Newt Gingrich Changes Tune, Sings Paul Ryan’s Praises

Newt Gingrich seems to be changing his opinion of Paul Ryan after Mitt Romney announced the Wisconsin Representative as his running mate on Saturday, calling Ryan’s budget plan “the right direction” for America.

Gingrich originally called Ryan’s plan to revamp Medicare as “right-wing social engineering” in 2011, but the former House Speaker now appears to like Ryan’s policy, reports The Washington Post.

The former house speaker, who made his own bid for the White House last year, claimed that Ryan’s idea of transforming Medicare into a voucher system was “too big a jump.”

He was concerned when Ryan and Oregon Democratic senator Ron Wyden proposed a law to allow seniors to choose between Medicare and a subsidy for private insurance. Gingrich stated:

“The one thing I objected to back in May of 2011 was that he eliminated Medicare for everybody. He came back with Ron Wyden…he met my only objection.”

New Gingrich has since apologized to assumed VP nominee Paul Ryan for calling his Medicare overhaul proposal “right-wing social engineering,” reports CBS News.

Now, the former House Speaker is singing a completely different tune, arguing that the Wisconsin Republican’s budget efforts, “in my mind, makes him an extraordinarily exciting choice” as Mitt Romney’s running mate, “because you now have a national leader who is capable of talking in detail with the American people about some very complicated topics.”

Newt Gingrich explained his reversal to CBS News’s Nancy Cordes, saying:

“The one thing I objected to back in May 2011 was that he eliminated Medicare for everybody. He came back with Ron Wyden. He listened, and one of the things I give Paul a lot of credit for is, he really listens. And he came back with an improved Medicare plan that Ron Wyden [the Democratic senator from Oregon] has co-sponsored and is the only bipartisan reform, by the way… It basically allows people to stay in the current system. He met my only objection.”

What do you think of Newt Gingrich’s support of Paul Ryan and his desires to eliminate Medicare?