Democrats have released their first TV ad that seeks to take advantage of GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform plan.
The ad comes from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and is an attack on Michigan Rep. Dan Benishek for his vote in favor of the budget proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan,
Politico reports.
The ad includes clips of Benishek saying “privatizing Social Security and Medicare is the only way to do it” and “phasing out the Medicare and Social Security plan.”
The narrator says, “On Medicare Congressman Benishek has gone fishing, and he’s got a whopper. Benishek has voted to essentially end Medicare, forcing seniors to pay over $6,000 more a year. Congressman Benishek is fishing in troubled waters."
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) didn’t take the charges lying down. NRCC spokeswoman Katie Prill pointed to objectionable Medicare changes in the healthcare reform law and incendiary comments from Benishek's Democratic opponent Gary McDowell about end-of-life care.
“Northern Michigan seniors are terrified of Gary McDowell going to Congress, and that is why they rejected him in 2010,” she told Politico. “His support of slashing over $700 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare and his views that seniors’ end of life care costs too much are just two examples of his radical agenda that Michigan seniors just can’t afford."
The Obama campaign hasn’t yet launched any ads attacking Ryan’s budget plan. But given its desperation to fight the boost Ryan has given the Romney campaign, such ads are likely to emerge soon.
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