PBS's Mark Shields Cracks Romney Has a Strength: He Sure Knows How to Evade Taxes
On the PBS NewsHour, liberal analyst Mark Shields rarely has anything good to say about Mitt Romney, which is quite a contrast with his partner, Obama-infatuated “conservative” David Brooks.
He claimed on Friday night that Romney had a great strength that’s been overlooked, and then cracked that Mitt sure knows how to evade taxes:
MARK SHIELDS: There is one great strength here that Romney does have, and I think it's been overlooked. And that is, the Republican position has been, we want to increase revenue without raising the rates. So that means closing tax loopholes or tax expenditures. There's nobody who knows more about tax loopholes and tax expenditures than Mitt Romney. (Laughter) I mean, he brings an extra. . .
JUDY WOODRUFF, anchor: I thought you were about to say this is positive.
MARK SHIELDS: No, that is positive. (Laughter) He understands it. This is a guy who could sit down with the tax code and explain it.
Shields began by insisting that Obama had Romney on the ropes will all the attacks on Romney’s finances and business management:
MARK SHIELDS: But every campaign starts with the very simple procedure of sitting down with your own candidate and going through what is there in your background, whether it's of a personal nature, or a failed romance, or a legal decision or whatever, that could come out and hurt your campaign.
And it happened obviously with George W. Bush in 2000 on the eve of that election in 2000, a close race. It was revealed that he had been arrested for drunk driving, convicted in -- 24 years earlier. And it became a problem.
Mitt Romney, they have done this with Mitt Romney, not that there is anything of a criminal nature in his background. He made the decision he is not going to reveal. I mean, nobody has ever run for president with a Swiss bank account. I mean, Steve Forbes did, but he. . .
JUDY WOODRUFF: But, again, you're referring to the tax return.
MARK SHIELDS: His tax returns, yes. I just think it's all of a piece and I just think it's a problem. Mitt Romney shouldn't be on the defensive. He's on the defensive.
Shields didn’t acknowledge (as Howard Kurtz did) that a willing media is pounding away with Obama’s line on Romney. How could Romney not be on the defensive? There are some fissures in the media. The “independent fact checkers” have found fault with Obama’s ads. On PBS, former chief Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson strongly denounced Team Obama:
GERSON: Well, it's the Obama campaign that made this not just about outsourcing, but accusing Mitt Romney personally of lying on government documents, which is a felony. That's what -- campaign officials did this. For that kind of charge, you need significant evidence in the context of a presidential campaign, which so far has not just been lacking, but fact-checking organizations of The Washington Post and FactCheck.org have said, well, you know, this case is really quite weak. There's very little evidence here.
And so that, you know, is, I think, a -- it shows a tendency on the part of the Obama campaign, not just to criticize, but to vilify. So it's not enough for Romney to do outsourcing and have a debate on outsourcing. He has to be a felon. It is not just enough that he won't disclose his tax returns.
They compared him to Richard Nixon in the level of secrecy. I don't think these are a particularly set of credible charges. Mitt Romney has a lot of problems, a lot of challenges on these issues. But he doesn't come across as a Nixonian criminal figure. He's more like a wealthy Boy Scout. So I think that this doesn't meet the minimal levels of credibility. In my view, this particular swift boat sinks.
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Comments
Axe Timmay Geithner...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 8:52pm.
...Al Sharpytongue, Charles Rangel, Warren Buffet, et al, how they are able to do it and not get mentioned by the formerly free press.
Come on Mark, don't be such a dumba$$, if there was even a hint that Mittens had done anything wrong on anything it would be front and center, front page, 24/7/365 on all the lib crap shoots. You keep tossing lies against the wall, praying that something might stick but you have nothing. Baracko is running out of diversionary tactics and will soon start having to own his $hitty performance the last 4 years.
Nevermind the front
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 9:23pm.
Nevermind the front pages....wouldn't the IRS be all over him?
The beginning
Submitted by oldfart on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 9:44pm.
This is the beginning of the French Revolution.
To accuse is to convict.
Shields is just a smart ass
Submitted by texastommy on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 8:52pm.
Shields is just a smart ass who loves cheap shots.
And a putz.
Smart Ass?
Submitted by oldfart on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 9:42pm.
No I don't think so. No even dumb ass.
Whore would be a better label.
Is is paid to carry the water of whomever is the 'pubic (opps public) leader of the democrapic party.
Isn't tax evasion a crime?
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 9:14pm.
If it's common knowledge that Romney did it, why isn't he under arrest for it? Why is the IRS blithely letting him get away with it?
Do you suppose they think not getting elected president because of it would be enough punishment?????
That even put Al Capone in jail when they couldn't nail him on anything else!
Shields could have a lawsuit for slander on his hands, if Romney were so inclined.
MB
Submitted by Radical1979 on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:28pm.
Maybe they're afraid that someone will remember that Geithner was a proven tax cheat and fingers will point in that direction too...
I think Romney being a Mormon is going to be a problem. Remember after the Vanessa Williams Miss America pageant and that scandal? The next year a Mormon girl won and said words to the effect that because she was a Mormon the committee didn't have to worry about any dark secrets coming out about her.
It's that way with Romney. We're talking about a dog on the roof of a station wagon and an issue liberal sources have put to rest.
Gerson
Submitted by grammajane on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 9:26pm.
could have said much more instead of sitting there and listening to the radicals, shields and wouff (judy) spout off their continuous bashing and bias BS. This happens each week, on this worthless show. Who is schields anyway? Another so-called elite diploma holder? He is so far left and has zero facts on anything that is important or true
Head Slap To The Romney Campaign Media Experts
Submitted by Bourbeau on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:19pm.
If you are incapable of responding to this crap regarding Romney's taxes and his time at Bain, then
you need to resign your position. How is it possible to have been preparing for this for over two years and not be properly prepared to address each and every issue raised? The Bain stuff is absolute garbage and your floundering like fish in a net, giving it a second life. The tax crap is you shooting yourselves in the foot; anyone with half a brain would have seen this stuff coming and be ready ot fire back. Again, you're floundering. What don't you understand about Swiss bank accounts and why you should have buried that story months ago when it first bubbled up. From my vantage point, you look like you're lost in the weeds; I suggest you get weed whacker and fast.
A big amen to that brother
Submitted by DC2280 on Sun, 07/15/2012 - 6:50pm.
Romney and his team better get out in front of this mess ASAP.
Head Slap To The Romney Campaign Media Experts
Submitted by Bourbeau on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:19pm.
If you are incapable of responding to this crap regarding Romney's taxes and his time at Bain, then
you need to resign your position. How is it possible to have been preparing for this for over two years and not be properly prepared to address each and every issue raised? The Bain stuff is absolute garbage and your floundering like fish in a net, giving it a second life. The tax crap is you shooting yourselves in the foot; anyone with half a brain would have seen this stuff coming and be ready ot fire back. Again, you're floundering. What don't you understand about Swiss bank accounts and why you should have buried that story months ago when it first bubbled up. From my vantage point, you look like you're lost in the weeds; I suggest you get weed whacker and fast.
2008 all over again
Submitted by GregE on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:35pm.
The media has had no problem with Romney, because he's not real conservative. But once he started running again, and especially since he will now be the nominee vs the messiah, they suddenly can't stand him.
Just like 2008. The Centrist McCain was a media darling, until it was him vs the messiah. Suddenly he was tagged far right wing.
Big difference is,
Submitted by Boudin on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:44pm.
Obama isnt running against a despot. Romney is,
Boudin Got that right, up next Romney arrested for tax evasion.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:52pm.
October surprise...
You Didn't Build That.
Shields, you magnificently stupid old jackass...
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 07/14/2012 - 11:44pm.
...it is perfectly legal to AVOID paying income taxes using the existing laws that Congress has enacted over years and years of income tax legislation, as opposed to EVADING taxes which is a crime.
And somebody should ask Mark just how much the old SOB pays in taxes by the time his accountants and lawyers get done with the loopholes. Somebody should also ask him if he is collecting Social Security if he still has an active income--something they hammered Republicans for doing it, despite the fact that most Democrats in the government who reached retirement age are doing.
It's time to bring in Newt to deal with these deflections. He is the only one who has enough rhetorical firepower to cut this bullcrap off NOW.
totally correct drsam...
Submitted by MightyMouth on Sun, 07/15/2012 - 12:16am.
Each American is duty bound to pay as little tax as possible. It's the American way!! After all we are capitalists, not commies.
➚ Mark Shields
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 07/15/2012 - 12:06am.
I think Mark Shields posts here at NB under the pseudonym "alvin".
I'll say this for Mark Shields over at PBS. He sure knows how to suck in the tax money from people who resent the confiscation of that tax money.
Thanks a lot, alvin.
Again and Again
Submitted by Bourbeau on Sun, 07/15/2012 - 7:54am.
It never ceases to amaze me. The Dems are perfectly okay when it comes to the money bags belonging to a Kennedy (trust fund baby), a Kerry (successful jigalo), a Bloombeg (pompous ass)r, or a Soros (the Bank of Englands silver nemesis) - that's their version of clean money. Romney worked his way up the ladder, made good life and investment decisions, took susbstantial risks, has decent written all over him and was successful doing what he did and he's painted as the villain. This country has been duped by the Obama campaign slugs and if they choose to buy into his crapola this time around, we will again be wondering what the hell is wrong with us.
Tax evasion is a crime. Tax
Submitted by mattm on Sun, 07/15/2012 - 2:55pm.
Tax evasion is a crime. Tax avoidance is the duty of every freedom-loving American. Mark Shields is an ignorant moron - hence, he's on PBS.
Nice to see that Shields was
Submitted by Slyrr on Sun, 07/15/2012 - 3:10pm.
Nice to see that Shields was able to unclamp his mouth from the government teat long enough to blather out at least one sentence to try and 'earn' his keep.
Seriously - PBS has been a pig gorging itself at the public trough for decades. Just like NPR. These so-called 'media' outlets would have collapsed and died ages ago if they hadn't been stealing money directly from OUR paychecks through 'government donations' and 'grants'. Does anybody seriously believe - for one MINUTE - that they're getting enough money from their phony-baloney 'pledge drives' to cover all their costs, and six-figure salaries of the crooks who are running them?
Sure, they'll take whatever money they can get from whoever they can hoodwink with their little telethons. But it's a mere drop in the bucket compared to what they need to sustain themselves and stay in operation. After that - they head straight to OUR tax money and just help themselves to whatever they want. And with never a 'thank you'. Quite the contrary - they insult you and your intelligence every day with their lies, and think that you should be thanking THEM for 'the wonderful services' they provide. Like the people can't get by without them promoting gay cowboy poetry.
Shields is just another one of the pigs, jostling at that government teat, fattening himself up like a Moochelle Obama nightmare, on OUR tax dollars. This tax-bloated lardball should be bowing down and begging the forgiveness of every citizen of this country, seeing as he's nothing but a leech living off their unwilling generosity.