Gingrich Attacks Ryan Budget?

Andrew Sullivan covers Newt Gingrich's surprising Meet the Press slam on Paul Ryan:

This is interesting. Gingrich has now gone on record against Paul Ryan's proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher system designed not to keep pace with inflation, on the grounds that it is too radical a change, and reiterates his support for an individual mandate. That's two kicks to the balls of the movement right, as the splutters from NRO and Hot Air illustrate. May I just point out that vast parts of the Obama health reform were once conservative orthodoxy (healthcare exchanges, for example, and building on the private industry), just as cap and trade was once conservative orthodoxy.
Nonetheless, it's a sign that Newt may surprise this campaign season, either because he fears that the current GOP strategy reminds him a little scarily of what he once went through or because he's trying to win elderly primary voters, or because he just thinks Ryan's plan for Medicare really is too extreme a measure, given where America now is.

Maybe there will be a little healthy discussion in the GOP primary race.  I wouldn't count on it from any of them, but this seems like somewhat of a good sign.

Update: Mistermix at Balloon Juice doesn't see this as a good sign for GOP reasonableness:

Since his campaign is built on coded dog whistles, Newt’s targeting a older, white electorate that knows the code and hears the whistle.  So it’s no surprise that he ditched the Ryan plan almost immediately. And since he’s Newt, he has to make the Ryan plan sound like something Stalin cooked up:

He goes on to say that Newt seems to be reprising his '90's role as one of the Democrat's biggest assets, which I guess would be a positive development in my opinion.