The Cracks Begin to Leak

For weeks now we've heard about Sarah Palin "going rogue" and how certain staffers have disparaged her whilst others have come to her defense, saying the McCain campaign rolled her out (making her sound like Lecter) improperly. Now some meat appears on those bones of a story:

Randy Scheunemann, a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain, was fired from the Arizona senator's campaign last week for what one aide called "trashing" the campaign staff, three senior McCain advisers tell CNN. One of the aides tells CNN that campaign manager Rick Davis fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading "disinformation" about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.

Well, that could mean anything, right? "Disinformation" - very ambiguous term there.

"He was positioning himself with Palin at the expense of John McCain's campaign message," said one of the aides. Senior campaign officials blame Schuenemann specifically for stories about the way Wallace and chief campaign strategist Steve Schmidt mishandled Palin's rollout — stories that the campaign says threw them off message in the critical final weeks of the campaign.

Oops. Sounds like someone was wearing their "Palin 2012" t-shirt around McCain's Tuscon headquarters a bit prematurely. However, I'm sure John will be in a forgive-and-forget way after getting rolled last night.

Another aide said McCain personally was "very disappointed by Randy," who worked for McCain for many years in the Senate.

Oh well. Perhaps not. Guess Randy shouldn't be expecting that Holiday Card from Cindy and John this year. But when exactly did this seismic shift in one of McCain's closest allies take place?

Scheunemann became close with Palin during her debate prep process.

Ah. Now I see. During debate prep. Those long hours spent honing her oral skills. Those late nights straighting out policies.

And after that, he probably was hitting it. But that's just rote speculation, of course.

Apparently, Scheunemann and Palin were "unusually giggly and touchy-feely" during the foreign policy briefings. "I think there was more de-briefing there than briefing, frankly," grumbled one McCain aide.

WHAT? No - just kidding. Just seeing if you rubes were still reading. But the top part was true, courtesy of CNN.com.