Monthly Archives: December 2011

Wyden Says Dem Outrage Over Teaming With Ryan on Medicare Will Subside

Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill were more than miffed at Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-OR) decision to join Republican Paul Ryan on a new Medicare reform plan. But Wyden says the negative criticism will subside once the plan is actually reviewed.

But that’s not likely in this hyper-partisan environment — and especially because it dilutes the attacks the DCCC and DSCC hoped to use (and will still use) against GOP candidates who had expressed previous support for the first Ryan plan earlier this year.

wyden1“There’s no question that when you try to break the gridlock and in this case for the longest running battle since the Trojan War, you stir a lot of passions,” Wyden told POLITICO. “My hope is in the days ahead that folks are going to read it.”

Not likely. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi suggested that the Wyden-Ryan plan would allow Medicare to “wither on the vine,” and White House spokesman Jay Carney said it was just another plan to “end Medicare.”


The DC Herd Jumps on “Newt Has Peaked” Bandwagon

One benefit of my office setup — some say a liability that perpetuates a narrow Beltway perspective — is that i watch MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and CNBC throughout the course of the business day.

One benefit is sensing shift in narratives and storylines — much like ‘watching the tape’ as they use to say on Wall Street, when intuitive brokers could sense a broader market move just by watching the action in real time.

Today marked a clear turning point in Newt Gingrich’s fortunes if one goes by the metric of cable spin. All day long, Newt’s Intrade collapse and several IA tracking polls have prompted a rush by the DC class to proclaim he has peaked.

While I personally believe this to be true based simply on my own intuition, the one reality is this: Newt is being hammered with a barrage of tough advertising from Ron Paul and the Romney Super Pac, and has decided to let the negative ads go unanswered.

Bottom line: this is a fatal strategy, and Gingrich may now lose Iowa to Paul or perhaps even Romney. Newt must win Iowa to meet expectations — but that is now very much in doubt.