Jon Stewart to Harry Reid: Shut up!

by NW Spotlight

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart told Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to “shut up” if Reid had to follow his irresponsible claim that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years with “I don’t know if that’s true.” (Reid’s actual exact wording was “Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain”)

Townhall has pointed out that Romney has “augmented his legally-required paperwork by volunteering two years’ worth of tax returns, which show that he’s paid every dime of his tax obligation and that he and his wife are world class, multimillion-dollar philanthropists.”

Mitt Romney released tax records back in January that show over the last two years he has paid $6.2 million in taxes, and he and his wife contributed $7 million to charity.

A few weeks ago Guy Benson at Townhall noted “It’s entirely fair to point out that Obama has been a fraud on transparency.  Much of his personal history remains shrouded in mystery and “composite” reality, he’s used cynical maneuvers to violate his own openness pledges, and he recently invoked executive privilege to cloud an investigation into a lethal gun-running scandal that his Justice Department has been feverishly covering up.”

In the same article, Benson goes on to conclude that although there are legitimate reasons for Romney not to release tax forms for additional years, he agrees with some other conservatives calling for Romney to release more. One of the reasons Benson gives is because then Romney would “have increased standing to confront Obama over his myriad shortcomings on the transparency front.”

Benson says to then imagine this line from Mitt Romney at a debate: “Your campaign insisted that I release more of my personal tax returns from years past.  I did, Mr. President.  Now why don’t you tell the American people why you’ve asserted executive privilege to obstruct an investigation into a gun-running scandal involving your administration that has resulted in hundreds of deaths, including the murder of a US agent?  It’s time for you to come clean, Mr. President.  I have.  It’s your turn, and the American people deserve complete transparency and candor on this matter.”