Family Man': Obama Welcomes Paul Ryan Into Race as Campaign Launches Twitter Tirade

President Obama welcomed Paul Ryan to the race for vice president Sunday as a "good" and "decent" man, according to reports, as his campaign launched yet another attack on the Republican's character and political beliefs.

Addressing young supporters at a Chicago fundraiser, the president began by saying that ideology has led to gridlock in Washington, political dysfunction, and a top-down approach to growing the economy.

“Just yesterday, my opponent chose his running mate, the ideological leader of Republicans in Congress, Mr. Paul Ryan.  I want to congratulate Mr. Ryan.  I know him. I welcome him to the race,” Obama remarked, according to ABC.

Here is a clip of the speech, via Mediaite:

Barack Obama continued: “[Paul Ryan] is a decent man; he is a family man; he is an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney’s vision, but it is a vision that I fundamentally disagree with.”

Twitchy noted that soon after issuing the moderately gracious welcome, the president's official Twitter feed released a number of scathing tweets about Ryan:

Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams responded:

“We all know that President Obama will continue to run a fear and smear campaign because his policies have failed and he has no vision for the future of our country...Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan bring new ideas about creating jobs and controlling the budget. President Obama’s campaign has accused Mitt Romney of committing crimes and killing people, and now they have turned their smear campaign to Paul Ryan. They have lost all credibility.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

(H/T: Twitchy)