Pelosi: On Second Thought, This Whole Tax Returns Thing is a Distraction

Guy Benson
Political Editor, Townhall.com

Jul 19, 2012 05:41 PM EST

Behold what a prominent politician's "CYA" instinct hath wrought:


Facing questions about why she and other top Congressional officials won’t release their tax returns, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) downplayed her previous demands for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to release his, calling the issue a distraction. As recently as Wednesday, Pelosi had strongly urged Romney to provide further disclosure of his tax returns. But today, while maintaining Romney should release more documents because of “custom” and “tradition,” Pelosi said the issue was trivial compared with economic issues. “We spent too much time on that. We should be talking about middle-income tax cuts,” Pelosi said after answering two questions about the issue.


Pelosi even started clawing at the annoyingly inquisitive media:


Pelosi also suggested that the media should face disclosure requirements. “Some people think the same standard should be held to the ownership of the news media in the country who are writing these stories about all of this. What do you think of that?” she asked.


Yeah, what do you think of that, reporters? Stop asking Nancy questions about her shameless hypocrisy! It seems the former Speaker is a little jittery over the report we highlighted earlier:


Nancy Pelosi was emphatic. Mitt Romney’s refusal to release more than two years of his personal tax returns, she said, makes him unfit to win confirmation as a member of the president’s Cabinet, let alone to hold the high office himself. Sen. Harry Reid went farther: Romney’s refusal to make public more of his tax records makes him unfit to be a dogcatcher. They do not, however, think that standard of transparency should apply to them. The two Democratic leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives are among hundreds of senators and representatives from both parties who refused to release their tax records.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/18/156632/most-members-of-congress-keep.html#storylink=cpy

Coming soon, a new GOP talking point on Romney's taxes: "Even Nancy Pelosi -- who declines to release her own tax returns -- calls this whole issue a distraction."