President Obama's campaign attacked Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) first speech as the GOP vice presidential nominee in a new Web video released on Thursday.
In a rapid response-style video, the piece labels Ryan "false," "misleading" and "wrong" in claims made in Wednesday's speech at the Republican National Convention.
Ryan's speech was focused on Obama, charging him with cutting Medicare to fund his signature healthcare reform legislation, failing to support a GM plant in Janesville, Wis., after pledging government support, and failing to do anything on Bowles-Simpson. He also attacked the stimulus plan. Democrats responded to Ryan's speech in real time on Wednesday night, blasting out "fact check" emails in the same style as the video.
Obama's campaign responded defensively, charging that
Ryan's budget plan also cut from Medicare, that the GM plant closed or began the process of closing under former President George W. Bush, and that the Wisconsin congressman
voted against the Bowles-Simpson plan and
requested stimulus funds for two Wisconsin companies.
"Paul Ryan: Wrong for the middle class," the video concludes in text.
“It’s not surprising the President and his team don’t like people talking about his failed policies," Ryan campaign spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement. "Instead of admitting that his policies have led to record unemployment, debt that puts our economy at risk, and programs that have grown government at the expense of the private sector, President Obama continues to double down on the same false attacks and policies that have done nothing to fix our economy. The American people deserve better. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a plan to help grow the economy, bring jobs back, and get the country on the right track again.”
Mitt Romney supporters and aides defended Ryan's speech. Senior Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom addressed the Obama campaign's charges on CNN's "Starting Point" on Thursday, saying that when Ryan disagreed with Bowles-Simpson, he presented an alternative budget plan. Fehrnstrom said Ryan "met his obligation" by doing so.
On the the Janesville plant, Fehrnstrom pointed out Ryan did not say Obama closed the plant.
"He didn't talk about Obama closing the plant. He said Candidate Obama went there in 2008," Fehrnstrom said.
Ryan, in his speech, quoted then-Sen. Obama's (Ill.) campaign speech at the plant and concluded: "Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year."
"Four years later it's still shuttered," Fehrnstrom said. "I think it's a symbol of the recovery that hasn't materialized for the people of Janesville, Wisconsin, just as it hasn't materialized for people all over the country."
—Updated at 10:29 a.m.
