Dick Armey: 'Time to start drafting Paul Ryan' for 2012

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) has pledged not to run for president in 2012, leaving former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) unimpressed with the remaining Republican candidates.

"We have about 2 million activists across the country, and frankly we're disappointed," Armey told CNN's Candy Crowley Sunday. "Now, obviously, we'll have to start looking, and I was just saying this morning maybe it's time to start drafting Paul Ryan."

"We understand the fiscal crisis of this nation and this nation's government faces is so acute that somebody's got the stand up and take on the big issues. Paul Ryan has done that."

He added: "I have said for years on, for example, the subject of medicare. It's always a debate that's governed by Republicans that don't dare and Democrats that don't care, and at least now we have a Republican that dares. He needs to be applauded, encouraged, and his work needs to be appreciated as serious professional work."

The FreedomWorks tea party organizer also suggested that he wasn't worried that future seniors might have trouble paying for insurance if Republicans are successful at enacting Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system.

"I'm perfectly capable of having my own health insurance, that which I've had all my life," Armey said. "Paul Ryan is doing more to save grandma's health care than anybody I know right now because Medicare is going to go bust and bring the government to going bust if it's not attended to, and he ought to be applauded."

Watch this video from CNN's State of the Union, broadcast May 22, 2011.

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