Paul Ryan Fast Becoming An Anchor Around GOP's Neck

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Frum Forum Excerpt:
But unfortunately, the trigger for today’s Journal attack was not Gingrich’s divisive or racially provocative statements. The trigger was actually a wise statement: a caution against committing the GOP to a huge rework of Medicare into a means-tested program that left more and more American seniors to pay more and more of their health insurance costs out of their own pockets.

John Nichols Excerpt:
House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, has turned so "toxic" he can’t get away from the protests that began when he came home last month to try to sell his plan to gut Medicare and Medicaid.

And it is starting to cost him politically. The former "golden boy" of national Republican politics has tarnished his brand to such an extent that, on Tuesday, he had to relinquish his long-cherished dream of running for the U.S. Senate to replace Democratic Senator Herb Kohl.

For the first time in Ryan's spoon-fed political career, he's starting to look over his shoulder.

Atlantic Wire Excerpt:
Some Republicans are daring to show some discomfort with Ryan's budget, despite the Gingrich example. Second-ranking Republican Lamar Alexander says he'll vote for the Ryan plan but prefers one offered by Sen. Pete Domenici with the help of former White House budget director Alice Rivlin. Susan Collins says she won't vote for Ryan's bill, and fellow Mainer Olympia Snowe is leaning against it. Scott Brown said he'd vote for the bill--and his staff scrambled to clarify that he'd merely vote "on" it. Kay Bailey Hutchinson says it'll be a "problem" if she can't vote to amend the Ryan budget, which is likely to be the case. Dick Lugar says he hasn't decided how to vote.

The New Republic's Jonathan Chait described the debate as "a worst-of-all-worlds situation for the GOP."

The Political Environment Excerpt:
Conservative GOP Senate candidates, like Virginia's George Allen, are already distancing themselves from the plan; which incumbents with seats to defend in 2012 want angry constituents showing up at their town hall meetings for the next year-and-a-half?

Ron Johnson might think people will forget his "Yes" vote: prove him wrong.

The Paul Ryan Watch Excerpt:
And here's a short video clip of an interview yesterday with Alan Grayson talking about how the Republicans went tragically wrong by following Ryan down the Wall Street rabbit hole:

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