Romney, Ryan answer Medicare critics, slam Obama in first joint interview

Romney defended Ryan’s Medicare plan during a joint television appearance while explaining what made him choose the House Budget Committee Chairman as his running mate.

Since announcing Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential pick, Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan sat down for the first time for a joint interview on Face the Nation with anchor Bob Schieffer. In the interview that aired on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Romney addressed the critics of Medicare, particularly Obama calling him the only president to have spent “seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars to pay for a new risky program of his own”, according to a report by The Ticket.

He praised Paul Ryan for coming up with a revised plan to save Medicare and provide people with a broader array of choices while making sure the senior citizens remain protected. "No changes, by the way, for current seniors, or those nearing retirement,” Romney said. “But looking for young people down the road and saying, 'We're going to give you a bigger choice.' In America, the nature of this country has been giving people more freedom, more choices. That's how we make Medicare work down the road."

The former Massachusetts Governor said that he vetted a shortlist of Vice Presidential candidates, but the final decision of selecting Paul Ryan was not made until Aug 1st. "I kept my mind open, but I was intrigued by Paul," Romney said. "We spent some time on the campaign trail. I got to meet his wife and three children and was very impressed."

"Paul could become—if it were necessary—could become president," Romney continued. "He has the experience and judgment, capacity and character to become president. And that was the first and most important criteria."

Obama’s remarks on Paul Ryan’s pick were neither negative nor positive. While he called the VP candidate a “decent man” and welcomed him to the race, he said Ryan is the “ideological leader of the Republicans in the Congress”, due to his economic policies, which according to him, are designed to favor the rich.

Ryan said that he and Romney share the same values and vision of getting America back on the track by creating more jobs, so when the Presidential hopeful asked him to be his running mate, he was more than happy to accept the offer and be able to help him do something good for the country.