Interesting how Harry Reid was never subjected to assaults on his LDS faith.

Romney did release 2010 statement and will his 2011. Candidates are not required to disclose their returns, its optional.

Every organization deletes data.

What's next Paul for me to clarify?

"These are exactly the kind of questions we asked about Obama in 2008 and were accused of race baiting, or suggesting he was somehow un-American."

No. You were asking about his birth certificate and claiming that he was not born in the USofA.

Big difference there.

No one is claiming Romney did not have any income in the USofA in the last decade.
They're asking to see his tax forms just like EVERY OTHER CANDIDATE.

We should be grateful. Every moment Romney spends being secretive is one in which he's not telling outright lies that plenty of voters will believe.

@ 1, interesting that Rmoney isn't being subject to assaults on his faith, either.

When did you stop beating your boyfriend?

@1: i don't remember harry reid running for president, only senator of a state with a large mormon population.

and no democrat is bringing up willard's insane misogynistic absurd religion, regardless. that's my job.

I suppose [we] are going after his Mormonism, though indirectly. If his religion insists that anything not caught on camera is a secret, if his religion has secrecy so ingrained that he can’t find the line between religious secrecy and personal secrecy, then in that way, sure, his religion is under attack.

The Mormons could be sacrificing cats during their closed-door ceremonies and I don’t care. But if a candidate can’t be open (or at least deflective) then she/he should be called out on that.

Pretty sure having him release his 2004-2010 tax returns that show his massive IRS fines for using illegal off shoring to avoid paying US taxes is pretty darned important.

Secrecy my ass.

So, Political Party A hates the way Political Party B uses the exact same tactics Political Party A used against Political Party B a couple years ago.

http://www.charlieglickman.com/wp-conten…

@6
Except that Romney's father (George Romney) released 12 years of his tax forms when he ran AND BEFORE HE WAS THEIR CANDIDATE.

If Daddy Romney can do that kind of thing, what does Romney have to fear?

I think Romney has far more to fear from right wing god-botherers from his own party regarding his mormonism than he does from democrats, most of whom don't really give a shit about his professed religious beliefs.

Romney could be wind-boarding his dog right now... except he didn't know it would become such a big 'thing'.

"You're just using my membership in a secret society with an agenda of world domination as a pretext to cast aspersions on my plans for world domination! It is religious persecution to ask me to be honest and candid."

I actually do think there's a certain amount of ugly attempts to draw attention to Romney's Mormonism with the sole goal of implying that it's shady and he is therefore shady. It's unbecoming. There is plenty secretive and weird about Romney without suggesting that his religion is illegitimate, and I suspect he practices religion to only a very boring degree and with an average amount of sincerity. It's a tactic that appeals to crazies on the right more than any other group, and the left can't have those votes anyhow.

@1 - how about the use of "its" versus "it's"?

@13, no one (but you) has used the word "shady" about Mormonism. It's somewhat secretive and we all know that. You can't go to Mormon wedding if you aren't Mormon. Can't get much more secretive than that.

Is his religion illegitimate? Is any religion legit? You'd have to answer that one yourself. Most religion is based on stuff someone says he saw or heard with no proof. So Mormonism is just a legit as any other. It's all about faith and what you are willing to believe.

But the fact that the Mormon church has put out these "feel-good, I'm a Mormon" advertisements without explaining Mormonism tells you all you need to know.

@13 - No, the left can't have those votes, but making it so that no serious candidate can have them, either is at least half as good.

@13: mormomism isn't "shady", it's fucking ridiculous. ask any jack mormom.

rmoney's fondest wish is for the obama campaign/the democratic party to point this out so he can cry persercution. mormonism is the br'er patch of this election.

i mean jack mormoN.

Mormonism is a secretive religion...about which anyone with an internet connection and time on their hands can learn anything they care to know.

What's funny to me is how many evangelicals (which isn't an exact synonym for "Republicans", but the Venn overlap is substantial ) were more than happy to trash Mormonism until about six months ago.

@13, I think mormonism is exactly as legitimate as catholicism, or buddhism, or pastafarianism. Which is to say: they're all equally bullshit.

But I don't care if Romney is mormon, or if Obama is a secret muslin. I only care if they try to impose their religious beliefs on me by force of law. Since republicans often have a nasty habit of attempting to enshrine their particular religious nonsense into law, then they make their religious beliefs a fair topic of political discussion.

@19: buddhism is a-theistic. buddha is not a god. buddha didn't find gold plates left on another continent by krishna, translate them by looking into a hat, then lose them.

it is essentially a psychological practice that will produce greater happiness & empathy.
if any religion has legitimacy, it is buddhism.

@20, bullcrap. Buddhism has nothing. What gives a religion legitimacy is real estate. The Catholics lead the league in real estate, and very spectacular it is, too. The Mormon architecture is not to my taste but there's no denying the quantity of it.

Respect for your neighbors as human beings means accepting that people believe some things that seem pretty strange. So do you. If you can't accept that, you're a worse neighbor than they are.

#21 - I don't think anyone here doesn't accept that people believe strange things. But I, for one, reserve the right to ask questions about those strange beliefs, and even to mock them when appropriate. I have friends and family members who believe all kinds of nonsense, but there's no way I'd vote for them to hold high office. I like a certain amount of common sense and grounding in the real world in my presidential candidates. No one wants to outlaw mormonism. No one is saying they can't be decent people. But they, like every other church, should pay their goddamn taxes already and keep their beliefs out of our secular government. That's how I'd define being a good neighbor.

Don't worry. When he becomes President, we'll all find out everything we need to know about Mittens.

The ones calling into question Romney based on his faith were far right wing evangelicals. They said things to the effect that Romney isn't a Christian, and that Mormonism is a cult, etc.