on Friday, August 24th.
Which is to say, the last Friday before the start of the Republican Convention on Monday, August 27th.
Because that guarantees that the last Sunday before the convention will be filled with discussion of Romney's taxes and ritual denunciations of Reid's source as not-that-reputable. And the RWNM will open every stop on the Mighty Wurlitzer to denounce Reid's source and keep the volume dial turned to 11 for days.
And this will step all over any coordinated message the Republican Party and the Romney campaign might want to send during the convention. The one thing Mitt Romney does not want is for every person who starts paying attention to politics with the first convention to be hit right in between the eyes with a 2x4 labelled "Mitt Romney, tax dodger" right at the start.
Do I have a source? Not a reputable one. Not even a disreputable one. Not even voices in my head. Just little old me, thinking about what I would do if I were Harry Reid. I don't think Reid ever intended to keep his source secret; too many people seem to know who it is. No, revealing the source has been planned from the beginning, and the source presumably is ready to face the howling storm of Republican character assassination that will be directed at him (or her).
Imagine a figure of the stature of, e.g., Jon Huntsman saying these things to the Villagers. They can't just dismiss him, that wouldn't be all bipartisanish. Or maybe Bush considered Romney for a Cabinet post and someone from the Bush administration knows enough about Romney's returns to speak authoritatively ... Colin Powell, say.
That's how I imagine this ending. Reid reveals his source, the Village swallows hard as it's someone they can't just dismiss, the RWNM explodes in rage, and everyone in America is talking about it at the water cooler.
During the Republican Convention.
Hey, an aardvark is allowed his dreams.