Via the Daily Caller, a nice answer to a question Romney was ready for. Fehrnstrom was ready too on Fox this morning:

“This reminds me of the McCarthy hearings back in the 1950s,” Eric Fehrnstrom said on Fox News. “And it was another son from Massachusetts, Joseph Welch, who finally asked the question that should be asked of Harry Reid, which is, ‘Have you no sense of decency, sir?’ Is there nothing that you won’t do in the name of dirty politics? I think it’s just shameful.”…

“I’m telling you, authoritatively, speaking on behalf of the governor, that those charges are untrue,” said Fehrnstrom, a longtime Romney aide. “They’re baseless.”

“Beneath the dignity of his office” is how Mitch McConnell described Reid’s floor speech this morning. One interesting footnote in all this: Unless I missed a story somewhere, no one of any consequence is defending Reid even though his point about Mitt’s tax returns is squarely in line with the White House’s basic messaging. I wonder if that’s because, with even famous liberals turning on him, there’s too much risk in taking his side or if it’s because Reid agreed behind closed doors to serve as lightning rod for the Dems in pushing this smear out there. As noted yesterday, he specializes in sleazy attacks during presidential campaigns. He’s probably enjoying this. Who needs allies in that case?

The other question: Is Romney right that the White House put Reid up to it? Probably, but like I say, Reid’s a rodent when it comes to this sort of thing. Axelrod probably figured that he’d find his way to a smear like this on his own, in due time. Hey, maybe Ax was the mysterious “Bain investor” who called Reid up and told him that Romney’s been ducking his tax obligations. That’d be all Dingy needs to go to the press with it.

Two clips here, one of Romney and the other via Mediaite of Rush Limbaugh having fun with Reid’s “logic.”