...in a forthcoming interview with Parade magazine, Romney revealed a new reason why he's hesitant to release more returns: He does not want to make public his donations to the LDS Church.
Here's what Romney told Parade, according to The Salt-Lake Tribune:"Our church doesn’t publish how much people have given. This is done entirely privately. One of the downsides of releasing one’s financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known. It’s a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church."
How did this seem like a good idea to Romney? First of all, it brings the tax returns back to the spotlight. (Maybe he'd rather talk about the tax returns than abortion?) Second of all, it ignores the fact that he's already released one year and has promised to release another year's worth of tax returns, so that information isn't really private anymore. Third of all, it drags the Mormon thing back up, which Romney was at one point desperately afraid to discuss. If Romney's people think bringing God into this will stop the conversation cold, they don't understand the conversation.
But the biggest question I have after reading this is: How do you turn an interview with Parade magazine into something controversial? Parade publishes the easiest, most softball interviews in the world. This is another unbelievably basic mistake from a team that's simply not playing at a professional level.
(Thanks to Slog tipper Joe.)
