He did what he had to do — convince independent voters that it is okay to like Obama, okay to have voted for Obama, and okay to want to replace Barack Obama. His speech was not for the GOP. His speech was for independents.Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney know that as the Democrats amp up the negativity, they have to give independents an incentive to keep independents in the race and for them. Paul Ryan succeeded.Back in 2009, Rush Limbaugh addressed CPAC. The media covered it live, hoping it would damage the GOP. Instead, his off the cuff remarks put the Democrats on defense for months. He made the case that we have to support individuals over the collective, small government over big government, and choice in life (outside of killing kids) over one size fits all mandates. Republican leaders shied away from those themes until the tea party came along and seized them. GOP leaders still shy away from them. Remember, the weekend Paul Ryan was picked, the GOP leadership was apoplectic that they’d now lose because of Medicare.Instead, the GOP is now winning on the issue.Tonight, Paul Ryan brought Rush Limbaugh’s CPAC themes full circle into the next generation with a youthful, smiling face that makes it hard for the Democrats to attack. He related to women, to moms, to small businesses, and to families. Paul Ryan made multi-generational points that it is time for a change. He used his personal story to introduce himself and bolster his claims. He made the argument that we must support individuals over the collective. He made the point that we must cut the federal government. He made the point that people should not be dependent on one size fits all federal programs and mandates.He appealed to independents and the base. He remains one heck of a pick for Mitt Romney.Paul Ryan is a winner.A friend emailed me that if women really were as shallow as the Democrats claim and only think about their lady parts, by 11pm they all wanted Paul Ryan. Game over.Barack Obama’s campaign had several weeks to define Paul Ryan and failed. Now Paul Ryan just defined himself in a way that resonates with swing voters.By the way, do I get to point out what horse shiitake mushrooms it is that the media is declaring Paul Ryan’s speech full of half-truths when they rarely do that to Barack Obama’s campaign speeches? Seriously, this was a campaign speech of big ideas and the media would denigrate it by screaming that Paul Ryan left out key details when, in fact, they weren’t really relevant to the big ideas or themes and some just weren’t added because of time. Meanwhile, Barack Obama claims Obamacare will solve our national debt problems and the media goes blind in the bathroom to his flat out lies.The truth of this election is that it is showing just how in the tank for Obama the vast majority of the media really is. They should be embarrassed, but first they have to get their messiah re-elected.