Mitt Romney has lied day after day on the campaign trail, but yesterday he topped himself when he pledged to preserve Medicare and Social Security at an event in the Sunshine State. The truth is exactly the opposite: Mitt Romney and the Republicans want to eliminate Medicare and Social Security as we know them and hand them over to Wall Street with a reckless privatization scheme.
Romney is a staunch supporter of Congressman Paul Ryan's radical budget plan to end Medicare and Medicaid and dramatically increase health care costs for seniors struggling to make ends meet. Ryan wants to put Medicare beneficiaries at the mercy of profit-mad private health insurance companies and force seniors to fork over at least $6,400 more per year on health care while letting billionaires and corporations skip out on their taxes. Romney and the Republicans want to strip seniors of new drug benefits and preventive care provided by the Affordable Care Act.
Ryan's recent partnership with Senator Ron Wyden doesn't soften the blow any. It's the same bad plan with a twist and a lone Democratic supporter. Shame on Romney for lying to Florida seniors as he cheers on Ryan's plan to take away their health care and retirement security.
In their obsession to repeal "Obamacare," the Republican presidential candidates are committed to taking away dozens of consumer protections and benefits that are already making a huge difference in people's lives.
The Republicans' Medicare privatization plan is part of the GOP's larger attack on our country's shrinking middle class and the promise of the American Dream: that if you work hard and play by the rules you can have a good job with good wages and benefits, provide a better life for your children and retire with dignity.
As has been widely documented, Romney has an aversion to the truth and a problem keeping track of his own flip-flops. His lies about Medicare and Social Security are just the latest examples. There's only one true and consistent thing to be said about Mitt Romney: he's the ultimate candidate of the Wall Street profiteers who are so intent on making excessive amounts of money that they're happy to wreck our economy and destroy the lives of millions of America's families to get what they want.