Politics & Government

Romney Son Asked About Tax Returns, Makes Birther Joke [VIDEO]

UPDATED: Son comments on Twitter about Obama birth certificate statement at Concord's Havenwood-Heritage Heights.

Editor's Note: The story is a restored version first published on Dec. 30, 2011, which was missing text and hyperlinks due to an upgraded website incarnation that wiped out some of the original content.

UPDATE 2: Here’s a full update from the original story: Romney’s Son’s Birth Certificate Comment Causes National Firestorm

UPDATE: On his apparently newly created Twitter account, at around noon on Dec. 30, Matt Romney offered the following: “Matt_Romney: I repeated a dumb joke. My bad. RT @emilyrs Romney’s son Matt made an Obama birth certificate joke on the trail in NH”

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The rest of the story follows below:

“I heard someone suggest the other day that as soon as President Obama releases his grades and birth certificate ...then maybe he’ll do it,” Matt Romney tells a crowd of New Hampshire seniors when asked about his father releasing his tax returns. See Video for the audience reaction to the birther joke.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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Four of Mitt Romney’s five sons hit the campaign trail again as surrogates for their father meeting with voters in New Hampshire on Dec. 29.

The five sons were a bit more active in the 2008 cycle, hosting a blog and traveling all around the country for their father. This time around, they have campaigned less than before but made time to stop by and talk to Concord seniors at after having lunch at on North Main Street.

“We love being on the campaign trail … it’s a lot of fun,” said Josh Romney, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. “This is actually one of the few times when all the brothers get together … It’s a thrill for us.”

Matt Romney, who lives in San Diego, Calif., asked the seniors to get out and vote, even if it wasn’t for his dad although they hoped he would. The candidate’s son said his father was a determined, hard worker, who faces challenges and knows how to tackle problems.

“He will work very, very hard, to get our country back on track,” he said.

The brothers took questions from the audience including asking whether or not the candidate would release his tax returns (they didn’t know), what the candidate thought of Islam (he respects other religions), and whether or not Mitt’s missing son Ben, who is a doctor in California, supported RomneyCare (“We’ll have to ask him,” Matt said, later explaining that his father believed in state-based plans and would repeal so-called ObamaCare).

When asked whether Mitt Romney would build relationships in the world with an open hand or a clenched fist, Matt said that the candidate respects different countries and cultures, and would foster relationships with allies, but would also not apologize for America.

“It’s also very important to stand up for American principles and our ideals,” he said. “I think you may have seen a theme with my dad’s campaign. He’s not going to apologize for America. Too often we’ve seen our current administration going around and apologizing for American ideals and principles. He cares very deeply about our country. He’s very patriotic, as we all are.”


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