Elections

Media Matters super PAC releases opposition research report on Paul Ryan

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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A leading super PAC supporting President Barack Obama’s campaign has released a 290-page opposition research report on Rep. Paul Ryan, Gov. Mitt Romeny‘s likely pick for vice president.

The report is a ready-made dossier for Democrats and a skewed portrayal for reporters, starting with Ryan’s support for reform of the fast-growing Medicare program, and ending with a supportive quote from former Oklahoma Republican Rep. J.C. Watts.

The report was prepared by American Bridge 21st Century, which was founded by Media Matters for America founder David Brock. (RELATED: Read The Daily Caller’s complete coverage of the liberal Media Matters organization)

American Bridge’s chairwoman is Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former Maryland lieutenant governor. Its president is Rodell Mollineau, who was a staff director for Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid at the Senate Democratic Communications Center.

The report’s table of contents includes headings such as “Slashes Medicaid, Destroys Jobs”; “Hurts The Most Vulnerable, Makes College Less Affordable”; and “Raises Taxes on The Poor To Pay For Tax Breaks For The Rich.”

Starting with a “Top Hit,” the report slams Ryan for his effort to update the unreformed Medicare program, which provides health care services to almost 50 million people including millions of voters in Florida and other swing states.

The report’s opening paragraph cites an April 2011 Wall Street Journal article in which congressional reporter Naftali Bendavid wrote that “[t]The [Ryan] plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills.”

That priority given to Ryan’s focus on Medicare suggests that the Obama campaign and its allies will run attack ads intended to generate worry among retirees that Ryan and Romney will try to slash medical services.

The report does not mention a recent Congressional Budget Office report showing that Obama’s own health care reform agenda will cut Medicare funding by roughly $716 billion over the next decade. It also does not mention the decline in Medicare quality caused by budget cuts that have deterred doctors from taking Medicare patients.

The opposition report does include detailed information about Ryan’s budget reforms in the House of Representative. That “Ryan budget” has twice been supported by the GOP majority in the House.

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Anti-Romney super PAC’s Paul Ryan opposition report