Republican Circular Firing Squad of Flying Republican Attack Monkey Republicans

Dana Bash:

CNN Political Ticker: Sources: McCain aide fired for 'trashing' staff: (CNN) — 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. "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. Another aide said McCain personally was "very disappointed by Randy," who worked for McCain for many years in the Senate.

Scheunemann became close with Palin during her debate prep process...

Fox News:

Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about those reports of infighting between Palin and McCain staffers.

Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lack the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We're told by folks that she didn't know what countries that were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We're told she didn't understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn't accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings...

Comments

[tWB]

And safe within his armored redoubt, deep beneath an extinct volcano off the Nantasket Peninsula, Mitt Romney rubs his hands together and smiles.

[Hale n Hearty]

Why would a Senior Foreign Policy Adviser side with somebody who is so laughably ignorant about the world? Was he so smitten by her furious winking?

[joel]

HnH:

McCain was already losing by that point, and he won't get another shot at glory.

Scheunemann is young and has a retirement nest egg to pad. He was positioning for Palin for the same reason Palin was positioning for Palin. She has a political future, McCain does not.

(I don't think it's MUCH of a political future, but then, Scheunemann is not an overly bright man so one cannot fault him too much for instinctively clinging to the first piece of moldable clay that wanders his way.)

[Hedley Lamarr]

What about Nancy Pfotenfarten? What will become of this woman no one ever heard of before this season?

[tjallen]

I suspect we'll hear more negatives about RS - like contriving a war in Georgia as an election ploy...