For about a week earlier this month, every time Mitt Romney's campaign added a new video to his YouTube page, I posted a question about his taxes in the allowed comment area. I never used obscenity nor made any kind of offensive comment about the candidate. I simply asked things like "Why won't you release more of your tax returns? Don't you respect the American people enough to be honest with us?"
The Romney campaign's response was to ban me. You can see what pops up when I try to post questions now.
Thinking this was a one-time fluke, I signed in with a different Google account and again posted questions about his taxes.
After a few days, another ban.
So I tried a third account. Banned again. They were moving faster - banning me the next day. Fourth, fifth, sixth account. All banned after only one tax comment.
I used a different IP each time, plus a different browser and PC or laptop, so they can't suspect it's coming from the same user.
So what does this tell me?
First, the Romney campaign is paranoid about the tax issue. Even after the Ryan announcement, they're still extremely sensitive about their vulnerability on his AWOL tax returns. They won't ban users for obscene comments, but they will ban you if you ask about his taxes.
Second, the campaign is extremely petty. They're devoting staff energy and time to banning people who ask honest questions?
Third, they've borrowed a page right out of Josef Stalin's manual on how to alter reality. America is a democracy. Romney should be able to answer tough questions. His campaign shouldn't resort to censorship.
If a candidate can't deal with simple YouTube questions, how could he deal with a real crisis if elected?
If you'd like to try posting a question of your own, Romney's YouTube videos can be found here.