This was the headline.
This was Krugman's headline on December 17, 2011:
Ron Wyden, Useful Idiot
And, once again,
Krugman was absolutely spot-on. Wyden gives the "bipartisan" cover to the Ryan "End Medicare" plan.
Paul Gigot, Peggy Noonan, Tim Pawlenty.....all are citing Wyden's asinine support of the Ryan Plan on today's Talking Heads Circuit. "Bipartisan, blah, blah blah..."
Bipartisan fairy dust................Ezra Klein always cites the evidence:
When I asked Sen. Ron Wyden to give me examples of programs that made him confident that competition could work, he mentioned the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). Rep. Paul Ryan has also pointed towards the FEHBP as a model for his plans. The only problem? Neither system controls costs — a fact that poses difficulties for both conservative efforts to reform Medicare
Oregon Democrats know Wyden is wrong here and
have told him to repudiate Ryan.
Wyden is home this month touring Oregon. Make sure he knows that being the Useful Idiot of the 2012 campaign is not what Oregonians want from their Senator.