By Philip Klein on 2.1.08 @ 12:28PM
First, some background. The Politico's
Jonathan Martin had reported that in Flordia, the Romney campaign
launched robo-calls against John McCain, attacking him for voting
against the "AARP-backed prescription drug program." Martin cited
confirmation by "an aide to the former governor." I've criticized
Romney heavily for this on the blog, so I wanted to give him an
opportunity to respond. I asked him how he could say in debates
that we need to tackle entitlement spending, and then run calls
attacking McCain for opposing legislation that added trillions to
our entitlement deficit.
Here was Romney's full response:
That's a darn good question, and the reason is
because I also have said that I would have opposed the Medicare
Part D provision that President Bush put on, unless there was a
Medicare reform that was part of the package. So actually, Senator
McCain and I would have been on the same side of that vote. I did
not know that that went out in a call, I'll look into that. But for
me, what I've always said is that on the Medicare Part D that I
supported the idea of getting seniors Medicare Part D and
prescription coverage, but for me that would have had to be
combined with a reform of Medicare overall, which did not cause us
to increase the ongoing obligation, the liability that we have by
virtue of that program, and frankly, I've laid out what I would do
in all three programs-Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security-to
rein in the excessive spending. But I'll look into that call, and
I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.
topics:
John McCain, Social Security, Medicaid, NATO, Medicare