Nikki Haley praises Paul Ryan—sort of

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered what can only be described as a backhanded compliment to Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's newly picked vice presidential running mate, on Thursday.

Appearing with Romney at a fundraiser in Greer, S.C., Haley, who was once mentioned as a possible Romney VP contender herself, commended the presumptive Republican nominee for picking Ryan—sort of.

"For him to make a bold decision and say I'm not gonna go with a VP that has a good personality, I'm not gonna go with a VP that everybody's chatting about, I'm gonna go with someone that can fix things just like I can," Haley said, according to a pool report.

Turning to Romney, she declared, "The country is on fire, governor, about Paul Ryan."

Rob Godfrey, a spokesman for Haley, said the governor was merely reiterating what she had said previously about Ryan.

"What the governor said, as she has said previously, is that Gov. Romney boldly chose a problem solver in Paul Ryan, rather than someone with a 'big' personality, and that's exactly what the country needs," Godfrey told Yahoo News. "As Gov. Haley says, Paul Ryan has people around South Carolina and across the country fired up."

Romney raised $1.7 million at the event.