Is Mitt Romney the new Richard Nixon?

By Jamie Lutton.

              I was reading the Seattle Times today online, and I noticed the editorial board had posed a question to its readers about what they thought about Mitt Romney not releasing his income taxes for more than two years back.  They asked readers to write in what they thought about this controversy.


                I noticed the ridiculousness of this question, and got fairly annoyed.  This newspaper, though it serves one of the most liberal counties in the united states, is owned by a Republican family, the Blethen family.
   This family, though its mouthpiece of the Seattle Times, have endorsed Bush jr. for President twice.  they have never apologized  or reviewed this  endorsement as far as I know, even though he is now held by some to be the worst president we have ever had.
     The Seattle Times has, historically, consistently backed Republicans candidates for both local and national offices for decades, and has generally pretty conservative politics.
             Having them ask their readers of their online newspaper what we thought of Mitt Romney's refusal to release his  back tax returns, took my breath away.
       Even though this paper runs liberal and middle of the road political columnists on their editorial pages, they are firmly in the Republican camp.  Running such editorials, and conducting some investigative journalism, they act, on the surface, like a fairly middle of the road or even liberal newspaper.
   They also take some civic interest in the city's government;  they engage in critiquing  local government and police in a positive, impartial way. But, in the end, they are a mouthpiece of Republicans and the Republican Party. 
             I took the opportunity presented to me to point this out online, before I  gave a brief opinion about Mitt Romney's refusal to release his tax returns. 

             I wondered, after I got off line and came here to write, just how stupid this newspaper thought their readers were, anyway

     This whole business of condescending to ask their readers 'what they thought' smacked of the high school teacher who, in a classroom, after gathering the opinions of his students on this or that controversial historical event, or event from the newspapers would set the 'kids' straight, using his "superior" knowledge. 
        And a good grade in that class depended on agreeing with the teacher.
The local Democrats, who are the main readers of the Seattle Times, have no hope of influencing this paper's endorsement of Republican candidates.
       We are almost as much captives of this paper as those high school students are of their teacher.  We can protest and discuss about the evidence of deception  of Mitt Romney all we want, but the Seattle Times will, judging them from past behavior,  still endorse him for President, even though we are living in a heavily Democratic region.
          They will do this out of of party loyalty, not because of the quality of the candidate.
    Unlike those high school students, however,  the local readers can seek out different papers to read, and participate in other forums.   The important thing is to be aware of that bias, and not to be led by the nose.

               My own opinion about Mitt Romney's behavior is that if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, its a duck.
  He is ducking releasing his tax returns as there is something quite damaging in them.  Or, because his overly cautious advisers told him not to.  I came to this conclusion early, without having to read other people analyzing why he did not do so, or what might be the problem with the return. I just watched his behavior. Later, I read some of the speculating by political analysts, and thought that that it was interesting that some important members of his own party was urging him to come clean.
     But the hilarious thing about this is, by not co-operating and releasing his tax returns, he is making the American voter who is paying attention think that there is something even more terrible inside them than there is.

  Mitt Romney has become his own worst enemy.  This is where he resembles a past Republican president; Richard Nixon.

Like President Richard Nixon, who was mocked by his enemies for being paranoid, twitchy and an obvious liar, Romney is now putting himself out to be mocked by comedians, political writers,  and possible voters.
     For those of you too young to remember, President Richard Nixon 40 + years ago, was caught saying 'I am not a crook' about his own mistakes. He became notorious for this remark.
       From the Watergate break in, to bombing Cambodia, to how he mishandled student protests against the Vietnam War,  up to and including problems with his own tax returns, he lied to the American public.  
         He did not fool any but the most credulous, or dedicated members of the Republican Party. In the end, by conspiring to break into the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate hotel in 1972, then lying to Congress about it,  he disgraced the office of the presidency.
 In the end, his own party leaders urged him, then pressured him to resign.
   During Nixon's tenure in office,  the  television comedians of the day, political commentators and columnists, as well as the general public made fun of him and his outrageous lies and antics.
  Ask anyone liberal over 55 if they can 'do a Nixon impression".  Up will come the arms overhead, with their hands  making dual peace signs, and they will shake their head back and forth, and mutter "I am not a Crook".
Right now, Mitt Romney is on the way to being mocked in a similar way.
 He is held up by middle of the road television comics like Jay Leno as the "Richie Rich" kid who swims in   mounds of  cash, or "Scrooge McDuck" who has vaults full of gold coins and cash in his house.
 I have seen a sketch on the Tonight show where a faux Romney is bathing himself in a bathtub of gold coins, a la one of these comic book characters.  And the studio audience and Leno are laughing very hard at the skit.
And this was before the tax return question came up.
  Now, people are saying to each other 'when are we going to learn the truth about those returns?"  Mitt Romney is falling into the "Nixon" trap, thinking he can lie to the American people and get away with it. And both comedians and political columnists are making hay about this, and not backing down.
        In a way, I almost want Mitt Romney to win, if only to watch the comedians and political columnists make the same mincemeat they made of Richard Nixon for six years. I would enjoy laughing at him, as I laughed at Nixon as a child. Almost, but not quite.
 I love my country too much to have it be the plaything of a lying multimillionaire, who, as it appears, is not patriotic enough to pay his fair share of income tax.
          I had other complaints about this candidate - for example, reports that he was a bully in high school, and the possible mistreatment of a family dog - but this is current behavior, that cannot be explained away easily.

 And if he is a liar and cheat, Mitt Romney is capable, then, of almost anything.

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