As the drumbeat of attacks grows louder over Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s widespread offshore investments, President Obama’s re-election team has unearthed a prominent Republican senator’s criticism of such investment tactics.
The Obama campaign launched an online video which compiles past statements by several prominent Republicans in which the Republicans criticize the sorts of offshore investments which Romney had amassed.
The video starts with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. It features Grassley specifically attacking the use of tax havens in the Cayman Islands. Romney used such a Caymans account, among others, according to the limited release of his tax returns that Romney has thus far authorized.
“The only way that the Cayman Island investments are superior is the possibility of avoiding U.S. tax,” Grassley says in the clip, in remarks during a past session of the Finance panel.
Grassley goes on to say that he doesn’t think that is something the “American public would agree with, or appreciate.”
The Obama video also features other Republicans, including former Arkansas governor and past presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele criticizing the use of offshore tax havens.
The use of such comments clearly is meant to undercut the defense some Republicans have attempted, including that of Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, to mount in recent days to deflect the criticism of Romney’s tax avoidance.
YOU CAN WATCH THE FULL VIDEO HERE:
Click here to view the embedded video.
