Alison Grimes bashes Mitch McConnell as anti-Medicare in attack ad

Alison Lundergan Grimes went on the attack Tuesday, releasing a new ad that accuses Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of voting in favor of Medicare increases that could bankrupt seniors in Kentucky.

In the folksy spot, Mrs. Grimes, a Democrat, sits next to Don Disney from Cloverlick, who she says has a question for Mr. McConnell.

“Senator, I am a retired coal miner, I want to know how you could have voted to raise my Medicare costs to $6,000?” Mr. Disney says, sitting in front of an old school fire truck. “How an I supposed to afford that?”

The attack alludes to Mr. McConnell’s 2011 vote for Rep. Paul Ryan’s controversial budget blueprint, which would have overhauled Medicare by converting it into a voucher-type program for Americans younger than 55.

The ad cites a report from the liberal-leaning Center for Budget Priorities, which warned that the Congressional Budget Office said that Medicare beneficiary’s out-of-pocket costs would more than double - from $6,150 to $12,500 under the Ryan budget.

After posing the question in the ad, Mrs. Grimes and Mr. Disney sit silent in old chairs as if waiting for an answer from Mr. McConnell, who is running for his sixth term in the November election after defeating a tea party backed primary challenger in the state’s May 20 primary.

“I don’t think he’s gonna answer that,” Mrs. Grimes tells Mr. Disney. “I approve this message because I will work to strengthen Medicare, not bankrupt seniors like Don.”

The McConnell camp said the claim is bogus.

“It says a lot about the candidacy of Alison Lundergan Grimes that she’s a full four months away from the election and she already hit the panic button by resorting to the oldest, most cynical attack in the Obama playbook to scare Kentucky seniors,” said Allison Moore, a spokesman for the McConnell campaign.

“The simple reality is that Senator McConnell has fought to protect Medicare, while Alison Lundergan Grimes and her political benefactors have raided it by $700 billion to pay for Obamacare.”