In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Paul Ryan swats back at the righty pundit class and its intensifying criticism of the Romney campaign:

[Ryan] disputed criticism from conservative commentators that the Romney campaign has been vague and timid. "A, we still have a ways to go. We still have a lot left that we're planning on doing," he said. "B, I think that's just what conservatives do by nature. I think that's just the nature of conservative punditry is to do that - to kind of complain - about any imperfection they might see."

Ryan said that charge against Romney was contradicted by "his very selection of me as his running mate, the guy with all the specifics, who's put out all these solutions on the table. It shows you very clearly Mitt Romney's not afraid of making big decisions, making tough decisions, putting specifics out there."

He discounted the complaints of some of his own supporters, including Gov. Scott Walker, who say Romney hasn't used Ryan the way they hoped - to inject the campaign with more ideological vision, passion and substance. Ryan said his own approach to campaigning is evolving as he feels his way through his first national election.

"Look, Scott's my friend. He's just an advocate. He's just always going to be going to bat for me like that," said Ryan, who said he did not feel under wraps. "Never once has the (Romney) campaign asked me to stop something or do something differently or not do anything."