Today, John McCain's wife Cindy declared she would never release her tax returns. Unfortunately, the McCains are bucking the tide of public opinion regarding her income and $100 million fortune. The American people by lopsided margins overwhelmingly believe presidential candidates should disclose their tax returns. And as they showed four years ago in the imbroglio over Theresa Heinz Kerry, the leading lights of the Republican Party and the conservative movement used to agree.

The polling data is clear. Last week, a Rasmussen survey reported that "sixty-four percent (64%) believe that Presidential candidates and their spouses should be required to release their tax returns," with only 22% supporting secrecy.

Virtually the entire Republican brain trust and its amen corner in the media agree. Or at least they did four years ago, when the subject was Democrat Theresa Heinz Kerry and her vast fortune. Despite eventually releasing a two-page summary of her 2003 income, the Kerrys were pilloried by the same conservative machine that is silent now.

Ed Gillespie, then Republican National Committee Chairman and current counselor to President Bush, is a case in point. As the New York Times reported:

Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican Party, said Mrs. Heinz Kerry's finances were relevant to the campaign, especially because Mr. Kerry borrowed $6 million against the equity in a Boston town house they jointly own to keep his campaign afloat earlier in the year.

''It seems to me that that's a legitimate question,'' Mr. Gillespie said.

The right-wing National Review, too, deployed its attack dogs in force. Editor Andrew Stuttaford was unsatisfied with the Kerrys' limited disclosure:

"Could it be, who knows, that Teresa was a little stingy last year, or could it be, perhaps, that she gave to some charities that might prove a little embarrassing in an election year?

Baseless innuendo? Very possibly. But there's an easy way to show that these suggestions are completely unfair. Disclose the full form, Teresa. Privacy? Oh, come off it. How can disclosure of any part of Mrs. Kerry's personal 1040 relate to her children, all of whom are now in their thirties?"

Meanwhile, NRO's Donald Luskin declared Mrs. Kerry "filthy rich" and asked "Mrs. Kerry is filthy rich. Why is her taxable income so small?" Suspecting something fishy in Mrs. Kerry's "miniscule" $5million in income on an estate estimated to top at least $1 billion, Luskin insisted:

"Voters of both parties should demand immediate and full disclosure of Teresa Heinz Kerry's holdings and tax returns. There is ample precedent: In 1984 the husband of Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro made his tax returns public in response to pressure from voters. Today the stakes are greater in every way. Mrs. Kerry's disclosure should be no less."

Earlier that year, Matthew Continetti penned a Weekly Standard piece, titled "Kerry's Wife: Above Suspicion?" in which he demanded to know "why won't Theresa Heinz Kerry release her tax returns? Inquiring minds like Continetti's wanted to know more about their theory of Theresa as Sugar Mommy:

"Making Heinz's tax returns public would confirm that she's Kerry's sugar daddy (sugar mommy?). It would also strike a blow against Kerry's populist rhetoric by detailing the lavish lifestyle he and his wife enjoy: the vacation home in Nantucket, the ski chalet in Ketchum, Idaho, the estate outside Pittsburgh, the Georgetown manse. Not to mention the red-and-white Gulfstream jet. And the tax returns could embarrass the Kerry campaign further if it's revealed that Heinz has contributed to independent organizations working to unseat President Bush."

Fast forward four years. Today's GOP and its allies among the conservative chattering classes have no intention of pressing Cindy and John McCain for details about her massive financial assets which fueled both their lavish lifestyles and his political career.

The same factors that drove Republicans to fury over Mrs. Kerry - riches, a foundation, a private jet, a stable of elegant homes - produce silence when it comes to Mrs. McCain. After all, John McCain's beer heiress second wife has a fortune estimated at $100 million, more than enough to provide the candidate with private jets and still fund the McCain's 8 homes and the charitable contributions funneled to the elite private schools attended by their children.

Back in 2004, Theresa Heinz Kerry argued, "What I have and what I receive is not just mine, it is also my children's, and I don't know that I have the right to make public what is theirs." In almost identical language the McCain campaign now argues, "Cindy McCain will not release her tax returns to protect the privacy of her four children; details of their wealth are included in her filing." And today, Cindy McCain herself claimed, "This is a privacy issue."

Meanwhile in the right-wing media, there is only the sound of silence.