first two are neutral (though cynic that I am, if I was only discussing the AZSOS' guide, the word "ostensibly" would be used to modify "neutral"); Mike Bryan openly takes positions on the measures. I disagree with a couple of those positions, but on those questions, there isn't a "good" position, just a "less bad" one.
On to the questions –
West Wing ‘walk & talk’ web ad for MI Supreme Court race
September 20, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
From The Last Word blog: A handful of actors from the Emmy award-winning TV series West Wing reprised their roles in a campaign ad for the real-life sister of Mary McCormack, a.k.a Deputy National Security advisor Kate Harper. This is some heavy hitter advertising for a down ballot judicial race. 'West Wing' reunites to walk and talk the vote:
Bridget Mary McCormack is running for Michigan state Supreme Court. In a sketch littered with inside jokes, The West Wing team came together to bring attention to the not-so-sexy issue of filling out the non-partisan section of the voting ballot. This is how Michigan and 14 other states select their supreme court justices. As Bradley Whitford, who reprised his role as Josh Lyman, explains, “In non-partisan elections all across America, voters are leaving part of their ballot blank. And they don’t even know it.”
So who is Bridget Mary McCormack? According to the ad, she's a "married mother of four, dean at Michigan law. Bridget has spent her entire career fighting for justice for ordinary people for families with sick kids. For families of domestic violence. She's fought to free innocent men and women and get the actual criminals behind bars."
And in a TV-turned-reality twist, McCormack's husband, Steve Croley, currently works in the real West Wing as deputy counsel in the White House Counsel's Office.
Video below the fold.
