Keep It Up, Harry (With Update)

Harry Reid is catching a lot of criticism for recently stating -- based on an unnamed source -- that Mitt Romney didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years. Jon Stewart has even attacked him on it.  But I couldn't be more pleased with what Reid is doing.  In fact, the only thing that would make me happier about this line of attack is if I had heard that there really wasn't a source for this allegation and that Harry Reid made the whole thing up.

Why would that make me more happy? Because it would show that the Democrats are starting to get serious about the upcoming election and are now willing to do something that the Republicans have been doing for years, i.e., make shit up.

My "favorite" making-shit-up moment for the GOP -- and there have been many such moments -- happened back in 2004, when Assistant Clackamas County District Attorney (and Swift Boat Liar) Al French signed a sworn affidavit (which, by the way, was subject to the penalties for perjury) asserting that Senator John Kerry received his Purple Heart medals "from negligently self-inflicted wounds in the absence of hostile fire." French, however, later admitted that he made the whole fucking thing up (which was pretty obvious anyway given that he was not in Vietnam at the same time as John Kerry), stating that he was instead relying on the account of trusted friends.

As far as I know, French was never punished for perjuring himself with regard to John Kerry, and as far as I can tell, there is no downside for Harry Reid even if he was just making the whole thing up about Romney not paying a decade's worth of taxes. Reid seems to know that his line of attack won't hurt him politically because he has doubled down on it despite the ongoing criticism.

Why will there be no political repercussions for Reid?  Because he's convinced that Romney will not release any more tax returns, and Reid is right about that.  Mitt's campaign has decided that it was far better for him to not release these returns than it would be to release them, which can only mean one thing:  his tax returns are toxic.  If they weren't toxic, they would have been released a long time ago.

It really is as simple as that.  As Sam Stein and Ryan Grim point out at Huffington Post:

[T]here is limited political downside to the type of open speculation that Reid is making, so long as Romney refuses to budge on the issue of his tax returns. Increasingly, other Democrats are growing more assertive in their goading. In an appearance at the Center for American Progress on Tuesday, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland argued that he could openly speculate as to whether Romney "is a tax avoider" or "cheat" because "his behavior invites such speculation."

GOP Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said it best about Romney: "[I]f we're still talking about this in September, he's in deep trouble."

UPDATE:  Democratic Strategist Bill Buck has some interesting speculation concerning Senator Reid's unnamed source:

It is likely that Senator Reid’s source shares the Mormon religion with Reid and Romney.  That message will not be lost on Romney. If the Bain fortress is not a fortress; if people are talking, Romney knows that trouble lies ahead.

And the motivation for this leak may not be political. It is likely personal and tied to the Mormon Church.

Specifically, if Romney was hiding money from the IRS he may have hidden money from his church.  It is expected that members of the Mormon Church tithe a minimum of ten percent of their incomes. But if Romney was not paying taxes and hiding money, then his disclosure – which itemizes deductions, including to the church – would tip off his actual income to the IRS. ***

Some have speculated that Romney’s donations to the church might be a problem with the American public. Perhaps it is Romney’s shortchanging of his church that is Mr. Romney’s concern.

That's some great speculation there, and as noted above, Romney has invited it.