Ryan Rocks Convention

Paul Ryan “gave what was, by almost all accounts, the best speech of the convention so far tonight, running longer than 30 minutes – and past the alloted window from the networks – as he talked about himself, his life, his budgetary approach, his mom, and Mitt Romney,” Maggie Haberman reports.

“It was the most attentive the convention hall at this abbreviated convention, and it was a speech that Republicans – and some Democrats, grudgingly – praised as he was delivering it. He came off young, which he is, but generally not so youthful as to seem off; he was emotional but not soft; he was tough on President Obama but not caustic.”

The Daily Beast has clips from the six best moments.

John Hinderaker: “Ryan laid out the differences between conservatism — the American tradition — on the one hand, and liberalism on the other, as well as anyone ever has.”

Dave Weigel: “Most of the millions of people who watched the speech on television tonight do not read fact-checks or obsessively consume news 15 hours a day, and will never know how much Ryan’s case against Obama relied on lies and deception. Ryan’s pants are on fire, but all America saw was a barn-burner.”

Andrew Sullivan: “If you ignore the details, and wipe your memory like an Etch-A-Sketch, it can sound like a wonderful return to fiscal responsibility. But slashing more taxes for the very wealthy, boosting defense spending, keeping Medicare intact for the current elderly, and gutting Obamacare’s savings is a return to supply side fantasy, not a serious alternative to getting us back to fiscal sanity.”