In his first joint interview with Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s vice-presidential candidate came out swinging yesterday, blasting President Obama for everything from “crony capitalism” to “dysfunctional” leadership.
Speaking on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan went on the attack, holding Obama responsible for partisan gridlock and “distractions” he said were designed to shift focus away from important issues.
“What I see happening is the president has a terrible record, so he can’t run on that,” Ryan said.
“He didn’t moderate his positions whatsoever throughout his term. So he doesn’t really have much to run on, so he’s going to try and run on these distractions. He’s going to try and divide people.”
The joined-at-the-hip interview took place after a pair of campaign rallies in North Carolina before the GOP ticket-mates went to Wisconsin for Ryan’s hero’s welcome.
Romney and his new pick spent part of the interview assuring seniors and baby boomers that Medicaid won’t disappear under their watch.
The running mates have come under early fire for Ryan’s controversial budget plan to revamp Medicare from a defined benefit plan to one that would provide fixed funds that could be used to buy private health insurance.
“What Paul Ryan and I have talked about is saving Medicare, is providing people greater choice in Medicare, making sure it’s there for current seniors,” Romney said.
“No changes, by the way, for current seniors, or those nearing retirement. But looking for young people down the road and saying, ‘We’re going to give you a bigger choice.’ ”
Ryan says this “premium support” would check the rise in Medicare spending.
“My mom is a Medicare senior in Florida,” Ryan said. “Our point is we need to preserve their benefits, because government made promises to them that they’ve organized their retirements around.
“In order to make sure we can do that, you must reform it for those of us who are younger. And we think these reforms are good reforms, that have bipartisan origins. They started from the Clinton commission in the late ’90s.”
Ryan said he would publicly release only two year’s worth of tax returns — the same as Romney.
“What I hear from people around this country, they’re not asking where [are] the tax returns,” Ryan said. “They’re asking where the jobs are. Where’s the economic growth? Those are the issues that matter.”
“I’m going to help him win this race,” Ryan said.