|
 |
 |
|
Ryan: Medicare reform proposal won't hurt ticket in swing states
The Medicare reforms proposed in a budget plan by Paul Ryan won't hurt the Republican presidential ticket in swing states, the Wisconsin lawmaker said Monday.
Ryan's comments come as recent polling shows Mitt Romney and Ryan trailing President Obama on Medicare in key swing states. A Gallup poll from late September found that in 12 battleground states more voters felt Obama's healthcare reform law would better handle the problems facing Medicare than one supported by the Romney-Ryan campaign.
Ryan, the author of a budget proposal that would partially privatize Medicare for seniors under age 55, said that, in the end, his ticket would not lose ground in swing states because of the proposed changes in his Medicare reform plan.
"I don't think it will at the end of the day. We were actually winning this Medicare debate in the beginning," Ryan said in an interview with local Wisconsin radio station WTMJ on Monday.
"When I was announced we went at this issue very hard," Ryan said. "The president has put up ads literally telling his falsehoods about what our Medicare plan is. And once people understand that they've been duped about this I think that they're just not going to buy all these arguments from the president in the final analysis."
Democrats have eagerly hammered Republicans on Ryan's budget plan and its changes to Medicare, saying it effectively guts the program and replaces it with a meager voucher system. On Saturday, Vice President Biden told a crowd of voters in Florida that a vote for Romney for president was basically a vote for Medicare cuts pushed by Ryan.
"What Gov. Romney did in picking Paul Ryan is he has given clear definition to all those vague assertions he was making during his primary campaign," Biden said. "[And] nowhere is it more clear what they would do than in Medicare."
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
