First Thoughts: The economy takes a back seat,Romney trying to have it both ways on Ryan budget
With the Ryan pick, the economy -- at least for now -- has taken a back seat… That’s just one reason why GOP political consultants are wringing their hands… Romney trying to have it both ways on Ryan budget…
By NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/14/13276534-first-thoughts-the-economy-takes-a-back-seat?lite
*** The economy takes a back seat: There was always a definite upside to Mitt Romney picking Ryan Paul as his running mate: You make the presidential contest about a big clash of ideas; Romney’s campaign is now about something. But there also was an obvious downside for Romney: You turn the race into a conversation about Medicare, entitlements and the role of government, relegating a discussion about the economy to the back seat -- at least for the time being. Yes, Romney talked about the economy yesterday in Florida. And yes, Ryan talked about it in Iowa, too. But what was yesterday’s dominant political story? Medicare. What’s the subject of the Romney campaign’s heavily played TV ad? Welfare (which is a role-of-government issue). What’s the subject matter of its latest TV ad? Criticizing the Obama campaign over that pro-Obama Super PAC advertisement. And what does today’s official news that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be delivering the keynote at the GOP convention suggest? We’re coming after government. (After all, New Jersey’s unemployment rate stands at 9.6%, well above the national average.)
For now, the issue of the economy is no longer driving this presidential contest. And you have to ask yourself: Which campaign benefits the most from that?
(snip)
*** Trying to have it both ways: Yesterday in Florida, as NBC’s Garrett Haake noted, Romney told reporters that he couldn’t think of how his views on Medicare differed from Paul Ryan’s. “My plan for Medicare is very similar to his plan, which is ‘Do not change the program for current retirees or near-retirees but do not do what the president has done and that is to cut $700 billion out of the current program.” But there was one hitch: It turns out that Ryan’s budget assumes those same $700 billion in Medicare cuts. And that revelation forced the Romney campaign to issue this statement yesterday distancing itself a bit from Ryan’s budget: "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have always been fully committed to repealing Obamacare, ending President Obama’s $716 billion raid on Medicare, and tackling the serious fiscal challenges our country faces… A Romney-Ryan administration will restore the funding to Medicare.” So let’s get this straight: Romney couldn’t name a difference with Ryan on Medicare -- until his campaign found out that Ryan’s budget contradicted his top defense against the Democrats’ Medicare attacks (“Obama cut Medicare, too!”).