The McCain-Palin campaign appears to be coming apart at the seams.

Largely because they remain behind in the polls, of course; winning tends to paper over the cracks rather nicely. But the accusations and counter-accusations here are fascinating; Palin’s camp is claiming that the McCain advisers over-managed and stifled her, which sounds correct to me. She was drilled, baby, drilled on the talking points - and then, in the Katie Couric interview at least, sounded like some automaton trying to work each and every one of them in, rather than just answering the question.

But apparently it was the McCain camp’s concern that she couldn’t just answer the questions that prompted the over-handling:

“Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic,” said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the “hardest” to get her “up to speed than any candidate in history.”

In other words, she was not - is not - ready to be vice-president of the United States.

So now the allegation is that Palin is watching out more for herself than the campaign; positioning herself, as it were, to salvage as much as she can of her own reputation, that she might remain a force in the party after the election is over (and assuming she and McCain lose).

Probably the smart thing to do - but you and I know the McCain camp ain’t gonna let her get off that easy.