Ryan-Wyden Helps Romney

Paul Ryan and Ron Wyden's Medicare plan clearly helps Mitt Romney, writes Jonathan Chait at New York magazine. Romney came out in support of Ryan's original plan—popular with the Republican base but abhorred by most voters—as a way to attack Newt Gingrich, who called it “right-wing social engineering.” Now with Ryan floating a more palatable plan, Romney can still say he supports Ryan's plan without alienating voters in the general election. But what about Wyden? Chait thinks he's attempting to end the Republican war against universal insurance by having Ryan endorse a similar plan. He's wrong. If Mitt's elected, Ryan will pass the Ryan plan, and “poor Ron Wyden can issue a press release expressing his disappointment that his friend Ryan couldn’t work together with him in a bipartisan fashion.”