The release of Mitt Romney’s tax returns yesterday revealed how, as the Los Angeles Times put it, “the wealthiest candidate to seek the presidency in recent history has benefited from a tax code that lets investors pay taxes at a much lower rate than people who earn wages or salaries.” So faced with questions about whether he can relate to regular people, Romney argued on Hannity last night that his large charitable contributions boosted his tax bracket from 15% to “between about 32 and 42%.” Hilariously - or maybe pathetically - Romney claimed in the same segment that President Obama is out of touch with reality and the middle class.

Romney was ostensibly there to comment on the President Obama’s State of the Union address.

Romney said his reaction to the speech was that Obama is “disconnected from reality. I just don’t think he understands what’s happening in American homes across this country. People in the middle class in America are hurting. The median income is down 10% over the last four years… People are hurting in America and he seems to be saying that America’s on the right track, things are going well. That’s not what I’m hearing.”

Well, I don’t know what Romney heard but I do know what Obama said. He said, for example:

The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise (of the American Dream) alive.  No challenge is more urgent.  No debate is more important.  We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.  (Applause.)  What’s at stake aren’t Democratic values or Republican values, but American values.  And we have to reclaim them.

Let’s remember how we got here.  Long before the recession, jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores.  Technology made businesses more efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete.  Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with costs that were growing, paychecks that weren’t, and personal debt that kept piling up.

Nevertheless, Romney told a credulous Hannity, “Look, this guy has failed the American people. They’re suffering. They know it and he doesn’t know it.”

In a fit of hypocrisy Hannity – who can’t seem to open his mouth without being divisive - went on to complain about Obama’s divisiveness. 

Still, Hannity never forgets to boost the home team. So when he was through attacking Obama, Hannity defended Romney’s 15% tax rate by “asking,” “Is this a second bite at the apple for most of this money. In other words, did you pay tax on it earlier and then this is the second tax?”

Unfortunately for Romney, he didn’t seem to get the talking point Hannity was trying to put in his mouth. Instead, he rambled about why capital gains tax rates are lower than corporate rates.

When he was finished with the lecture, Romney tried to equate his charitable contributions with his taxes by saying, “In addition to the 15% I paid to the government, if you add up all the taxes I’ve paid as well as charitable contributions, you range between about 32 and 42% so I’m giving a pretty healthy slug back to our community.”

It’s ludicrous to equate charitable contributions with taxes since they pay for entirely different things. It also seems a rather tricky road to hoe for Romney because much of his charitable giving goes to the Mormon Church.