>> "inside washington" is brout you in part by the americ federation of government employees, proud to make america work. for more i information about afge and membership, visit afge.org. >> this week on "inside washington," mitt romney's august surprise. >> i am delighted to have picked as my running mate paul ryan, a great leadader. >> suddenly it is all about paul ryan and medicare. >> governor romney and i will protect and strengthen medicare for our seniors. >> they wanto turn medicare into a voucher program. >> it is getting nasty out there. >> unchain wall street.

they are going to put y'all back in chains. >> ts is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. >> this argument has been brewing for some time. >> i don't think there's anything courageous to ask for sacrifice for those who can least afford it. >> it is oh, it is not change, it is partisanship. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> washington loves a good fight. at least to those of us here "inside washington" do. now we have one. in one corner, the president of the united states, slim trim, ready to rumble. and a new challenger,

congressman paul ryan also slim, also trim, also ready. >> the contrast could not be clearer. we cantick with the current path we aren, a path of debt, doubt, declined, department president obama has put us on, or we can get back inusiness, reapply thamerican principles and saved the a american idea. >> conservative republicans appear to be delighted with the choice, although politico reports that some republican professionals in washington, and none of them quoted by name, think ids a disaster. a lot of democrats seem delighted, arguing that ryun takes the focus of the economy and puts it on its budget and the focus on medicare paid by now you are delighted, charles. >> i do, because romney's plan hahad not been working. a couple of weeks before he

chose ryan, it was slipping away. the gap between him and obama was increasing, and it was becoming about romney's taxes, the bain history, and all that. now i.t. is completely different teterrain, ideas and ideology. i thi they had a really good shot. >> mark? >> i think paul ryan was a bold choice your. either go ma -- youither go macro or micro go big or try to target eight state or constituency. rob portman would have been that. paul ryan -- what has not gotten the attention, he has made mitt romney a better candidate. boston finally figured this out eight days later and they will put the two of them together. romney, who is basically robotic as a candite became animated and almost natural in this

bromance. >> near human? >> eh, quasi neo crypto. [laughter] >> colby? >> romney went all in with this caidate, and it is good it in the sense that the campaign will be run on vision. which team has the right vision for the country? it is not ing to be fuzziness there. that is the good part about it. the other thing is that i think paul ryan brings some intellectual heft to the discussion. >> evan? >> i think i.t. has a bold choice, and i was hoful that it was going toring intellectu heft to the discussion, but the discussion this week has mostly been

scuffling around, lying to each other, accung each other of murder -- not directly but you know, the same o -- it is not an uplifting campaign. >> by putting paul ryan and eareigh and budget in the spotlight -- and the ryan budget in the spotligh d does it make romney the top of the ticket lolook week? >> you know, that is a concern. i saw one conservative columnist say, if only this ticket were reversed. that is the last thing you want to hear as the presidential nominee. i think that if anything, it shows that romney w not fearful of having somebody on who is -- speaks in bold colors. i do think, quite bluntly that it takes the race from a referendum on obama's storage of and makes it a choice election.

i think that is is that the republicans seize an opportunity in. >> what about the hispanic vote the women's vote, rye and's vote on the personhood bills? >> that is the difference between the democratic strategy and republican strategy, but it is between the democrat party, which is holy roman empire of little interest or a large interest groups, ethnicities constitutuencies, and the republicans, who are runni more of a national campaign about reforming the couountry. obama's strategy is you want to go after hispanics and african- ericans, young women gays. the together and you get 51%. that obviously is not, as -- as mark indicated romney did not go for the governor of ohio or perhaps marco rubio, who could give you an inroad with

hispanics. he went for a national argument the idea of reform, and is trying to recreate the conditions of 2010, which was nationalized election over whetre obama had taken america and the classic left-right issues of a smaller or larger government. >> i wish it were as simple as all of that. i think that romney is also playing to a certain constituency as well. he is looking clearly at a conservative base, he is looking at a suburban base, he is lookg clearly at the evangelicals base -- >> it is interesting -- >> you cannot just say he is a national candidate -- >> ryan will to deliver any of the constituencies- >> the general convention is that you go to the middle for

the general election. it now appeaears that they are doing something different for this election, that they are trying to get this case going. ryan is a base move, obama is playing to his base. there is not much middle. it is a different formula. >> how can you be undecided at this point? >> charles talks about this great ilosophical divide, and frequently paul ryan is loaded on how great he is. if you look at the paul ryan budget, he wants to cut taxes at the top rate by 40% down to 25% for everybody. how are you going to make e up that revenue? they are very precise on how to cut taxes and for whom. but they are very vague deliberately so, on how to pay for it, what exemptions and loopholes they are going to close.

>> the president, i am told, is talking about medicare today. what i don't think he will be telling people is that the president took $716 billion from the medicare program raided a to pay for obamacare. >> you hear a lot of were in line. for years on this program we've criticized elected officials on -- evan especially -- for their cowardice in shying away from the third rail of american politics. give him credit for jumping on it. what do you think mark? >> i think paul ryan isis in an area where he is going to lose. you make this election about medicare and wch party is more commitd to strengthening and prpreserving medicare, the democrats by every measure of opinion win that debate to-one,

by 25oints. paul ryan, who talks about -- it is unsustainable evan is absolutely right. we spend $540 billion last year for 49 million americans who were on medicare. the number is going up. it has to be addressed, no question about it. but the question is, do you want the party that has consistently opposed to doing that -- opposed it doing that? >> they are going to demagogue it unbelievable. we always joke about t throwing granny in this note to sure enough, there is an ad in florida with granny in the wheelchair. i thought it was a joke not an ad. >> on saturday, when romney made thannouncement, i heard dr. krauthammer per se if they are

smarart, they willll get ahead of the curve on medicare. there he is talking about this $716 billion. is this working? >> absolutely. it is jitsu of the first order. it began with democrats echoing what mark is thinking, that if you bring up medicare republicans lose. that iin pericles false. in the 2010 election, obama h had taken half a billion out of medicare to pay for the uninsured in obamacare. that was a very powerful issue and a very strong element in the shellacking that the democrats had taken. democrats had forgotten -- they were foaming at the mouth to attack republicans on medicare when ryan was appointed. but thehe counterattack is brilliant for one reason -- the one republican nominee who was least equipped to go head-to- head with obama on obamacare was

romney. however, there is one area where there is a difference between romney and obama on national health insurance -- he never took anynything out of medicare. obama did. romney can attack obama on obamacare in a way he never could, and that is where the democrats have miscalculated. they do not have announ answer. >> counter-attack brilliant colby? >> that is the attack. sununu says they are all on the same page -- >> cbo says that as ll. >> i would never interrupt you charles. he is not taking money out of medicare -- obama is not. the money is in the medicare trust fund. the money that would be going to

providers of medicare -- why do they take the money away? the assumption is that under the affordable health care plan, more and more people get insurance and they will not have to rely -- the uninsured patients in hospitals -- that is a perfectly reasonable calculus. you can say that, it is in nice charge to make, but it does not hold u up. that is so much of what is going on on the republican side. they have these nice little arguments, limbaugh and all the rest of them make over and over again, but they do not hold up. >> ryan says that if you are above the 55, you are ok. what about if you or r 54? >> the democrats believe in insurance exchanges for people under 65, and repepublicans believe in insurance exchanges for people over 65.

republicans don't want the insurance exchanges available to anybody under 65, but all said and, at the age of 65, people become very discerning an informed and locanalytical about this. mitt romney had a great week. we ought to our knowledge the fact that he has found addressed his taxes -- he has finally dresses taxes and said he never paid less than 30%, which is about half of what a nurse or firefighter would pay half of what the psident paid. you know, that is the guy. >> notice how quickly my liberal colleagues on the right bailed on the medicare debate -- >> not at all! . >> all of a sudden wanted to talk about romney's taxes. so much error, so little time it cbo says that if obamacare were abolishehed, it would increase the medicare trust fund by $700

billion. the money was roved. one part ended up in another part. second, you got it exactly wrong. in the ryan plan, if you are already on medicare, or i if you are 10 years away, you will not be affected in any way whatsoever ever on medicare, end of the story. >> the congressional budget office said -- >> [ male announcer ] you paid

in to medicare for years. every paycheck. now, when you need it obama has cut $71llbillion dollars from medicare. why? to pay for obamacare. so now the money you paid for your guaranteed healthcare is going to a massive new government program that's not for you. the romney-ryan plan protects medicare benefits for today's seniors and strengthens the plan for the next generation. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

>> people at the big banks once again write their own rules unchain wall street. they are g going to put y'a'all back in chains. >> wild and reckless accusations that disgraced the office of the presidency. >> the biden, a test on a bible.

mitt romney -- "mr. president, take your campaign of division and head back to chicago." how did the white house handled this one colby? >> not well paid by ignoring it they did not do well -- >> the presisident s sort -- >> not well. the thing that biden did that bother some people, myself included -- you do not have to resort to colloquialisms to talk to african-americans. "y'all"? he also could have talked about it in a dififferent way. if romney is elected with paul ryan, we will go back to a system of benign neglect. serious social problems are ignored or just treated -- swept under the rug. will be a problem for a lot of ople in this country. >> we h have some time ago, and it is already getting nasty.

how much worse can it get? i guess it can get worse. >> biden is biden. i don't think it will be addeda disaster because everybody knows he has a big mouth and will shoot his mouth. >> jonathan rtin reports and a political that he is great one- on-one -- >> he is an embarrassment. the only reason toi find it hardo take umbrage is the guy is so off the wall that y sort of expect a. like manyny ramirez. he catches the out and he tosses the ball into the stands. manny being manny. this is a guy nobody takes seriously. i think there's a fitness problem here. the bart for biden is so low because of allll the crazy stuff

is is that you got to ask is this t the guy you want a heartbeat away? >> all the crazy stuff he says -- not sure what it is -- >> "y'all gonna be --" >> colby is absolutely right. not only was it t offensive, it was patronizing. at the same time, joe biden has been a surefooted vice president, he has been incredibly loyal and effective in reaching working-class falies that barack obama is not as comfortable in addressing. in that sense, what we have is a campaign -- evaput his finger on it earlier -- we thought it was going to be at a seminar of discussions wi paul ryan,n, and

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>> the president has appointed on the issue of debt reduction. >> this budget is a trojan

horse. all right, , as you can see these gentlemen have been at each other's throats and figuratively for a couple of years now. we talk about the president's charged that i.t. is social darwinism. again, we're not talking about romneycare versus obama on this show. talking about paul ryan. >> ir ght -- right because ryan is a good target if obama wants to run against them, the movement conservatives, the tea party. romney is rt of a cipher. >> ryan has laid down a marker. he is the one who provided the plan, the documents that you can respond to. >> the ironyny is that the reason he has is because the president has not. obama has not presented a plan on medicare id he said onuly 11 2011, at a press conference

-- it wasn't in secret -- that no matter how much you raise taxes, medicare is insolvent and unsustainable. has he presented a plan? no. his treasury secretary was asked by ryan in the house hearings, have you got a plan on medicare? the answer was no, but we don't like yours. >> who is going to win this debate mark? >> the president w will win the debate if it is on health care, no question about it. even though paul ryan says the hearts fluttering a very conservati columnist -- "the wall street journal" editorial- page gives them wet kiss every time it turns around -- he is lying at a different altitude piteous getting scrutiny has never had a "the wall street journal" reveals there were four tters to the energy department requesting stimulus funds, even though he said he neve -- he said he d never done it. he vod tofor the iraq war

unfunded. he will get the kind of scrutiny that a president gets deservedly and rightly so. we will find out what he is made of. >> that is what democrats want -- read the oppo research h and run on that. the idea of running on medicare a plan, a budget, is completely alien. the ministration has run away from a the issues for a full term. >> evan? >> i agree that -- he is a congressman. not too many congressmen have been in that position. he has never really been in the majors. i do think -- it did not happen this week -- he does have a chance to elevate the debate here. my only hope for this election which has been basically been in the mud and on the logo, is the greater conversation about what government is good for.

he engages on that. >> you get the last word. let's elevate the debate. see you next week. >> "inside washington" is brought you in part by the american federation of government employees, proud to make america work. for morenformation about afge and membership, visit afge.org.