Harry Reid loses even more credibility on Romney tax issue

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lost even more credibility on his claim that presidential candidate Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years Thursday evening after one of the Congressman’s aides gave out additional information on Reid’s ‘anonymous source’ and then retracted the information within a matter of minutes.

Reid previously told The Huffington Post that an investor in Romney’s old company Bain Capital told him Romney did not pay taxes for 10 years. Reid has provided no proof of the accusation and has refused to name his source despite criticism from Romney and independent fact-checkers for his suggestion that Romney is a liar and a criminal.

Now, The Huffington Post is reporting that a top Reid aide first told the publication that the source “is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody who has been dealing with Romney’s company for a long, long time and he has direct knowledge of this” but retracted the statement minutes after HuffPo held him accountable for his claim by publishing the new details.

“I do not know the party affiliation of the source, how long he invested with Bain, or his relationship to Romney beyond the fact that he was an investor with Bain Capital, as Senator Reid has previously stated,” the aide, Jose Parra, said in an email to HuffPo reporter Ryan Grim, when it became clear that he made a no-no.

The latest details in the Reid-Romney-taxes saga reinforces Romney’s claim that the Democratic Party leader “has lost a lot of credibility” in the last couple weeks since he began pushing this tall tale. No one besides Nancy Pelosi ever seemed to believe Reid’s story was “true” in the first place, but Thursday evening’s incident is another example of why Reid’s remarks are seen as suspect.

 

 

By /// August 10, 2012
Francesca Chambers About Francesca Chambers

Francesca is the Editor of Red Alert Politics - an online publication written by and for young conservatives. Red Alert Politics is a product of Clarity Media Group, the parent company of The Washington Examiner and The Weekly Standard. She is also a contributor to The Washington Examiner.

Francesca is a veteran of several political campaigns and political organizations. She has also worked in new media and communications at The Leadership Institute, at the Republican National Committee and on Capitol Hill. She has been featured as a speaker at Leadership Institute, Cato Institute, Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream Summit," the State Policy Network's annual conference and CPAC, in addition to appearing as a regular guest on the "Big Picture" with Thom Hartmann on Russia Today.

She has also appeared on ABC's "Nightline", PBS' 'NewsHour', PBS' "To the Contrary", MSNBC, CNN, on TheBlazeTV (aka Glenn Beck TV) and had radio segments on Take Action News with David Shuster, NPR and "The Michael Koolidge Show."

In 2012 she was named to the DC GOP's first ever "35 under 35" list.

Francesca graduated from the University of Kansas with BAs in Political Science and Journalism. At KU she was an editor of the University Daily Kansan and an active member of Student Senate.

Comments

  1. Rich K says:
    August 10, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    Mr. Reid took one for the team, as he and his counterpart Nancy Pelosi have done in the past. He has taken the talk away from the economy and pressed another issue on Romney. This has become viral and it has accomplished what its intentions were. The question is whether this strategy will work in the long run. The Dems have no quams about misconstruction, misleading or mispeaking about issues outside of the economy. Just how many of the voters recognize these tactics and decide appropriately.

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