I read it so you don't have to. Basically, Erick agrees with commetators here that real dissonance has been created by the competing messages of "Ryan" and "I've got my own budget ideas."
According to Erick:
Today, he announced a very bold pick in Paul Ryan. This forces the message to be about the economy and our long term future. It is a fight worth having and one we can win. But I am less and less confident that Team Romney, as presently constituted, can win that fight.
Picking Paul Ryan must be the beginning of a campaign shake up, not the end.
But there's more.
But Erick really wants a full throttle election battle over the Ryan budget.
Today, the Romney camp sent out a talking points sheet claiming that while picking Paul Ryan, Romney had his own budget plans. This is delusional and not credible spin. You pick Paul Ryan, you defend his budget. It is that simple. That one bullet point sums up a summer of dysfunction. The Romney team seems to be believing its own spin, which can often lead to disaster.
The real delusion is Erick's. As is his norm, Romney wants to have it both ways and be able to distance himself from the most draconian features of Ryan's plan while assuaging the far right that Erick represents. Whenever a particularly offensive part of Ryan's plan comes up over the next three months, Romney wants to be able to say I endorse the general plan but not that particular detail. Ryan will, of course, be a good foot soldier and nod.
If they should somehow win, then they will use their election as a mandate to implement every single page of the Ryan Budget. Ryan would not be thrown to the curb after inauguration and told to shut up. Erick should realize this, but he's not exactly the brightest bulb they've ever produced.
So in a sort of bizarre way, I, for once, find myself in agreement with Erick. We need to completely wrap Mitt Romney in Ryan's Budget plan, and the more often we can get him to distance himself from it, the more despairing will be the Kool-Aide drinkers (RedStaters).
3:37 PM PT: Pope Buck made a comment that inspired this thought: Since Ryan is the "intellectual tour-de-force budget wonk nerd" in this alliance, let's start referring to them as the Ryan/Romney ticket. Romney's head will explode when he hears it. The reminders of Palin will be an added bonus.