>>> last week before two big political conventions with the sunday talk shows buzzing over medicare . advisers clashed over the hot topic.
>> that's ays central question on the fable for this election. how will be strengthen medicare . if we strengthen it or push costs to seniors.
>> if i could just respond to that, look, let's look at the contrast of the two campaigns. congressman ryan was down in florida yesterday, talking about medicare which say very important issue. an important cost of living issue for millions of seniors. the same time this week, vice president biden in virginia talking about people being put back in chains.
>> tomorrow, mitt romney and paul ryan reunite on the campaign trail with a town hall meeting in new hampshire, and that controversial chains comment is spotlighting new concerns about negative messaging on the campaign trail. this morning, mitt romney 's top adviser suggests that biden 's remark, a deliberate attempt to steer both sides of the national conversation down an ugly road. when you lock at his rhetoric, the stream of attacks from joe biden , versus the serious proposal put forward by mitt romney and paul ryan , there is a very informative contrast there between the two tickets and two approaches.
>> nbc's kristen welker live at the white house with the latest. good afternoon to you.
>> good afternoon to you, craig.
>> and ed gillespie called this talk "smear and fear" on behalf of president obama 's campaign. how are the comments being addressed today. or are they?
>> they absolutely are. there has been a lot of mud slinging on both sides all week long when it comes to the chains comments, the obama campaign pushing back hard against the notion that vice president was trying to invoke race into the discussion. he simply used the wrong words, he was trying to quote from language that republicans had misused, he misspoke. this has been a big distraction from the larger issue. pushing back hard against the notion nah the vice president had any other intentioned except to talk about wall street reform. here is what obama campaign adviser robert gibbs had to say. take a listen.
>> no other comment when speaker boehner talks about unshackling wall street . mitt romney thinks it's okay to repeal wall street reform, and let big banks on wall street go back to writing their own rules. we know what happens. that's what got us into this mess.
>> reporters covering the campaign have been trying to figure out if president obama spoke with vice president biden about those comments. the white house not giving us an answer about that the obama campaign hopes that this issue won't continue. they hope this won't be a repeat occurrence on the campaign trail.
>> any indication we'll be seeing or hearing less from the vice president over the next few months on the campaign trail?
>> obama officials and the white house defended the vice president saying the president has complete confidence in him as his running mate. there were some rumblings that perhaps the obama campaign should swap out, vice president secretary of state hillary clinton saying that won't happen. at the end of the day , vice president biden a good retail politician, good the pressing the flesh. good at rallying the middle class . important in some of the key battleground states . they think he is more of an asset than he is a liability. if you look at the vice president's schedule, his upcoming week, he'll be quite busy with a number of camp paper events in michigan, minnesota, and it doesn't look like the vice president will slow down on the campaign trail any time soon.
>> that's ays central question on the fable for this election. how will be strengthen medicare . if we strengthen it or push costs to seniors.
>> if i could just respond to that, look, let's look at the contrast of the two campaigns. congressman ryan was down in florida yesterday, talking about medicare which say very important issue. an important cost of living issue for millions of seniors. the same time this week, vice president biden in virginia talking about people being put back in chains.
>> tomorrow, mitt romney and paul ryan reunite on the campaign trail with a town hall meeting in new hampshire, and that controversial chains comment is spotlighting new concerns about negative messaging on the campaign trail. this morning, mitt romney 's top adviser suggests that biden 's remark, a deliberate attempt to steer both sides of the national conversation down an ugly road. when you lock at his rhetoric, the stream of attacks from joe biden , versus the serious proposal put forward by mitt romney and paul ryan , there is a very informative contrast there between the two tickets and two approaches.
>> nbc's kristen welker live at the white house with the latest. good afternoon to you.
>> good afternoon to you, craig.
>> and ed gillespie called this talk "smear and fear" on behalf of president obama 's campaign. how are the comments being addressed today. or are they?
>> they absolutely are. there has been a lot of mud slinging on both sides all week long when it comes to the chains comments, the obama campaign pushing back hard against the notion that vice president was trying to invoke race into the discussion. he simply used the wrong words, he was trying to quote from language that republicans had misused, he misspoke. this has been a big distraction from the larger issue. pushing back hard against the notion nah the vice president had any other intentioned except to talk about wall street reform. here is what obama campaign adviser robert gibbs had to say. take a listen.
>> no other comment when speaker boehner talks about unshackling wall street . mitt romney thinks it's okay to repeal wall street reform, and let big banks on wall street go back to writing their own rules. we know what happens. that's what got us into this mess.
>> reporters covering the campaign have been trying to figure out if president obama spoke with vice president biden about those comments. the white house not giving us an answer about that the obama campaign hopes that this issue won't continue. they hope this won't be a repeat occurrence on the campaign trail.
>> any indication we'll be seeing or hearing less from the vice president over the next few months on the campaign trail?
>> obama officials and the white house defended the vice president saying the president has complete confidence in him as his running mate. there were some rumblings that perhaps the obama campaign should swap out, vice president secretary of state hillary clinton saying that won't happen. at the end of the day , vice president biden a good retail politician, good the pressing the flesh. good at rallying the middle class . important in some of the key battleground states . they think he is more of an asset than he is a liability. if you look at the vice president's schedule, his upcoming week, he'll be quite busy with a number of camp paper events in michigan, minnesota, and it doesn't look like the vice president will slow down on the campaign trail any time soon.