Jim Martin: “The President’s approach to Medicare means deep cuts hurting seniors and tax hikes hurting workers.”

(Alexandria, Virginia) – The 2012 presidential contest is drawing a stark contrast between the candidates on the issue of Medicare, with the Romney/Ryan ticket gaining steam by vowing to repeal and replace Obamacare, which siphoned $716 billion from Medicare, and is due to go bankrupt in 2024, if not sooner.

The President meanwhile is facing increasing heat from seniors, who are overwhelmingly opposed to the Medicare cuts, as well as the $1 trillion in tax hikes that lay in store with his healthcare overhaul.  Obama and his surrogates think their $716 billion cut to Medicare is an ‘achievement,’ prompting a response from 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors coalition with over 7.2 million senior supporters:

“Ask seniors if cutting $716 billion from Medicare is an ‘achievement.’  Three years ago from today, while campaigning in Colorado, President Obama acknowledged that Medicare was going broke, and said saving it required either tax hikes or deep benefit cuts.  I guess he couldn’t make up his mind, because he chose both!  The President is on the defensive on Medicare, and he should be, because even after his own appointed trustees to Medicare said the program would be broke by 2024, he still raided the trust fund like Willie Sutton, who, when asked why he robbed banks, replied “that’s where the money is.”

“Seniors don’t want Obama’s radical plan to steal from Medicare, they want the Romney/Ryan plan, the serious and sensible path that will PROTECT Medicare for today’s seniors, and preserve it for their grandchildren.

“And lest we forget, the Democrats’ daily demagogic distortion that Romney/Ryan want to ‘end Medicare as we know it’ has been dubbed by prominent fact checkers as the ‘lie of the year.’  Not lie of the day, lie of the week or lie of the month, the lie of the year! Seniors deserve better.”

-30-