He was running for president for Pete’s sake!
by digby
A while back the Romney campaign filed a complaint in Virginia over a voter registration group’s methods. The complaint was rejected when the group agreed to alter its practices and it’s all good. But this comment by the Romney campaign caught my eye:
“The Romney campaign supports efforts by private groups to register all those who are eligible to vote. Such organizations must take responsibility to ensure that they conform to the letter and spirit of the law. Unfortunately, the Voter Participation Center’s conduct has not met this standard to date.“ Romney Campaign Spokesperson Amanda Henneberg
Hmmm. I could easily paraphrase that in this way:
Everyone supports efforts by private citizens to save money for their retirement through Individual Retirement Accounts. Such citizens must take responsibility to ensure that they conform to the letter and the spirit of the law. Unfortunately, it appears that Mitt Romney’s conduct has not met that standard to date (since the law was never intended to serve as a tax shelter for hundred million dollar fortunes.)
These people only seem to honor the spirit of the law when it doesn’t interfere with their vast wealth. When it comes to that you’re a chump if you leave even one penny on the table, no matter how filthy rich you are — or even if you want to be president of a country in which you are a card carrying member of the 001%.
This is not adhering to the spirit of the law:
“If you say to your tax people, as he seems to have done, ‘I want every trick in the book. I want to push this to the edge,'” Rattner said during an appearance on “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on CNN. “I will tell you that as a private equity guy, I’m familiar with many of the things that he did. And I know many people who have done many of the things that he did. I do not know anyone who did everything that he did.”
“Some of what he did, like the IRA, I have asked fellow private equity guys,” Rattner said, referencing the account in which Romney has stored up to $100 million tax-free. “None of us had even known this was a possible trick, if you will. He has pushed the envelope all the way to the edge, to his benefit, and I think that Americans would find that pretty distasteful.”
You would think that the man would have had enough respect for the process of running for the presidency, his Party and the people of this country to tell his tax lawyers, “no tricks, no fancy tax avoidance, I’m running for president for Pete’s sake.“
This is what he did say:
I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president.
That’s the philosophy of the 1% — you’re a sucker if you abide by the spirit of the law. At least when it comes to money. Even if you’re running for president. Especially if you’re running for president.
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