He could say that in the spirit of compromise he's decided to release all his returns. Not just the Messina 5, but all of them. How's that for confounding expectations? You thought last weekend's middle of night veep choice was bold? But because he has a right to privacy and especially because Ann deserves to keep her finances private, he's releasing his returns only to one man, "the most trusted person in America." That person will look at the returns and report back to the country about whether or not Romney has misrepresented what's in them.
Before 2003 the choice of the most trusted person would have been easy: Colin Powell. But Powell has lost that title. At one time it would have been Walter Cronkite, who actually had the phrase "Most Trusted Man in America" tattooed on his chest. Now it's nearly impossible to find anyone who both sides trust but Romney's best bet would be to try to get David Petraeus to take the job. Would David Petraeus lie to you? (A thought that he would, would be unpatriotic. If airport detectors could read thoughts, a thought like that would set off alarms and you'd be escorted to a room in back.)
Sure it's a ploy. And it will only give us more "ammunition," as Mrs. Romney would say. But that would allow Romney to reply, I told you that they're never satisfied. I showed David Petraeus himself twenty years of returns, I am as transparent as a window pane after the maid wiped it down with Windex and they're still complaining. And maybe a few undecideds would be impressed.
11:10 AM PT: Of course this is a stupid idea. That's why I thought it would appeal to a campaign which finds stupid ideas so compelling.