Mitt Romney's "born in Kenya" problem

Psssst! Pass the word: It is widely rumored that for eight years during the ‘80s and ‘90s, Mitt Romney paid no taxes.

Not a dime.

When he did pay, his tab was miniscule, thanks to accounts in the Cayman Islands and Swiss banks.

True?

I don’t know, but pass the word, unfounded as it is — at least so far. It might force the Romney campaign to reveal a very different Mitt Romney from the one concocted for public consumption.

Remember how the Right-wing "Birthers" spread the rumor that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and hence ineligible to be President? It took the President’s Hawaiian birth certificate to put an end to the guilty-until-proven-innocent campaign.

Since The Right seems to accept the tactic as legitimate, could it be time to use it  to smoke out Romney’s tax returns?

Ethical  question: Do the ends justify the means?

There are a couple of key differences: the Birthers knew their claim was false. That's not so with the speculation regarding Romney. Moreover, the Birthers sole aim was to spread the rumor and get people to believe it. Here the aim is to get Romney to make his tax returns public in order to get at a truth.

My guess — and it is only a guess — is that the tax returns could well support the allegation.  That’s why Romney has that deer-in-the-headlights look when asked to lay out his tax filings.

Why the reluctance to go public with the returns?

Could it be that if Romney’s returns are ever made available, his pursuit of the presidency will be over?

PS There’s something about all this reminiscent of Leona Helmsley, the billionaire convicted of tax evasion in 1989. She infamously said, “"We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes...."

Front page dots ripe for connecting

Before they disappear into the fog of old news, here are three front-page headlines from the Wednesday, July 2nd issue of The New York Times.

Taken separately, they inform in a sporadic way. Taken together, they cast a laser-bright light on these times.

On the top right of the page:

DEEPENING CYCLE
OF JOB LOSS SEEN
LASTING INTO '09

WEAK SIGNALS PERSIST

Directly beneath it:

Stock Exchange’s Former Chief
Wins Court Battle to Keep Pay.

(The “pay” in question was $187.5 million paid to Richard A. Grasso.)

And then over to the left on the bottom of the page, this:

Helmsley, Dogs’ Best Friend,
Left Them Up to $8 Billion

(The Helmsley in question is the late hotelier, real estate magnate and convicted tax-evader Leona Helmsley. Helmsley left her own dog, "Trouble" by name, $12 million. It was Helmsley who famously said, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.")

There you have it. A journalistic snapshot of our American society on one summer’s day in 2008, the eighth year of the reign of George W. Bush.

I suppose I could throw into the mix one other story from the front page, but it is a dot harder to connect. Upper left on the page:

CHINA INSPIRED
INTERROGATIONS
AT GUANTANAMO

COMMUNIST TECHNIQUES

Military Used ’57 Study
of Steps That Led to
False Confessions