a voter during his first swing through iowa. >> what you just did to paul ryan is unforgivable. >> i didn't do anything to paul ryan. >> yes, you did. >> by tuesday, gingrich began back-tracking. >> i made a mistake and i called paul ryan today, who is a very close personal friend, and i said that. >> but other conservatives had already moved in. >> and it sounded pretty clear to me that newt gingrich's position, because he articulated this, was that paul ryan's plan would be social engineering, and he didn't like it. >> by thursday, gingrich moved on to denial. >> it was not a reference to paul ryan. there was no reference to paul ryan in that answer. >> well, then, what did you apologize to him about? >> missteps that gave political commentators and comedians alike material all week long. >> so, let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what i said on sunday is a falsehood, because i have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate. >> you know, i've always found the hallmark of an honest conversation is one that begins with "if you quote me directly utilizing videotape of my comments in contex

but today he tried to tell rush limbaugh his answer had nothing to do with paul ryan. >> it was not a reference to paul ryane was no reference to paul ryan in that answer. >> then what did you apologize to him about? >> because it was interpreted in a way which was causing trouble, which he doesn't need or deserve and causing the house republicans. >> gingrich today talking about his answer to the question about the ryan plan in the ryan sponsored budget for which he apologized to paul ryan. gingrich is right, he did not mention paul ryan by name in his answer. but it's clear from david gregory's followup they're talking about the ryan plan here. listen. >> not what paul ryan is suggesting -- >> i think that's too big a jump. >> and gingrich kept going. he didn't stop and say who is this paul ryan you speak of? two days ago, he was practically denying he said anything at all. >> so let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what i said on sunday is a falsehood, because i have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate. >> in other words, who are you going to believe, newt, or that lying v

ryan paul ryan is you know that's his. dream is to help privatizing. social security so that also will become more like a for a one k. in your own. private account and the government will not be responsible for. taking care of making sure that you get a defined benefit plan in your old age and behind all this i hate to say this is this incredible permission. philosophy of an rand which basically says you know life we all should be out there on our own and it's the most vicious form of social darwinism. and you saw how well that worked previous periods of american history and that's what they want to go through again go to again or all out there on your own you go as far as you can on your own. volition and if you fail you fail except of course if you're a wall street bank or a big or you're big enough because then when you gamble and fail you get bailed out and you can talk a great game about the free markets but you know for the biggest richest corporations in this country there is no such thing well and that's when it counts and you're mentioning. th

families are internationally competitive ok we have another clip now we have all this up with paul ryan on the paul ryan plan. our budget is very very different first of all they cut six point two trillion dollars in spending from the president's budget over just the next ten years it puts the nation on a path to actually pay off our debt and it lowers the debt as a percentage of of the economy now until we pay it off our proposal bring spending on the federal government meaning the size of federal government back to twenty percent consistent with the post-war average and reduces deficits by four point four trillion in the first ten years alone most important our budget tackles the nation's biggest fiscal challenges head on. taking these challenges head on there is one big one missing here and i got to be honest on a little bit surprised to see such full throated support from americans for tax reform on this when the plan doesn't even start to scratch the surface when it comes to defense spending takes a completely off the table tell me americans for tax reform has some concern about this laughing from

ryan. paul ryan in particular has to think hard about this.id he wanted to pass his budget to set the terms of debate for the 2012 election. if nobody is taking up that mantle he is going to think maybe i should. the third person i say you have to think about now is jeb bush. >> chris: really? >> despite the brand name damage i think people feel is too early for him. he might feel that, i think he does feel that. i think also if this deal doesn't change and nobody else gets in there will be pressure for one of the three to get in. >> chris: senator bayh, what do you make of all the -- you can sort of have a cheshire cat grin on your face. what do you make of high-profile republicans? donald trump, mike huckabee, haley barbour, what do you make of the guys staying out of the race? >> how much things changed since last november. the president was on the ropes and republican had a big victory. now established republicans are running from the race as fast as they can. this is good news for the president. it will be a protracted contest where they

paul ryan. >> reporter: congressman paul ryan, the house budget architect says no, thanks. >> i want to stay focused on where we are right now, getting our fiscal house in order. >> reporter: a few have bowed out, plenty more are ready to leap in. minnesota's tim pawlenty is expected to announce this week. herman cane is already running. so is former house speaker newt gingrich who spent the last week apologizing for poo-pooing paul ryan's budget plan. >> i used unfortunate language about engineering. >> reporter: there's still plenty of republicans weighing a run. mitt romney and sarah palin. social conservative michele bachmann and fiscal conservative jon huntsman. a race for the white house that's still wide brian moore, nbc news, washington. >>> we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] try sizzler's new value menu! malibu chicken, flame broiled steak, or half dozen jumbo shrimp, plus endless salad bar... starting at just $9.99! at sizzler. >>> gay rights activists celebrated harvey milk day today on milk's 81st birthday. a suicide call scenter for yout in san francisco. mark loeno was. the center

ryan. paul ryan has become the idea generator for the republican party. he's now the new face with the new ideas, and he's the one sort of forced the republicans. >> the policy agenda is not him. that's the policy. and, you know, the whole question of, oh, we don't like our candidates and all of that. that happens every election cycle. and in 2008, the democrats are looking around and they said, oh, my goodness, the economy is tanking, if we just nominate, white bread, white guy he'll win. and our other candidates are unelectable. let's draft al gore back, let's do all of this, and republicans in the same place this year. somebody will get the nomination and if the economy is in the tank that guy is likely to win. >> that leads us to barack obama, the president we hadn't spoken about. the bounce from bin laden, will that propel him to the presidency again? >> it has a life, i think. ten point force 30 days, maximum and then it will be gone. >> i actually think it does. not propel him to the presidency, necessarily but change people's view of him. it has,

paul ryan. >> reporter: congressman paul ryan, the house budget architect says no thanks. >> i want to stay focusedn where we are right now, and that is getting our fiscal house in order. >> reporter: well, a few have bowed out, plenty more are ready to jump in. tim pawlenty is expected to announce this week. food executive herman cain is already running and so is newt gingrich who spent the past week apologizing for pooh-poohing paul ryan's budget plan. >> i probably used unfortunate language about social engineering. but my problem was really a larger one. >> reporter: and there are still plenty of republicans weighing a run. mitt romney and sarah palin, social conservative michele bachmann, and fiscal conservative jon huntsman. a race for the white house that is still wide open. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. >>> the foreclosure crisis is far from over. and coming up, tips from people who have been through it. how homeowners are fighting back against banks and keeping their homes. >>> and a look outside shows you gusty winds outside, west to 22 into oakland and west at 38. in san francisco w

have a right to ask speaker gingrich what in the heck did you mean that paul ryan's budget plan is radical? >> the attack on paul ryan, the support for an individual mandate? in health care? folks, don't ask me to explain this. >> schieffer: headlines in conservative newspapers were no kinder. gingrich to the house g.o.p., "drop dead," noted "the wall street journal." nor was it any smoother when gingrich got to iowa. >> you're an embarrassment to our party. why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself? >> schieffer: this morning he's here to talk about all of it. it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspondent bob schieffer. and now from washington, bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning again. newt gingrich joins us live in the studio here. mr. gingrich, let's just start with the overnight news. mitch dan yells, the one that a lot of republicans, establishment republicans and especially a lot of people who had supported george bush last time out were really putting pressure on him to run for the republican nominati

paul ryan. gingrich criticized ryan's plan to reform medicare. under the current medicare system, the federal government uses tax dollars to pay for health care for the elderly. under the ryan plan, medicare pays for a portion of the premium for insurance that is sold by private insurance companies. ryan calls it quote unquote -- premium support. but gingrich calls it quote unquote -- radical. gingrich also likened the ryan plan to obamacare. >> i don't think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. i don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. >> question -- why did gingrich malign paul ryan, eleanor clift? >> well, i don't know -- if i call it maligning, gingrich spoke the truth. the ryan plan is radical and right wing social engineering and the public hates it and now the republicans have made it a test of purity. you've got to support that. it's great politics for democrats because people do not want to end medicare as we know it

paul ryan. gingrich criticized ryan's plan to reform medicare. under the current medicare system, the federal government uses tax dollars to pay for health care for the elderly. under the ryan plan, medicare pays for a portion of the premium for insurance that is sold by private insurance companies. ryan calls it quote unquote -- premium support. but gingrich calls it quote unquote -- radical. gingrich also likened the ryan plan to obamacare. >> i don't think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. i don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. >> question -- why did gingrich malign paul ryan, eleanor clift? >> well, i don't know -- if i call it maligning, gingrich spoke the truth. the ryan plan is radical and right wing social engineering and the public hates it and now the republicans have made it a test of purity. you've got to support that. it's great politics for democrats because people do not want to end medicare as we know it

report there, the architect of the republican budget plan now generating so much controversy is paul ryan. ryan sat down with an interview with the host of "this week" christiane amanpour. christiane asked him about this growing heat he's taking. >> how do you feel being made a bogey man? >> i don't think about it. i sleep well at night, because i know we have a debt crisis coming. we know we're going to have an economic collapse if we stay on the path we're on. it's unconscionable as an elected representative of people to know that that's coming and not try to do something to prevent it from happening. if it's bad politics, so be it. >> let's bring in christiane amanpour. always good to see you. it's something to hear a politician say if it's bad politics, so be it. the question, is ryan in particular, republicans in general, willing to take a hit politically with this? >> it seems ryan is. he's been working for years on this plan. he's devoted to it. we were at his district in wisconsin where he was holding town hall meetings. as you saw other congress people are facing a backlash from their

ryan's senate colleagues are queasy. senators lamar. alexander and rob portman are open to alternatives, maine senator susan collins delivered the harshest blow. >> i don't happen to support congressman ryan's plan. >> paul ryanhe future of his proposal next. [ male announcer ] we can display our superb school system on a chart. but how do you chart... happiness? we can show our diverse culture on a graph. but how do you graph... experiences? we can diagram the business reasons for your company to be here. but what kind of diagram do you use... for imagination? fairfax county, virginia, is the ideal business location. and the ideal life location. >>> joining me now, republican congressman paul ryan, chairman of the house budget committee. congressman, thanks for joining us. let me talk to you about -- i think that you heard senator mcconnell say that he was waiting to see what was going to come out of the commission that biden is heading with republicans and democrats on it. as far as you are concerned, must whatever plan comes out of this commission include medicare reform before you would vote for an increase in the debt ceiling? >> well, i think it should because medicare's in the future of the -- >> must

to defend it well or defend it aggressively and say the choice is not status quo or paul ryan reform. it's paul ryanm or obamacare or other changes in medicare. status quo is unsustainable. it's important that the republican candidates next year and the republican presidential candidate i would add be able to make that case. >> chris: nina, both sides in the aftermath of the new york 26 race held their ground. senate republicans except for four of them all volted for the ryan plan when it came up for a show vote in the senate. and yet, house and senate democrats just intensified their attacks. so who's right? >> i think the republicans ultimately are going to have a high ground on this. you look at -- the conventional wisdom now is hardening around the idea this is going to be an albatross around the republicans' necks. but if you listen to two little moments last week, one was bill clinton whispering to paul ryan backstage at a debt commission debate, "i'm worried. i'm glad we won the special election but i'm worried it will give us an excuse to do nothing." the other moment to me -- >> chris: let

ryan's senate colleagues are queasy. senators lamar alexander and rob portman say they are open to alternatives, maine senator susan collins delivered the harshest blow. >> i don't happen to support congressman ryan's plan. >> paul ryanoposal next. prescription strength relief-t from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. you know, the ones find are a who do a super job?n. superpages.com®. for local maps, reviews and videos & it's the only local search site with the superguarantee®. so next time, let the good guys save the day. get the superguarantee®, only at superpages®. in the book, on your phone or at superpages.com®. had a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit, which provided for their every financial need. [ thunder rumbling ] [ thunder crashing ] and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. ♪ and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. >>> joining me now, republican congressman paul ryan, chairman of the house budget committee. congressman, thanks for joining us. let me talk to you about -- i think

ryan shot back. >> with allies like that who needs the left? >> reporter: and now fellow conservatives are taking numbers to attack gingrich. >> he cuts paul ryan off at the knees. it supports the obama administration. >> reporter: headlining an editorial, "gingrich to house gop: drop dead," the "wall street journal" wrote today, "mr. gingrich chose to throw his former allies in the gop house not so much under the bus as off the grand canyon rim." the former speaker was even confronted by one critic in iowa. >> what you just did to paul ryan is unforgivable. >> i didn't do anything to paul ryan. >> yes, you did. you undercut him. you're an embarrassment to our party. >> i'm sorry you feel that way. >> why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself? >> i'm sorry you feel that way. >> this is one of those cases where a candidacy is almost imploding before the candidate leaves the starting gate. >> reporter: and now there's this. politico has dug up these financial records showing that gingrich owed tiffany's hundreds of thousands of dollars for unpaid bills back in 2005 and 2006. a lot of debt to a high-end jeweler. gingrich's spokesman tonight had no comment. brian? >> all right. andrea mitchell in washington tonight. andrea, thanks. >>> we turn to health news tonight. you know the rule of thumb on all those medical studies that come out? if you don't like the findings, wait for the next one. it's sure to have the opposite finding. well, tonight there's news about coffee. and if you're a coffee drinker, we

ryan from medicaid. you want to raise the social security retirement age for people who are now 59. and you would change medicare to a voucher system for those who are now 59. question: paul ryan doesn't go far enough? >> well, remember, both paul ryan's budget and the republican study committee budget changed the trajectory that we're on. we are on a trajectory of failure right now. both paul ryan and the republican study committee were making good responsible choices they're trying to get america's house to balance. >> chris: if i may, you're saying let's go even further, faster than paul ryan. >> remember again, what both of the bills are. they aren't pieces of legislation. they're aspirational documents, which means these are goals that we're trying to come toward. one thing that i have heard all across the united united un, people want us to get our financial house in order. they recognize we may not have 26 years to get our financial house in order. we may need to do it sooner. people want to us get serious. people who have been doing this in their own lives and with their own businesses don't understand why washington is taking so long to get our house in order. >> chris: i just wanted to make it clear. you stand by your vote f

rights and budget and you support the right and budget. -- it is part of the paul ryan budget and you support the paul ryan budget. >>, there has been a lot of talk in his race about medicare. but what about social security? there are a number of proposals aimed at addressing the problem of long-term insolvency. what programs or reforms would you support? >> i go back to the 1980's when the long-term sustainability of social security was in question. the approach that i followed back then and sought in washington was a bipartisan approach. we had senator moynihan on the finance committee together with tip o'neill working with ronald reagan at the time to come together to come up with some solutions. part of the problem comes down to high unemployment. there are few people paying into the program for the long-term future than there used to be. medicare and social security are driven by the fact that we need to get more people back to work. i will go to washington, open of the tax code to find ways to help with small-business lending to create the jobs so that there are more employees. it is a long-term solu

paul ryan agenda. by the way, paul ryan is a decent, smart guy. he really thinks -- he really thinks that the way for america to own the 21st century is the prescription he's laid out. and every republican in the congress obviously thinks so as well. and all by five republicans in the senate think so as well. and every republican candidate running for president thinks so as well. even newt has seen the lord and is praising the budget. folks, let's get clear about this budget. talk to cathy, it is not just about the fact that they end medicare and turn it into a voucher system for folks. it's not just that they keep $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for the very wealthy, they add another $100 billion on top of it. i'm not makes this up. it's not just that they voted to retain a $40 billion tax cut for the oil industry, an industry that made $25 billion in profits in the first quarter of this year and they need our $42 billion as an incentive? to go look for new product? but they believe it. it's that they pay for all of this by eviscerating, eliminating

paul ryan is unforgivable. >> i didn't to anything to paul ryan. >> yes, you did, you undercut him. you're an embarrassments to the party. why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself. chris: rachel, the choreography of that guy -- he's a civilian, but he grabs his hand as if to say nice things to him. held on to that hand like a barracuda and then said -- >> like sorry, sorry, yeah, it's embarrassing. chris: what's the lesson for the republicans? >> the lessons for the republicans on this one is that the republican party is not going to let you do the kind of campaigning you're going to need to do to a general-election audience any time soon. right now the republican party has to be looking at the forthcoming election and saying are we likely to topple barack obama? are we likely to beat him at the presidential level? i think we are probably not likely to do that. so it is a great risk to allow candidates, in trying to do that unlikely thing, to throw house republicans under the bus on the way there. they have the house right now. they have that power. they can't

the republican plan so another paul ryan's roadmap to throwing grandma off the cliff is costing republican seats in congress isn't it time for the party to dump paul ryan and the rest of the tea party. by well of course not only that this is first of all the ad is silly so much for the new tone of paul ryan don't bring in old defenseless old woman off a cliff it's a bit macho to really figure defenseless old woman is going to was something that was seven thousand dollars sure she's had two heart attacks and strokes be able to buy health insurance and a lot more than seven thousand dollars voucher if you look at the c.d.o. numbers by twenty thirty it's going to be on average eighteen thousand dollars per senior and it's not quite a voucher it's a it's a subsidy and there's a small difference but in essence it's a voucher and your by the way it works thirty that those numbers are actually not going to cover the costs of people's care it's not going to go up with the cost and placing them at the increases in costs so whereas right now it covers about twenty four percent of people's health care costs people only have to pay about twenty four percent of the

paul ryan budget plan. what are you hearing about reaction to paul ryan's medicare plan and how this will reverberate as we move toward the caucuses? >> that is a great question, especially here in iowa where we have a senior-heavy population. they are among the more active voting participants as well. we have not seen the kind of uproar that is appearing in some of the town halls across the country. what i hear across the state is people understand the fiscal constraints this country is in and the long-term obligations we need significant changes we're going to need if we're going to secure medicare for future generations. on an earlier -- on an earlier question, chairman campbell talked about leadership. that's what i'm hearing, they like to hear about leadership coming out of washington. that is what the voters tried to set last november. republicans are pleased to seek congressional republicans leading and showing there is a clear difference in having a republican congress showing leadership of some of these crises that face our country. we are preparing for two congressional races with steve king again

paul ryan. what did he say? >> he loves paul ryan. i think that's the bottom line. no doubt about that. e running a little bit away from paul ryan and his controversial plan to reform medicare. newt gingrich, the republican presidential candidate had some words that he later backed away from. not so nice about the medicare reform plan that paul ryan, the wisconsin republican, the chairman of the house budget committee put forward. but former vice president dick cheney, he is quoted by the houston chronicle as saying this. he said, "i worship the ground that paul ryan walks on." he then went on the say, and i'm quoting, i hope he doesn't run for president, because that would ruin a good man who has a lot of work to do. so i guess it's pretty clear dick cheney is not a subtle guy. he is very blunt. he is making it clear he loves paul ryan, loves everything he stands for. and that's why he said those nice words about paul ryan. we're going to have more on this story, but we're also going to have more on what is going on. they finally captured the ratko mladic. as you know, he is one of the

as we followed paul ryan today, look who he bumped into. mr. democrat, bill clinton. >> paul ryan. >> how are you? >> reporter: he even got some surprising words of encouragement. >> i told them before you got here, i said, i'm glad we won this race in new york. but i hope the democrats don't use it as an excuse to do nothing. >> reporter: ryan's plan would reduce medicare's costs by eventually replacing the current system with one where seniors would buy government subsidized private insurance. riding through washington today, ryan told us republicans need to fight for his plan. what do you say to these, maybe weak-kneed republicans -- >> this is not the time to go wobbly. they're going to run the attack ads at us regardless. this is a time for leaders to be leaders. >> reporter: house republicans overwhelmingly voted in favor of ryan's plan and now may pay a political price. did you just cost the republicans control of the house? >> i don't think so. i think we were elected in this last election to take a stand on fixing this country's fiscal problems. to go after spending, to s

the election into a referendum on paul ryan's budget plan to privatized medicare take a look at this ad that's been running around the nation. it was funny as paul ryan said he had to do six takes to get this right i think that there was such a great idea as you can imagine voters soundly rejected the republican plan so now the paul ryans road map of throwing grandma off a cliff is costing republican seats and congress isn't time for the party to dump the whole ryan and the rest of the tea party. guy well of course not i think that this is first of all the ad is silly so much for the newtonian power of ryan dumping in old defenseless old woman off a cliff it's a bit much do you really think a defenseless old woman is going to win seven but with a seven thousand dollars voucher she said to architects mr of be able to buy health insurance can be a lot more than seven thousand dollars voucher if you look at the c b o numbers by twenty thirty it's going to be on average eighteen thousand dollars per scene here and it's not quite a voucher it's a it's a subsidy and there's a small difference but in essence it's a voucher in terms of the way it works thirt

answer session cheney was asked what he thought about paul ryan his plans to privatized medicare and he had this response. worship the ground that paul ryan walks and i think it's an enormously talented individual and he's trying to do the right thing and this serves to support the support we can provide. cheney worships the ground before ryan walks up for anyone who is on the fence about the ryan plan but let's hope that endorsement from dick cheney convinces you it's a bad idea and a very very ugly for a congressman dan webster in a recent radio interview the ford. republican play the ultimate trump card in the debate over president obama's plans for peace in israel claiming god may turn on us he said well i like foreign aid sometimes but not everything and i don't like him and oil meese but i love giving money to israel and so i think there's there's a picture there that people realize that we stop helping israel and we lose god's hand and we're in big time trouble is right look i know the israel issue is complex and needs a lot of debate can we not place apocalypse apocalyptic consequences on it leave the doomsday talk to glenn beck a

the fact that the house majority leader eric cantor said he thought paul ryan could be a good candidate even though paul ryanversial medicare plan, said yesterday on sunday talk shows very clearly i'm not running. i think that speaks volumes as to where they are. one person speaking of congress we need to focus on is michelle bachmann. if she does, iowa is turned upside down. >> here's my question. every republican i talk to say this is a seminole election. why can't they get the candidates they want to run that the establishment would like to run, why aren't they getting in the race this time? >> who cares about the establishment. who cares about the establishment. >> it's the money people. >> we'll see. a long way to go. governor pawlenty, welcome to the fray. we have a debate in a couple weeks. hope you will be there. dana bash, gloria borger, thanks for coming in. back to joplin when we come back. live pictures there as we go to break. ♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ i work so hard at my job ♪ and then i bring it home to you ♪ ♪ i love

paul ryan? >> no. >> did you? >> yes. >> lois said ryan is trying to fix the problem before time and money run out. >> the congressional budget office said the average senior will end up paying some $6,500 more for their health care. >> in ten years. >> yes. >> by 2020, the whole plan is going to crack. >> talk about this later, cbo office said status quo of medicare is unsustainable. >> it's going to shift a huge burden on to the elderly. >> what the cbo also forgot to add we're giving additional income for low income seniors. cbo concur, comparing any medicare plan with medicare status go is a fiscal fantasy. it's not going be able to occur because it's unsustainable. >> reporter: ryan dismisses the talk that this will cost republicans in the polls. >> now people are getting worried. perhaps think it might cost the election. >> sure. i hear fromth from the pundits and pollsters that this hurts us politically. i don't care about that. what i care about is getting the debt situation under control. literally, christiane, if all we fear are

ryan does that, and they do, and they try to nail john boehner and eric cantor. it is a poisoned well. when the president did give his speech, paul ryan left immediately, and james borrowing got up, got out, and tried to talk to him. paul ryan said you poisoned the well the well was not poisoned. we were working through stuff. now, you have this joe biden, god bless the joke, and a gang of six, because now there are -- joe, and the gang of six, because now there are seven people that do not care about doing anything on both parties. >> let me contrast these two plans. the ryan plan is basically what paul ryan is it is a serious, straightforward, honest plan. as allen said, he made two pretty big decisions, decided not to cut differencing -- defense spending, in fact increasing defense, and also simplified the code, and got rid of attack expenditures, which are about $1.1 billion. he used all of that money to reduce rates. the commission used about 10% of the proceeds of the elimination of tax expenditures to reduce the deficit. having made those two decisions, and wanted to get $4 trillion in deficit this auctions, it forced into the -- deductions, it forced him to cut non-defense spending and other mandatory spending more

. >> i think the daniels departure really opens up the space for paul ryan like nobody else. ryan's the one guy who has a rendezvous with destiny right now. >> frankly, we're disappointed. now, obviously, we have to start looking. and i was just saying this morning maybe it's time to start drafting paul ryan. >> i just find this the most boring list i've ever seen in my life. pawlenty, the name itself is like polenta. >> among republicans they're saying you've got to be kidding me. this is the 3-2 beer of american politics. >> and how is the press treating those republicans who are actually running? tim pawlenty who became an official candidate this week got this question on the "today" show. >> people often look at you and they say, is there enough charisma there for tim pawlenty to beat barack obama? what's your answer to that? >> i'm not running for entertainer in chief. >> so what should we make of the media's rush to judgment? joining us now here in washington, christina bellantoni for "cq roll call." john, founder of americablog.com, and in new york, senior editor at "national

paul ryan, look who he bumped into. mr. democrat, bill clinton. >> hey. >> paul ryan. >> how are you? got some surprising words of encouragement. >> i told them before you got here, i said, i said i am glad we won this race in new york. but i hope the democrats don't use it as an excuse to do nothing. >> reporter: ryan's plan would reduce medicare's costs by eventually replacing the current system with one where seniors would buy government subsidized private insurance. riding through washington, ryan told us republicans need to fight for his plan. what do you say to she is maybe weak-kneed republicans? >> this is not the time to go wobbly. they're going to run the attack ads at us, regardless. this is a time for leaders to be leaders. >> reporter: house republicans overwhelmingly voted in favor of ryan's plan and now may pay a political price. >> reporter: did you just cost republicans the control of the house? >> i think we were elected in this last election to take a stand on fixing this country's fiscal problems. to go after spending to solve this debt crisis, to stop spending mon

a spokesman says the former house speakerphoned house budget committee chairman paul ryan late this afternoon, ryang the medicare plan gingrich criticized over the weekend. he now says gingrich apologized. and his spokesman said there were no hard feelings. the former speaker was accused of not having good message discipline. that controversy continues. >> it's been an interesting week. he's been in politics a long time. you know him well. this has been the wrap on im. maybe we'll have an individual mandate in health care. th then in next day, that's not what i was saying. he told jim acosta in i belieow believe. he said most campaigns go into secret concessions, come up with a plan and stick to it. he says i think you're better off engaging the american people in a dialogue when they can participate in the development of ideas. essentially saying sometimes i might debate myself. i'm not sure how it will play out. >> it's a good way to say i'm not going to stay on message and get everybody to understand it, i guess. >> maybe people will like it. most people look for a president, i think, who sets d

paul ryan in high esteem. nobody wants their medicare touched. paul ryan said, guess what? it has to be touched. i think the honest proposal from democrats in response to that would be, guess what? we can't balance the budget by taxing just the rich. middle class, you're going to have to pay more, too. a democratic politician needs to tell everyday americans, if you want to keep the government the way it's going now, you have to pay more in taxes, a lot more in taxes. >> actually congressman bobby scott of virginia actually said the exact same thing. when they were talking about extending the bush tax cuts, he said, we can't afford any of these, even for the middle class. he's been one of those voices -- >> roland, that's rare. there's not many democratic -- >> i've got two names out of 535 elected politicians in washington. >> that's exactly my point. you don't have people because also the political system we have set up, you have these safe district, then you have the competitive districts. then you have people who are also going to the ideology. that's part of the problem. >> politics is gett

paul ryan later on. democrats tied republican jane corwin to ryan's plan, which makes major changes to medicare. what did we learn from this, mark? >> when they change seats and one party wins and the other part of this is, they get attention. the especially get attention when it rolls out a single issue that captures the american people's attention. republicans are on the defensive, butemocrats are on the offensive. let it be noted that kathy hochul was a far better candidate than gencorp when, but that the ways that medicare -- then jane corwin, but medicare helps democrats and republicans. >> colby? >> she is in the middle of this ocean a all of a sudden this 50-pound weight called medicare since her to the bottom of the ocean. >> evan, you predicted that this would be demagogued. >> demagoguing works. to be apocalyptic about this, if the democratic system cannot figure out what to do about this problem, it is a big trouble oil country. >> charles, what is the lesson from this? >> evan's wisdom, demagoguery works. republicans are linked to this proposal, there is no escaping it. all house rep

paul ryan walks on. join the club. should paul ryan and his medicare plan run? robert? emocrats who are worshipping the ground paul ryan walks on because his plan to end medicare as we know it really defines the difference between the two parties. and of course dick cheney, who as vice president destroyed our surplus and doubled our debt speaks to the hypocrisy of the right wing today. >> medicare is already in the hole trillions of dollars. paul ryan's plan was just something to reform that. no, i think it's too soon for him to run. first of all, he's in the house of representatives. no one goes from the house of representatives and jumps into the white house. it's statistically a huge hurdle. i like him where he is. maybe 2016. >> pete. >> well, it's good to know that dick cheney worships somebody because a lot of people think he's the dark overlord. but the irony is someone with dan dick cheney's medical history and age under the ryan plan, they might go bankrupt or get very, very sick really quickly. but dick cheney has a lot of money so he would be all right. >> oka

paul ryan that improves care. that is the way to make it sustainable. >> one of the things they representative ryan's plan does didy id shows that it seniors are empowered in choosing their own health insurance that they will help to drive better care. they will help drive lower cost. isn't that the way the market works in this country? >> the great way of being involved with the medicare program is to work for seniors for them. we are unified voice on behalf of the beneficiaries. vouchers would erode steadily over time. i think medicare is paying 68% of care for the beneficiaries. over time, that balladur, entirely in adequate, it will get down to 35% of the cost. there will be those who will not be able to afford insurance and not be covered. i think that that would be a very bad thing for our nation. >> and we have an alternative. >> one thing interesting about seniors, medicare has been trying to do more care coordination with different attempts over the years. we have not quite gotten there. the latest regulation that we got a got some push back from well-known clinics, may go. what people are wondering, what