Paul Ryan Campaigns With Mom To Defend Medicare

In what Mitt Romney’s campaign referred to as the candidate’s first weekly podcast, the former governor attacked President Obama on Medicare. Romney says Obama took funds out of Medicare to help fund health care reform, reports the Hill.

“President Obama’s health care law raided $716 billion from the Medicare trust fund,” Romney said on the pre-recorded message. “And he did that to finance his takeover of the health care system.”

Romney’s message on Medicare comes after a week when both his campaign and Obama’s released advertisements (embedded below) on the issue, points out CNN.  

The campaign’s Medicare message shows how Romney seems to be following the advice of Republican strategists who believe the only way for the candidate to win the message wars on the issue is to “mount a bruising offense,” as Politico writes. Although Republicans usually lose when entitlement reform comes up for debate, strategists say that this time the GOP could come out on top by attacking the president on the issue as well as the economy.

The Romney campaign policy director, Lanhee Chen, released a memo Saturday outlining the talking points against Obama on Medicare and emphasizing that both Ryan and Romney “have the same vision for the future of Medicare,” reports the Weekly Standard.  

Meanwhile, Ryan took his mother, Betty Ryan Douglas, along on a campaign stop at the world’s largest retirement community in Florida Saturday, saying that if Romney wins the White House he will protect those in or near retirement from cuts in Medicare, reports USA Today. Ryan said his 78-year-old mother relies on Medicare and he wouldn’t do anything to affect her financial security.

“Medicare was there for our family, for my grandma when we needed it, and Medicare is there for my mom when she needs it now,” Ryan said, according to the New York Daily News. “It’s not just a program, it’s not just a bunch of numbers, it’s what my mom relies on.”