Randy Scheunemann Fired From McCain Team

Last week, according to CNN, the McCain campaign quietly fired its senior foreign-policy adviser, the neoconservative Randy Scheunemann. This action completely escaped the campaign coverage, including CNN. CNN touts themselves as having the best political team in the business. If so, then how was they missed the story?

It appears there was some serious infighting of McCain's team after the election day loss. Scheunemann’s alleged offense was his alleged griping to Bill Kristol of the neoconservative Weekly Standard and The New York Times about dysfunctionality in the campaign and to promote Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s interests ahead of the candidates.

It may not have gone down the way CNN originally reported. Scheunemann denies being fired, but the supposedly exculpatory explanation, delivered by campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb, is that “Scheunemann’s campaign e-mail was cut off, and his blackberry was taken away late Friday,” making it something of a distinction without a difference. Of course, Goldfarb’s pre- and post-campaign day job is online editor for the Weekly Standard, so there’s a potential conflict of interest here.

But what’s going on? It seems that Washington Republicans are rushing to distance themselves from the Iraq war, happy to push the blame onto the neocons for playing an outsize role in contributing to the Great Electoral Collapses of 2006 and 2008. Neoconservatism’s failures are both policy failures and, more damaging in the world of conservatism, electoral failures.

What conservative politician in his or her right mind would embrace neoconservatism now? And of that pool of available vessels, who could command an authentic constituency to glide the neocons back to power? Asked that way, the questions answer themselves, don’t they.

Well, it appears the neoconversatists will need to find a new republican candidate in 4 years - could it Sara Palin? I don't think so!