Ryan returning to D.C., war on Medicare

>>> duck these tough issues. we will not duck the tough issues. we will lead. we are not going to duck these tough issues.

>> we've had a lot of fun over the past few months with a certain right wing golden boy . for those who may be worried this fun is coming to an end, take heart, we still have paul ryan to kick around. that's right. the republican party 's leading intellectual announced today he's returning to his seat in the united states house of representatives , where he serves as chairman of the budget committee . so, mr. ryan's battle may be lost but his war against medicare and social security carries on. let's bring in dana milbank , columnist for "the washington post ." dana, has this election damaged the paul ryan brand or is he still the golden boy ?

>> well, he's still the golden boy among the house republican conservatives who basically dominate this caucus. there's going to be an interesting dynamic here. you had john boehner come out today and actually float the idea of, heaven forbid , an increase in tax revenues. that's a direct repudiation ofan has stood for. because he tied himself to closely to paul ryan 's economic plan, it basically became a repudiation of that plan as well.

>> now, paul ryan is often mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for 2016 . but don't republicans have to have a serious think about that? i mean, given last night's results, is paul ryan part of the solution for them or part of the problem?

>> on the positive side he probably comes out better out of this election than sarah palin did.

>> that's an exponential difference.

>> yes, we can give him faint praise here. he's staep established himself as a serious intellectual. now, the policies he's espousing for the moment have been knocked down by the electorate. obviously, four years from now, things could be very different. but he's certainly going to be a power player on the hill here. you'll see a lot of tension between him and the establishment that's trying to reign he's people in and say, look, have you to respect the will of the electorate.

>> the truth is, here's the question, dana, does this man continue to commit himself to his promise and pledge to grover norquist or does he face reality after the shellacking that his ticket has just been given by the president?

>> here's the thing. i sat down at a breakfast with him a couple years ago and he said why he didn't want to go with the simpson/bowles plan. he said, i want to take this to the voter and let them decide. congressman, they decided. now what? is he going to say, voter decided, now i retreat? there's nothing that suggests he would do that which is why it looks like there could be a lot of blood shed on that side of the capitol.

>> you should know he suffers with selective amnesia as you know in records of marathons