"Lies Will Serve Us Better"

Liberals have apparently decided that they must become equal to the opponent whom they criticize. Obama and company seem to have reached the position that to beat the Republicans they must fight like Republicans, that telling the truth is senseless when lies will serve them better. My opinion is that if they do that then the outcome of the election is irrelevant, but I seem to be alone in that opinion.

Case in point, all of the liberals and Democrats who are gleefully pointing out that Mitt Romney “took a $77,000 tax deduction for his wife’s dressage horse.” Steve Clemons at The Atlantic gives us the straight scoop on that,

Mitt Romney declared in his 2010 taxes a $77,000 business loss (of which only $50 thus far was deducted from his taxes but which protects him on upside gains in the future) costs related to his Olympics-competing horse, Rafalca.

God knows, I harbor no warm and fuzzy feelings for Mitt Romney and would not vote for him if he was running against Adolph Hitler, but I do have a certain fondness for the truth. The fact is, Mitt Romney did not “take a $77,000 tax deduction,” he listed $77,000 in expenses which will at some future point be deducted from financial gains which the horse will earn in competition. That is a perfectly reasonable and legitimate thing to do. The costs related to preparing to win money in competition are a perfectly reasonable offset against the declaration of the income represented by those winnings.

Should an amateur poker player, who is required to pay taxes on his winnings, not be allowed to deduct his losses? I’ll give you a hint; the IRS allows him to deduct his losses up to the amount of his winnings, even if poker is nothing more than a hobby. This is precisely what Romney is doing. He is listing the costs of his hobby against future financial gain which his hobby may produce and which the IRS will consider to be income.

Lies of this nature may have a lot to do with why Romney refuses to release more years of income tax returns.

Clemons then goes on to applaud a column by Margaret Carlson criticizing Romney for his “tax deduction,” and is particularly delighted with her statement that, “A presidential candidate who takes a huge tax deduction for such an elitist sport exhibits a cluelessness bordering on contempt,” which I would say exhibits a rather extraordinary degree of cluelessness on his part, since he just pointed out earlier that it wasn't a tax deduction.

Liberals, it seems, are not only joining Republicans in being dishonest, they are also joining them in being stupid.