Actor Martin Sheen says Republicans want to "eliminate (Medicare) altogether" in an ad released Monday by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
MARTIN SHEEN: Hello I’m Martin Sheen. Fourty-four Presidents have served our nation, each one tested. Their leadership called upon to face the challenges of their time. When President Obama stepped on to the stage, our nation was in crisis, on the brink of a global economic meltdown. There were cynics and partisans who stood against him not out of principle or patriotism, but simply so he would fail. Despite these voices of obstruction, however, this president is leading us back, helping America rise again. But now the president, all of us in fact, face another crisis. And it’s not a natural disaster, or terrorist cell, or global economic failure this time, no no. This crisis is caused right down the street from the White House. You see in this crisis, the same Republicans in Congress who obstructed Mr. Obama every step on the road back now want to end Medicare, eliminate it altogether. And what is their goal? Simply to sacrifice Medicare in order to give tax cuts to special interests. That is not the America I was raised to love. In our America, we honor work, keep our promises, and when times get tough, we share the sacrifices. It’s time to stand up for our America, and for every American. And remember, true patriots don’t just live in America, America lives in them. It’s time to speak out: tell Republicans in Congress that Americans worked their whole lives and kept their commitments, and we expect Republicans to do the same. Tell them to keep their hands off Medicare. And tell them in our America, the cynics and fearmongers, the ones who break a a sacred promise simply to reward the wealthy, don’t get the final word. No, no – you do.
Sheen has questioned the U.S. government's role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks:
REPORTER: We just wanted what your take on it was?
MARTIN SHEEN: It's dubious. But I think not wanting to believe my government could possibly be involved in such a thing--
REPORTER: Absolutely. I don’t think any of us want to believe--
SHEEN: I couldn’t live in a country that I thought could do that. That would be ultimate betrayal. Then, however, there have been so many revelations, that now I have my doubts. And chief among them is building seven. How did they rig that building so it came down on the evening of the day? How they do it?
REPORTER: Are you [unclear] of the Larry Silverstein statement of the pulling and the way that it all came down?
SHEEN: Yeah.
REPORTER: Absolutely.
SHEEN: How convenient. Why did they rig that building? That is the most curious question and I have not received a satisfactory answer. If somebody could give me an answer for how you rig that building and bring it down on the day.
REPORTER: That is a curiosity, isn’t it?
SHEEN: That is the one thing that I haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer from anyone.
The comments were made by Sheen in 2007. Sheen's son, Charlie, is a prominent "truther."
UPDATE: Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) emails, "Only a self-described 9/11 truther would be willing to be the Democrats' chief spokesman for what PolitiFact calls the 2011 Lie of the Year."