The other day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claimed that an unnamed Bain investor told him that Mitt Romney won’t release any more tax returns because that would demonstrate that he did not pay taxes for ten years. We don’t know who actually said that, so it is possible that Senator Reid is making it up. Politicians certainly lie through their teeth all the time–well, Mitt Romney does. I’m sure others do as well.
In response to this, people on the right could have just pointed out that Reid has not provided any evidence for his assertion besides his say-so, which would have gotten the point across that he made an unsupported (albeit plausible) accusation. But that would have been sensible, and this is the American right wing we’re talking about here.
First, they point out that Harry Reid will not release his own tax returns, which is irrelevant because Harry Reid is not running for president.
Not content to leave it at that, someone creates a Twitter hashtag suggesting (facetiously, one hopes) that Harry Reid is a pederast. I assume the intention was to demonstrate the impact of unfounded accusations, not to look like a group of schoolchildren who just learned a big word. The meme yielded gems such as this:
Harry Reid’s Disgusting Attack on Romney & His Love of Sheep ow.ly/cEZEx
#HarryReidRumors#HarryReidisaPederast— Jeff Dunetz (@yidwithlid) August 1, 2012
BREAKING: Team Reid stating that Harry Reid is only 1/32 boy-toucher.
#HarryReidisaPederast — Eric Shrugged (@eriContrarian) August 1, 2012
There’s no evidence
#HarryReidisaPederast, but there’s no evidence he isn’t. Why is he refusing to address this? What’s he hiding?#p2 — Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) July 31, 2012
II don’t think Harry Reid is a pederast but until he releases all his FBI records, we can’t know for sure. Can we?
#harryreidisapederast — DrewM (@DrewMTips) July 31, 2012
It’s always just hilarious when a person using “pederasty” as a cheap device for a lame attempt at satire uses words like “disgusting” to describe the other person. It is difficult to fully explain how an allegation made as part of an ongoing controversy over an unprecedentedly tight-lipped presidential candidate’s financial history is different from completely made-up accusations of pederasty by a bunch of Tweeters. Honestly, before yesterday it never would have occurred to me that such a distinction would be necessary. If you haven’t already figured out the distinction, there is no hope for your intellectual development beyond its current state, or you are currently under the age of six.
