CNN 2012-08-07

 Hey, I’m Anderson Cooper. Welcome to the podcast. The country’s top Democratic lawmaker is sticking with unproven allegations about Mitt² Romney’s taxes. What he isn’t doing is offering facts to support the allegations. Also the "Ridiculous." Let’s get started. 

 

 

 

We begin tonight "Keeping Them Honest" with Senate majority leader Harry³ Reid doing what gamblers often do in his state. He's doubling down. Doubling down, tripling down, and now quadrupling down really on unproven allegations about Mitt Romney and taxes, claiming he didn't pay any taxes for a decade, without the chips, and in this case the facts, to back it up. Governor Romney reacted sharply today. 

 

 

 

“It’s time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry is going to have to describe who it is he spoke⁴ with because of course that is totally and completely wrong. It's untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate⁵. It's wrong. So I'm looking forward to having Harry reveal his sources and we'll probably find out it's the White House.” 

 

 

 

So far he has not. In fact, as you'll see in a moment when Dana Bash joins us, he's not backing down a bit. Offering no facts, no evidence, just allegations and insinuations. 

 

 

 

Now before we go any further on this story, you should know that we're not being partisan⁶ here. For weeks, we've reported on Michele Bachmann and her four Republican House colleagues who are making unfounded allegations about Islamic radicals⁷ infiltrating⁸ the U.S. government. Making claims about relatives of Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

 

 

 

Well, the standard should be no different for Democrats⁹, independents, libertarians or anyone. Extraordinary allegations require extraordinary proof, or frankly¹⁰ any kind of proof. Michele Bachmann and company don't even have ordinary proof, and neither so far does Senator Harry Reid. 

 

 

 

This began earlier this week when Mr. Reid told "The Huffington Post" what he says a Bain Capital investor¹¹ told him. Harry, he says, this investor told him, quote, "He didn't pay any taxes for 10 years." He went on, "Now do I know that's true?" "Well, I'm not certain." That was Harry Reid saying, I'm not certain. 

 

 

 

So you'd think that not being certain about the truth of an explosive allegation, you'd kind of keep it to yourself, right? Well, instead, Senator Reid, the highest ranking Democrat¹ in Congress, went further with some local reporters saying he had a, quote, "number of people tell me that," unquote. So there, it went from one person telling him to now a number of people. Then today, he went even further. 

 

 

 

“So the word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't.” 

 

 

 

OK, so now this is on the floor of the Senate. He is now saying the word is out. Well, the word is out because Senator Harry Reid put it out. What he hasn't put out is anything that anyone can check. Not the name of his source, not anything. 

 

 

 

Here's what Republican Senator John McCain told me about this earlier today. 

 

 

 

Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate today reiterated¹² this idea that Mitt Romney has not paid taxes for 10 years. He said, and I quote, on the floor of the Senate, "So the word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove he has paid taxes because he hasn't." He's offered absolutely no proof at all about this. Does it surprise, I mean, what do you make of this, is this just politics? Is this acceptable?

 

 

 

“First of all, I've known Senator Reid for many, many years. And occasionally he displays some rather erratic¹³ behavior. To accuse someone of doing something without a shred¹⁴ of proof that, that, the allegation has any substance, is really something I frankly don't understand. I think politics are tough. And I enjoy the give and take, but I think Harry might have gone over the line here.”

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

6 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

7 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

8 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

11 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

12 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

13 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

14 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。