Pretty juicy article by Roger Simon at Politico today. If it wasn’t by such a respected journalist from such a respected news site, I’d assume it was parody. Taking it at face value, it appears there are some serious problems within the Romney campaign (not surprising given the state of the race).
My favorite paragraph:
Hilarious and shocking that Ryan is saying this publicly.
Vote Stench / Ryan 2012!
This explains the lack of Romney/Ryan campaign signs. They were waiting for the nickname to settle.
I’m reasonably sure that bit is poetic license. 
Indeed, the PowerPoint slams were worth the price of entry, politics aside. I have made note of the author’s name, so that I can attribute the quotes when I inevitably find occasion to use them.
Err, he isn’t, is he? There “are reports” (presumably dissatisfied staffers) that are saying he says it on the campaign bus. That’s not “public”. (I’m actually not sure if that bit isn’t supposed to be a joke. Its kind of hard to tell.)
Might be true, but there isn’t really anyway to know. All it really says is that some people at the campaign are dissatisfied enough with Romney to be telling stories out of school.
Wow! That was quite unexpected.
However they spin this, Mr. Romney’s ‘brain trust’ (aka Gilligan) is going to have to handle this swiftly.
I wonder if they can.
Yes, he isn’t saying this directly to reporters but he is marching around the campaign bus saying it. Then staffers are repeating it to reporters. Either way, it isn’t the message the Romney campaign should be sending right now.
I have a hard time crediting this. From now until November, Ryan’s political career is linked to Romney’s. He goes down if Romney goes down. So knocking Romney in public (and saying around anyone except maybe his wife is making it public) would be political suicide.
The first half of the article was worth it, the second half was a bizarre rant against Powerpoint.
I’m rather surprised Ryan hasn’t just cut the strings. “The Stench?” Seriously.
"I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan…”
Is that something like “flogging the dolphin” or “strangling the bishop”?
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Can Ryan " resign" the VP nomination / campaign?
So does this mean that Ryan has… gone rogue?
I hate to answer a question with a question - but hasn’t he already done so, by continuing his campaign to hold his current seat?
Well, sure. Otherwise, involuntary servitude, right? He just has to say, “I changed my mind. Y’all go to blazes,” and he’s free as free can be. Even if it’s too late to take his name off the ballot, even if he wins (!) he could simply refuse to take the oath of office.
This was covered in another thread (and I looked but can’t find it.) No, he has the legal right to run for both offices, and, if he should win both, he may choose which to accept. It’s legal under Wisconsin law.
The precedent is LBJ, running for VP and Senator at the same time in 1960.
This has to be some kind of late April Fools’ joke. The lobotomy board is taking it seriously, though.
I’m about 95% sure that the article is satire, but given the track that this campaign season has taken, it’s really, really hard to tell.
Losing ticket or not a national spot light is a great opportunity to showcase yourself. It’s worth it alone for the name recognition.