Retracted—Ryan Calls Mitt Romney "The Stench"

Update: Not sure what Simon was thinking amid the GOP free fall and serious speculation aimed at some combination of the party, Romney and Ryan. "Editor’s note: Some readers were confused that this Roger Simon column was satire," reads the Simon update. Simon's explanation at the end of his piece is lame. I'll be sure not to take Simon seriously again as a political journalist.
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Roger Simon's report in the Politico leads with "Paul Ryan has gone rogue. He is unleashed, unchained, off the hook."

Simon writes:

• Though Ryan had already decided to distance himself from the floundering Romney campaign, he now feels totally uninhibited. Reportedly, he has been marching around his campaign bus, saying things like, “If Stench [Romney]calls, take a message” and “Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.”
• Dan Senor, one of Romney’s closest advisers, has kept a tight grip on Ryan, traveling with him everywhere and making sure he hews to the directions of the Romney “brain trust” in Boston. (A brain trust, rumor has it, that refers to Ryan as “Gilligan.”)

Simon doesn't explore the reasons behind Ryan's dissatisfaction with Romney.

Drawing from reports, it appears Ryan and his desires to privatize Social Security and destroy Medicare are threatened by the less-than-artful Romney—Ryan as destroyer of social insurance may soon seem like far-away dreams in the land of Ayn Rand.