Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told a roaring crowd in Charlotte, N.C., that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney cannot be trusted in part because of his decision not to release more than two years of tax information.
The broadside by Reid to a partisan crowd continues a weeks-long feud between Reid and Romney on the Republican presidential nominee's tax records.
Reid has pestered Republicans on Romney's tax returns for several weeks, claiming last month he had a source who said Romney was hiding his returns because he has paid no taxes. That claim prompted angry Republicans to demand the name of Reid's source, and Reid's office said it was a Republican who was familiar with Romney's financial situation.
In the convention hall Tuesday night, Reid said the little information Americans have on Romney's taxes shows that he pays a lower rate than most, and chose to place his money overseas in an apparent attempt to reduce his tax rate.
"And we can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns like his father did," Reid said.
"Mitt Romney says we should take his word that he paid his fair share," Reid added. "His word? Trust comes from transparency, and Mitt Romney comes up short on both."
Repeating some of the lines Reid has used on the Senate floor, Reid said Senate Republicans have shown no willingness to work with President Obama.
"In depth of the great recession, as millions of Americans were struggling to find work, the Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said Republicans' number one goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president," Reid said. "They wouldn't cooperate to create jobs, they wouldn't try to turn around the economy, they wouldn't do anything but stand in the way of President Obama."
"I've had a front-row seat to watch the Tea Party take over the Republican Party," Reid added. "For three and a half years, they couldn't govern, they couldn't lead, and we shouldn't let them take over the Senate and the White House.
"We must stop the Tea Party before the United States Senate falls into the hands of the extremists and ideologues who leave no room for reason or compromise, who don't recognize common ground even when they're standing on it."
Reid also praised Obama as a president who is willing to take tough decisions, such as the decisions to go after Osama bin Laden, bail out auto companies and push for tougher financial regulations.
"His whole life ... there have been so many who told him what he shouldn't or couldn't do," Reid said. "But America has a president who knows what we must do."
