Harry Reid turns up the heat on Romney

I'm late in offering up a hearty round of applause for Harry Reid's showdown with Slippery Mitt over his tax returns. TBogg's tribute to Honeybadger Harry, in its full delicious snarkery, has the backstory covered so I won't recap the details again.

Moving on to today, Harry has the Mittster so flustered he was whining to the media this afternoon that he did too pay lots of taxes and Harry should stop being such a big meanie. He wants Harry to STFU already, to which Harry Reid laughs derisively.

"It's hard to say which is more insulting to Americans' intelligence, Mitt Romney's tax plan or his refusal to show the American people what's in his tax returns," Reid said in a statement. "Romney seems to think he's above the basic level of transparency and openness that every presidential candidate has lived up to since his father set the standard in 1968."

"In short, Romney's message to Nevadans is this: He won't release his taxes, but he wants to raise yours."

Harry is talking about Rmoney's magic tax plan which according to the Mittster is the secret formula that will eliminate the deficit and leave us all with our pockets stuffed with money the government didn't take from us. Or something like that. Apparently he didn't expect anyone to fact check that claim.

It's a little short on details but the experts incinerated Mitt's plan within hours. Greg Sargent shifts through the embers and distills the Rmoney tax plan down to its core essence.

One thing that’s important about the new Tax Policy Center study — which found that Mitt Romney’s plan would raise the middle class’ tax burden to pay for a tax cut on the rich — is that this isn’t a he-said-she-said-dispute. One of two things is true:

1) Romney’s proposed across the board tax cut disproportionately benefitting the rich would require, if it is to remain revenue neutral, the closing of loopholes that would mean that the tax burden goes up for people under $200,000. Or:

2) Romney’s plan isn’t actually revenue neutral — it won’t close the loopholes necessary to pay for its tax cuts — which means it would explode the deficit.

Even America's most timid fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, couldn't find a Pinocchio lurking in the Tax Policy Center's analysis of the plan.

Meanwhile, House Dems want answers about Mitt's mysterious IRA.

Heartening to see the Democratic party fighting back with some coherence. I only wish they had shown the same sort of energy towards advancing liberal policies in the last three and a half years as they now employ to keep their hands on the reins of power.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]