Gingrich Criticizes G.O.P.’s Medicare Plan

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NYT

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

WASHINGTON — Days after formally announcing his candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich on Sunday sharply criticized a plan by House Republicans that would drastically overhaul Medicare, the federal health care program for retirees.

Mr. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House who led a conservative resurgence in the 1990s, said the Republican Medicare plan was “too big a jump” for Americans and compared it to the health care overhaul championed by President Obama.

“I’m against Obamacare, which is imposing radical change, and I would be against a conservative imposing radical change,” Mr. Gingrich said on the NBC program “Meet the Press.”

“I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering,” he said. “I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/us/politics/16gingrich.html?_r=1&partner=EXCITE&ei=5043

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Yep, a real centrist you are Newtie.

Bouncing between wives and denominations and sin and absolution.

:puke:

[Iliyah]

2. He can

care less about it.

[TomCADem]

3. Newt Gingrich slams Paul Ryan's plan to overhaul Medicare

Source: LA Times

Presidential contender Newt Gingrich took a potshot Sunday at Republican House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan’s proposal to reform Medicare, becoming the most prominent Republican to distance himself from the plan.

Ryan's proposal, which was passed by the GOP-controlled House in April, would have people 54 and younger choose from a list of coverage options and have Medicare make “premium-support payments” to the plan they chose.

I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering,” Gingrich scoffed in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."

House Republicans, including Speaker John A. Boehner, have stood behind Ryan's plan, which was the subject of fierce debate at town-hall meetings nationwide. Other Republican presidential contenders have praised Ryan's political courage without going so far as to endorse the budget blueprint.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gingrich-ryan-medicare-20110515,0,4709495.story

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ROFL! Newt who shut down the government under Clinton for not rolling back entitlements is attacking Ryan as too radical? That's funny!

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Ryan will soon find out how lonely it can be out there.

When the white-headed crackpots on the right come with knives drawn, you're in deep doo-doo.

[Corruption Winz]

5. Pot calling the kettle a whack-job.... n/t

[groundloop]

6. I don't think Newt really believes ANYTHING he says....

he just calculates what will generate the most attention, he's flip-flopped on so much.

[customerserviceguy]

9. Yep, he waited until he saw which way the wind was blowing on this one

Then clearly tried to profit from it.

He reminds me of a joke shop cap, that has two bills on it, one 45 degrees to the left of the front, another 45 degrees to the right. On the front, the cap says, "I am their Leader! Which way did they go?"

[onehandle]

7. Infighting-y. More of this please, GOP. nt

[Marie Marie]

8. Of course he does.

For a big guy, it's amazing how easily he can be blown about by the winds of political expediency.

[Kingofalldems]

11. Like most republicans, Newty is deceitful

Never trust a republican.

[LetTimmySmoke]

10. This guy is a champ at telling people what they want to hear.

Hence the 3 wives and multiple mistresses.

[sofa king]

12. That's why I love this guy.

There's only one thing you can count on with a sociopath, and it's that he will think of himself first in all circumstances.

So what if he screws the every Republican Member of Congress so that he can score an insignificant political point? He'll screw everyone who gets in his way just for the chance that something unexpected will happen and throw an otherwise unwinnable election his way. Of course, he also won't simply wait for something unexpected to happen... he'll try to make that something happen.

But, if his ambition proves to be larger than his competence, as it always has in the past, then we can expect another year and change of devastating damage to the Republican Party as a whole, until he crashes and burns like a B-52 full of napalm.

[unkachuck]

13. wow....

"...sharply criticized a plan by House Republicans that would drastically overhaul Medicare..."

"...the Republican Medicare plan was 'too big a jump' for Americans..."

"...I would be against a conservative imposing radical change..."

....National Socialism?