Strickland blasts Romney on Medicare plan

8/28/2012
BY IGNAZIO MESSINA
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Ted Strickland, center, speaks to people at the East Toledo stop of his anti-Mitt Romney bus tour Tuesday.
Ted Strickland, center, speaks to people at the East Toledo stop of his anti-Mitt Romney bus tour Tuesday.

With a group of East Toledo seniors and a big anti-Romney tour bus as his backdrop, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland today blasted the Republican candidate’s plan for Medicare, Social Security, and student loans.

“As the Republicans are gathering in Tampa we want to remind the people in Ohio the differences that exist between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney,” Mr. Strickland told Obama supporters during his first bus stop of the day. “The fact is, as the bus says, Mitt Romney is wrong for the middle class.”

The former governor, who has been stumping for the president throughout Ohio, said the Romney-Ryan budget would give an additional $250,000 tax cut to multi-millionaires.

The Romney-Ryan budget “would destroy Medicare as we know it. Basically they want to turn Medicare into a voucher system,” and that would cost seniors an additional $6,000 a year, he said.

President Obama will visit Toledo on Labor Day and he is also expected to visit the Cleveland area the same day. Three days later, at Bank of America Stadium during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, he will accept his party’s nomination for a second term.

Romney spokesman Chris Maloney could not be immediately reached for comment.

This is a developing story.