Tax returns are private, and I don't believe any candidate should have to disclose them to the public. (In fact they don't, but this has turned into a ridiculous game of chicken.)
I disagree completely. The Presidency is a taxpayer funded job. The Executive of the US, indeed the entire Government (more or less; exceptions could be made I'm sure) essentially works for you and me, Jane and Joe Taxpayer, although they would like for us all to behave otherwise (which sadly, we tend to do). As such, I believe that we have the right to know all sorts of exacting detail about the life and times of those who would deign to be "Leader of the Free World". They have access to a tremendous amount of power and control over the country, how it spends its money, etc etc. If you were hiring someone to be the CEO of your company, and you were going to be essentially forced to abide by all their decisions for the next four years, wouldn't you want to know everything you possibly could about them?
When I wanted to start fully working for JP Morgan Chase & Co, I had to undergo two finger printings, and FBI background check, a comprehensive credit check and two pee tests. And this was because I had POTENTIAL limited access to some ANCILLARY transaction and financial information from really big players like Bear-Sterns. And this was back in the pre-9/11 days! If I didn't want my life poked into like that, I had a very simple choice: Don't go for the job. Politicians have the same choice. They don't have any "right" to the job any more than I had any "right" to any of my past occupations.
I will grant you that a politicians wife is another story. I could see the argument made both ways. On the other hand, I wouldn't expect my wife to be given the same treatment I had if I were to go to work for JPMC again. My biggest knock was that Republicans were now decrying the very tactics that they themselves were espousing with gusto and glee not four years ago. If they thought it was so important in 2004, then why are they suddenly digging in their heels in 2008?
Regardless, I can't fault you for what appears to be an evenhanded treatment of the matter :)
I disagree completely. The Presidency is a taxpayer funded job. The Executive of the US, indeed the entire Government (more or less; exceptions could be made I'm sure) essentially works for you and me, Jane and Joe Taxpayer, although they would like for us all to behave otherwise (which sadly, we tend to do). As such, I believe that we have the right to know all sorts of exacting detail about the life and times of those who would deign to be "Leader of the Free World". They have access to a tremendous amount of power and control over the country, how it spends its money, etc etc. If you were hiring someone to be the CEO of your company, and you were going to be essentially forced to abide by all their decisions for the next four years, wouldn't you want to know everything you possibly could about them?
When I wanted to start fully working for JP Morgan Chase & Co, I had to undergo two finger printings, and FBI background check, a comprehensive credit check and two pee tests. And this was because I had POTENTIAL limited access to some ANCILLARY transaction and financial information from really big players like Bear-Sterns. And this was back in the pre-9/11 days! If I didn't want my life poked into like that, I had a very simple choice: Don't go for the job. Politicians have the same choice. They don't have any "right" to the job any more than I had any "right" to any of my past occupations.
I will grant you that a politicians wife is another story. I could see the argument made both ways. On the other hand, I wouldn't expect my wife to be given the same treatment I had if I were to go to work for JPMC again. My biggest knock was that Republicans were now decrying the very tactics that they themselves were espousing with gusto and glee not four years ago. If they thought it was so important in 2004, then why are they suddenly digging in their heels in 2008?
Regardless, I can't fault you for what appears to be an evenhanded treatment of the matter :)
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