Actor Martin Sheen has played a president on "The West Wing" and now he's standing up for one in a new video by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that accuses Republicans of trying to end Medicare and siding against President Obama because they want him to fail.

In the video, put out by the DCCC and titled "Stand Up For Medicare," Sheen claims President Obama's critics and Republican adversaries want him to fail and blames congressional Republicans with trying to destroy Medicare.

The Republican National Committee could not immediately be reached for comment on the video.

"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'd fail," Sheen says into the camera." 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," said Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlett on "The West Wing." "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 there 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 every American," Sheen says. "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 work their whole lives and kept their commitments and we expect Republicans to do the same. To tell them to keep their hands off Medicare and tell them in our America, the cynics and fear-mongers - the ones who break a sacred promise simply to reward the wealthy don't get the final word. No, no, you do."

SOURCE:IBTimes