Paul Ryan's Mom Helps Him Push Medicare Plan

Paul Ryan brought out the big guns today to defends his approach to Medicare—his mom and the memory of his grandmother. The VP candidate traveled to Florida to speak before the massive retirement community near Orlando known as the Villages, and he brought along his 78-year-old mother, Betty Douglas, reports the Orlando Sentinel. "She planned her retirement around this promise," Ryan said, referring to Medicare. "That's a promise we have to keep."

He also spoke of how, years earlier, his grandmother got Alzheimer's, and the family relied on Medicare benefits for her care. His podium carried the slogan "Protect & Strengthen Medicare," a theme Republicans are pushing to counter Democratic claims that Ryan's plan won't save the program, it will gut it, notes AP. "We want this debate," said Ryan. "We need this debate. And we are going to win this debate." (More Medicare stories.)