Donald Trump has "Game Changing" News for Election!

[Gerald McGrew]

You're kinda all over the map here CES. Apparently Obama should release his college transcripts because you don't think he's very smart and he should release his college application because you think he misrepresented himself. The problem is, you've given absolutely no substantive basis for your suspicions. Further, the evidence at hand directly contradicts your shadowy theories. Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law, served as president of Harvard Law Review, and taught constitutional law at Chicago Law school for 12 years. So for you to try and tell me you truly believe he's not really very smart...well, if you really believe that then you're not very bright yourself. And if you don't and instead are just being argumentative, then you're lying (again).

Your second suspicion that Obama misrepresented himself when applying to Harvard is equally ridiculous. First, you have zero substantive basis for the idea. Second, as I stated, since he's the President of the frickin' United States, and his place of birth has been a manufactured controversy since day one, and he and his people have insisted all along that he was born in the US (even to the point of releasing a COLB, a BC, and newspaper announcements), then if he did list himself as a "foreign student" in his application to Harvard, the records people at Harvard would have noticed. They are allowed to pull up and examine those records. They're the university's records. So, either someone at Harvard is actively concealing this information (making it a conspiracy), or you're just full of shit. I know where I'm betting.

Now, with Romney's tax returns, that's a totally different issue. First, it's standard practice for presidential candidates to release their tax records. It's unprecedented for a candidate to be asked to release his college and passport applications. Second, there is a legitimate question about Romney's time at Bain. The Factcheck article you linked to addresses the accusation of a felony, and concludes that unless some new documents are produced, there's nothing there that would warrant a felony charge. I agree. What I'm wondering about is whether Romney tax returns from the years in question have any claims of employment with Bain. The SEC documents list Romney as the CEO of Bain during years when he said he was no longer associated with them. But some of the SEC documents during those years have Romney's signature on them. So whatever you think of this issue, there is indeed serious substantive basis for looking into this further.

And the fact that you have to go back 140 years to find another US president being hounded about where he was born speaks for itself. There are significant differences between C. A. Arthur and Obama, most notably that Arthur never had a birth certificate or any other official records. Obama OTOH has released his official birth records multiple times, yet he is still suspected by the right of being from Africa. Totally different. I would say "nice try", but it really wasn't. "Desperate" is more like it.

Finally, I'll simply allow the fact that you find no element of racism in the Romney campaign's suggestion that the only reason Powell endorsed Obama is because their both black to speak for itself. All I can say is, every time I think you can't sink any lower in your extreme loyalty to the Republican party, you surprise me yet again.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Don't hope for consistency.

[Gerald McGrew]

Actually, he's very consistent. Whatever the Republican party says is what he'll advocate. Not too hard to figure out.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Actually, he's very consistent. Whatever the Republican party says is what he'll advocate. Not too hard to figure out.

But he isn't willing to own his mistakes.

[JimC]

So much tl;dr in one thread...

[Animavore]

Before he was famous.

[JimC]

Infamous...

[Animavore]

Some people are having a hard time understanding that Trump is a buffoon who ought to be laughed at.

Back in 2012.

Are people getting the message yet?

[Hermit]

I have yet to hear a good reason for Romney not releasing all those tax returns.

Me neither, but Romney has released multiple years of tax returns, and different Presidents over the past 40 years have released differing numbers of years tax returns.

So, once again, what is the good reason for Obama releasing zero transcripts? If you feel that he is justified in not releasing any, because Romney has only released some of his tax returns, then you're entitled to that view of it, I guess. But, it doesn't sound too rational.

Since the 1976 election, presidential candidates have released at least one year of tax returns. After winning that election, Jimmy Carter then set the precedent for all sitting presidents and vice presidents to release their returns each year. Since 1984, the standard for challengers to an incumbent president has been to disclose at least two years of returns, if not significantly more.

Bob Dole holds the record, releasing 29. McCain released 2. Mike Dukakis released 5. Why didn't Dukakis release 29? I don't know.,

But it seems as if releasing 2 is at least some. I can certainly see why people would want to see a few more, although it is largely a non-issue because we know Romney made lots of money, and there isn't anything in a 1040 form that is going to be all that Earth shattering. If he committed some sort of tax evasion, he makes so much that the IRS has taken very close looks at his returns many times. Audit risk is VERY high when income is that high.

Also, it's Obama who is making the case that "candidates need to be as transparent as possible," and release information to the public. He demands openness from others, but he doesn't want to be open himself. The transcripts, I recall, were considered very important by Democrats for Bush to release, and he released them, and he was chided for being a mediocre student. So, there is a bit of hypocrisy when Democrats say that they're irrelevant. They're irrelevant NOW, but they weren't irrelevant before. As usual, it depends whose ox is being gored.

So, Forty Two, has Trump released any of his tax returns yet?

[Animavore]

Zing!

[Scot Dutchy]

Nothing never changes when it comes to the orange scrotum.

[Brian Peacock]

The new album by Orange Scrotum is actually rather good.

[Scot Dutchy]

Who is their lead singer? Not Trump surely.