Rep. Ryan is not a presidential candidate, although he's often mentioned as a VP pick. We weren't planning on evaluating his speech, but it was good enough, and distinctive enough to be worthy of mention.

On the individual issues of life and marriage, maybe it wasn't so exceptional. On marriage all he said was that he respects the unique "privileges in law" surrounding "the family." He came out squarely for the "sanctity of life," God bless him.

But where he was very strong was in explaining why social conservatism and economic conservatism are not two different things, but two different expressions of the same thing:

"Here’s what I’m trying to say – economic and social conservatism come from the same moral root {applause}. You can’t give up one to defend the other, and they must never be separated. There are some who believe our problems have overruled our principles. But without the American idea, there is no hope for freedom."

The Grade

On Life: B
On Marriage: C-
On Social Conservatism: A