Romney Surrogate Mocks Reporter for Asking for Tax Plan Specifics

Last updated on October 2nd, 2012 at 11:56 pm

Governor Ultra Sound doesn’t like math, and won’t show us the math no matter how many times we ask. So goes another Romney surrogate.

Pressed several times during an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell today, Romney surrogate Bob McDonnell refused to provide specifics or answer questions about Mitt Romney’s budget and tax plan math. McDonnell even went as far as to call Mitchell’s call for specifics “laughable.”

TRANSCRIPT:

MITCHELL: Where is the math? And is Mitt Romney going to be under pressure in this debate to produce the specifics as to how it will all add up?

MCDONNELL: Well, Andrea, first that’s a laughable question. Where’s the President’s plan? He’s had four years. 23 million people don’t have work. So let’s start with that. The President’s policies haven’t worked.

MITCHELL: The question was asked by Chris Wallace on FOX, it’s being asked by other Republicans, where is the math, how do you add up those tax cuts, even eliminating some deductions, which deductions you eliminate, let’s be specific. And how will you do that and reach deficit reduction, which programs will be cut?

MCDONNELL: (Refusing to answer the question yet again, McDonnell plays the Sarah Palin debate game of answering the question he wants to answer.) The question is, how do you get America back to work. What Paul Ryan just said on your clip is you flatten the base and increase — excuse me, you increase the number – you reduce the number of deductions that are out there and you expand the base. That’s typically what works. That can be done in a revenue-neutral fashion and I think that’s what Paul Ryan has proposed, and what that does is make America more competitive. But Mitt Romney’s been much more specific on how he’d get America back to work and replace the failed policies of the President. Andrea, that’s what this is about. The President’s policies on job creation haven’t gotten us back to work. 8% Unemployment for 43 months. That’s the issue.

(McDonnell seems unaware that the Republicans have obstructed the President’s job creation plan, which independent analysts say WOULD HAVE CREATED AT LEAST A MILLION JOBS.)

What the President — I mean what Mitt Romney said, very specifically on job creation, is expanded trade by reducing the barriers, on creating a better climate for America by keeping tax and regulatory policies in a better shape, energy — this President has been horrific — we just lost 1200 coal jobs in Virginia last week because of the regulatory policies of the Obama administration, exactly what the president of the company said. So, I think they’ve been very specific on the types of things that they would do to be able to increase jobs, provide more access to the American dream, and tough decisions have to be made. I cut spending in Virginia about $6 billion eliminating deficits. Republican governors have done it all over the country. Sure, there was some complaining and hardship at the beginning but now we’re running surpluses and the job rates in red states are better than blue states, and that’s what Mitt Romney will do.

MITCHELL: He’s been specific about his goals. He hasn’t been specific about how to reach those goals. What about what Paul Ryan acknowledged on FOX…

MCDONNELL: But Andrea, hold on, Andrea…

MITCHELL: Go ahead, sir.

MCDONNELL: I’ve got to stop you on that. The President of the United States, Andrea, has not got a budget passed in three and a half years. That’s — you know, governors balance budgets every year, on time. This President has not got a budget even passed, can’t get it passed even though he’s had a majority. (Not true. The House, as McDonnell should know, is run by Republicans and the Senate does not have a filibuster proof majority. But it’s technically the House’s job to come up with a budget, if we’re going to stick to who is responsible for what here, so fail double fail triple fail Republicans.) So, the President has had no plan to reduce the debt. In fact, he’s increased the deficit a trillion dollars a year. So let’s start with the failures of this administration. Mitt Romney, I think, at least has said look, we have got to cut spending, we’re broke, we’ve overpromised, we’ve overspent…

MICTHELL: But where? But, sir…

MCDONNELL: …The bills are due, and I’ll make the tough decisions…

MITCHELL: Governor, where would he cut the spending.

MCDONNELL: …Let’s trust him on that.

MITCHELL: Where would he cut the spending?

MCDONNELL: You cut a lot of domestic — we’ve already got a plan to cut a trillion — $1.2 trillion. Unfortunately, half of it’s balanced on defense spending in a time of war. That’s a mistake. And so I think we need to cut trillions of dollars in order to get our budget balanced. And you could start with cutting two or three or 4% almost across the board, some of the things that other governors have done, but I think you target it in those areas where the spending has not produced tangible results in the quality of life for the people. I can just tell you, Andrea, I did it in Virginia, governors like Christie and Scott and Kasich and Walker and Martinez have done it in all of their states, Mitt Romney did it when he was Governor of Massachusetts, three and a half billion-dollar deficit eliminated, and it can be done. Is it going to be easy? Are people going to have short-term pain? Yes. But is it necessary in order to be — restore the fiscal posture of the US? Absolutely.

End transcript.

Just trust Romney. I mean, why wouldn’t you? Sure, he won’t trust you with his tax returns, and he’s said some nasty things about you, but just trust him. Okay, so he lied to the people of Massachusetts and told them to trust him, he lived there, when he didn’t. He wouldn’t show them his tax returns because they told a different story. But hey, he amended that, just like he amended his 2010 returns and just like he’s going to amend his 2011 returns so he doesn’t have to pay all of that extra money. Sure, he manipulated his tax returns to appear to pay at least 13%, but trust him on this.

When it comes to TAX ISSUES, Mitt Romney is trustworthy. How do you know? He told you so.

So when You People get all uppity, asking what tax deductions Romney would eliminate to pay for $5 trillion in tax cuts skewed toward millionaires and billionaires, what spending cuts he’d make to reduce the deficit, what he’d replace Obamacare with, and how, substantively, his foreign policy would differ from the President’s, well, Republican governor McDonnell says these are “laughable” questions. How dare you pressure Mitt Romney for specifics. Don’t you know your place yet?

You Victims probably don’t want to hear all about what Romney and Ryan have in store for you. The Ryan budget scared the Nuns enough to take their bus across the country warning people about the Utter Cruelty, so I can’t imagine what kind of melee the Romney Ryan tax plan for You People might create. Just remember, you should trust them.

They’re not telling you because they know you would like their ideas, and like all people trying to win in a race, when they have an idea that you would like that would help them win, they keep it hidden from you just to ruin their own chances.

They are only hiding their tax plan specifics from you to make it extra special when they unveil their Trickle Down Surprise.

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