Mitt Romney

It's not a sin to be rich, but how you got that way may make it so. Mitt Romney will not share his tax returns from the last 10 years even though his dad, Michigan Gov. George Romney, did when he was running for president. Is Mitt hiding something? Why not tell us if he has offshore accounts? How can someone wish to lead this country when he won't open his tax returns to prove he hasn't done anything questionable? If someone who avoids paying taxes on offshore accounts, rather then pay his fair share, wants to be president he should be honest with us about it. Lois Raimondi Munchel, Forest Hill

Republicans and Democrats are attacking Romney for his remark: "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. " It fits in wtih the idea (I refuse to call it a meme) that Romney is an economic predator, a ruthless levergaed buyout artist who raided companies for cash and laid off the workers. That he may be.  But it's obvious that what he's talking about isn't firing corporate employees but rather companies that provide goods and services to consumers. He's talking aboiut consumer sovereignty and consumer choice, which nobody should be against.

In his effort to be chosen as Sen. John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election, Mitt Romney submitted 23 years of his tax returns to the McCain campaign - after which the senator and his staff rejected Mr. Romney and picked Sarah Palin instead. That decision ought to tell the American people something about Senator McCain's opinion of Mr. Romney as a potential president, about the contents of Mr. Romney's tax returns, or both. The minimum requirement for anyone asking Americans to give them the authority and responsibility of the world's most powerful position is to be completely open about their careers, their policies and their financial interests.

The gloves came off this week in a long-brewing feud between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot this week after the comptroller held a roundtable Tuesday to denounce the governor's proposed increase of taxes on gasoline. O'Malley, in an interview, told The Sun that "Peter never saw an issue he couldn't be on both sides of. " His fellow Democrat, the governor said, is "kind of our version of Mitt Romney. " Romney's political opponents have criticized the Republican presidential candidate for his changes of mind on key issues over the years.

Donald Trump has taken Mitt Romney into his oily embrace, and let's hope it makes Mr. Romney's skin crawl because, if it turns out he actually does like hanging out with The Donald, we should fear for our country. Can you say "Vice President Donald J. Trump?" Kind of burns in the throat, doesn't it? To Mr. Trump's list of identities -- real estate shark, casino owner, reality TV star, serial monogamist and grandly self-impressed comb-over king -- we can add his stint as the weirdly entertaining clown who refuses to quit the 2012 election circus.

The time for conservatives to compromise has come and gone. The time for decisive and prudential judgments in our votes has arrived, and that means abandoning Mitt Romney this election. One of the great mistakes conservatives make when voting today is misjudging and mischaracterizing our political opponents. Words such as "socialist, radical, and communist" are tossed around with little regard to their historical meaning or modern implications. Then, we portray every election as a "turning point" in history, making over-exaggerated claims about the consequences of a political loss.

Jon Stewart was having some fun Tuesday with the seemingly tepid endorsement some leading Republicans have bestowed upon Mitt Romney. He pointed to the one where John McCain called him the wrong name. Another from former New York Gov. George Pataki who added a string of qualifiers including: "Mitt is not a perfect candidate. He has a number of problems.... " With such flat praise, Stewart joked, "It's like, 'I like Ike' would have been 'Ike's fine.' Or Reagan's 'optimistic morning in America' would have been 'yeah, it's time to get up.'" "Can anybody out there offer a strong unequivicobale endorsement of Mitt Romney," the"Daily Show"host asked, leading to the reason why this is worth noting in Baltimore.

Rep. Paul Ryan made a curious and troubling statement in his roll out as the Republican vice presidential candidate. He said "our rights come from God or nature, not from government. " As a member of this government for the last dozen years, I am certain he bases this statement on something. It is certainly not the Constitution. You know, that document that lays out how this government works. Nowhere in that document is God mentioned. It talks about the separation of church and state in the establishment of religion clause.

Richard Grenell had the right resume to be Mitt Romney's spokesman on foreign policy -- a stint as communications director for four of the Bush administration's U.N. ambassadors; a degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; his own international PR firm and frequent stints on TV as an expert on international issues. Too bad for him he has a boyfriend. Mr. Grenell was the first openly gay spokesman for a presidential candidate, but he never got to speak. Before he even officially started the job, enraged homophobes in the so-called pro-family community spooked Mr. Romney's campaign staff.

Stories about Mitt Romney's bullying behavior during his prep school days in Michigan made me think of a message that popped up on my Facebook page last year: A woman from my hometown wanted to know why, 40 years ago, I had laughed at the news that her brother had been killed in a car accident. I was startled by the question - not because the woman had raised something shameful from my past but because I had no idea what she was talking about. I was not friends with the woman, but I knew her older sister.