The Republican ticket will consist of Two Suits, aptly enough for a party of wealth, privilege and social Darwinism.

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan will propel the word “wonk” into Google heaven, reflecting the poverty of ideas in a time of nasty attack ads and sound bites. His not-Palin qualities may elevate the tone of the campaign, if not the content.

The VP nominee could offer focus to the fuzzy figure President Obama has dubbed “Romney Hood” and allow serious analysis of their desire to take from the poor and give to the ultra-rich.

The changeable Romney must surely be attracted to Ryan’s consistency, but he should not count too much on his running mate’s steadfastness under fire.

In 2005, Ryan revealed “the reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” the cult figure who in the turgid 1200-page novel “Atlas Shrugged” proclaimed money as “the root of all good” and labeled those who don’t agree as “moochers” and “looters.”

This May, under pressure in the primaries, Ryan backpedaled on his patron saint when a questioner called her “an outspoken atheist [who]… felt altruism was evil, supported abortion and condemned Christianity for advocating compassion for the poor.”

“Just because you like someone’s novels,” he weaseled, “doesn’t mean you agree with their entire worldview philosophy…which is completely antithetical to mine because she has an atheist philosophy.”

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