When it comes to his tax returns, Mitt Romney keeps on stepping in it
Here's Mitt Romney
earlier today, echoing South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who said that instead of demanding the release of Mitt Romney's tax returns, the media should be demanding the release of Newt Gingrich's ethics investigation:
Romney then agreed with Haley that Gingrich should release the ethics investigation immediately.
"Of course he should," Romney told reporters. "One of the issues that was raised last night by Rick Santorum was the fact that he was pushed out of the House by his fellow members. I think over 80 percent of Republican congressmen voted to reprimand the Speaker of the House, the first time in history. And Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation, you know it's going to get out before the general election. Sure, he ought to get it out now."
Okay, first of all, the ethics investigation report is available here. It's been available for something like 15 years. Perhaps Romney means that every scrap of paper related to the investigation ought to be released, but given that the stuff the committee has already published led to Gingrich resigning in disgrace and paying a $300,000 fine, there's plenty to find in the public record.
Second, why in the world is Mitt Romney drawing a comparison between his tax returns and Newt Gingrich's ethics investigation? Even if the ethics report weren't already public, doesn't Mitt Romney realize he's saying that his tax returns are as embarrassing to his campaign as Newt's ethics report is to Gingrich's campaign?
The most likely answer is that Mitt Romney isn't really quite sure what he's doing: he's in a bit of panic, and he's throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Maybe that's what it takes to win the GOP nomination, but it's not the kind of quality most Americans want in a president.
12:03 PM PT: Correction (via Collideascope): Gingrich didn't resign until after the 1998 midterm election debacle, nearly two years after the ethics investigation.