Standing behind a sign that said “Protect and Strengthen Medicare,” Paul Ryan addressed a crowd of enthusiastic seniors this morning in Florida at The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community. And standing by his side when he took the stage was none other than his 80-year-old mother Betty, a Florida resident and Medicare recipient herself:
Ryan sought to reassure seniors that his and Mitt Romney’s plans for Medicare were intended to preserve the program’s benefits for current recipients while shoring it up for future generations as well. He also hit President Obama for using Medicare as a “piggybank” for Obamacare:
“The president raised $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for the ‘ObamaCare’ program. What’s more, in addition to that he puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will led to denied care for current seniors. “
“We will end the raid of Medicare, we will restore the promise of this program and “Four million seniors are projected to lose their Medicare plans that they chose and enjoy today under this ObamaCare plan.”
“We will end the raid of Medicare, we will restore the promise of this program and we will make sure this board of bureaucrats won’t mess with my mom’s healthcare or your mom’s healthcare.”
“Medicare should not be used as a piggybank for ObamaCare. Medicare should be the promise that is made to our current seniors, period, end of story.”
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He’s working to dispel the falsities that the Democrats have attempted to spread about “ending Medicare as we know it,” instead focusing on the ways his plan won’t affect current recipients, and the need for reform in order to maintain solvency. He struck a hopeful tone regarding the future of Medicare, and managed to explain an extremely complex issue in terms that were understandable.
He also managed to get a hit in at Obama for the “You didn’t build that” remark, proving that he’s a major campaign asset in terms of both his policy expertise (and explanatory finesse) as well as his ability to be an attack dog.
Notice how fired up he was about that at the end – seems like Obama’s remarks on small business ownership really hit home for him. Passion like that is great to see – he’s ready to fight!
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