The thing you have to remember is that
conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed. And Romney, not Ryan, will bear the brunt of the failure. Indeed, Romney will have failed the faithful
Ryan and the faithful Ryan will be granted a chance to "do it right." (If he then fails, of course, it will be because he turned out to be a closet liberal after all. Conservatism can never fail ...)
I think this all comes down to the insistent liberal illusion not only that some day the American people are going to wake up and see that these conservatives are all crazy, but that conservatives are going to wake up and see that they're all crazy. I see no evidence that it will happen that way. It's certainly possible that the conservative movement as currently constructed will reform or die out. I know I fervently hope so. But it isn't going to happen because Paul Ryan was the VP on Romney's ticket and so conservatism has been discredited. Ryan will survive just fine as wingnuts' poster boy who was loyal to the party and the top of the ticket. And he'll be the favorite for 2016 if they lose.
I mean seriously, it
was the CW among the conservatives just two years ago that
Sarah Palin could beat Obama and if she had been a real politician like Paul Ryan there is no doubt she could have won the nomination. And she was taken very seriously by the beltway too: