In '60 Minutes' interview, Romney defends Ryan's Medicare plan, slams Obama

— -- Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan sat down with "Face the Nation" anchor Bob Schieffer in High Point, N.C.,  on Sunday for their first television interview since Romney announced Ryan as his running mate.

In the interview, scheduled to air Sunday on "60 Minutes," Romney addressed Sunday's Miami Herald headline that suggested Ryan's budget proposal--which would transform Medicare into a voucher system--"court hurt Romney in Florida" and, in turn, his chances in November.

"There's only one president that I know of in history that robbed Medicare," Romney said. "Seven-hundred-sixteen-billion dollars to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call Obamacare."

"What Paul Ryan and I have talked about is saving Medicare, is providing people greater choice in Medicare, making sure it's there for current seniors," Romney said. "No changes, by the way, for current seniors, or those nearing retirement. But looking for young people down the road and saying, 'We're going to give you a bigger choice.' In America, the nature of this country has been giving people more freedom, more choices. That's how we make Medicare work down the road."

"My mom is a Medicare senior in Florida," Ryan added. "Our point is we need to preserve their benefits, because government made promises to them that they've organized their retirements around. In order to make sure we can do that, you must reform it for those of us who are younger. And we think these reforms are good reforms that have bipartisan origins. They started from the Clinton commission in the late '90s."