Those Sarah Palin rumors

Ann Althouse has a thoughtful post on the reports you may have heard, the reports emanating from inside the McCain campaign regarding Sarah Palin's intellect and conduct. You may have heard them already: Palin thought Africa was a country rather than a continent. Palin appeared to McCain's aides in a bathrobe. Palin acted like a diva and didn't prepare for her interview with Katie Couric. Althouse is skeptical:

We don't know who's telling these stories, but obviously, there are many people with the motivation to blame others. Even assuming the stories are true, they don't have to be told. Why destroy Palin, a rising star in the Republican Party? Who wants her ruined? I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to be ruined. I want to know if the stories are true, and I want them in their most accurate form. (She thought Africa was a country? Really? Was this the slip of a tired, inattentive person, or someone who is clearly an ignoramus?) But I also want to know who wants us to know all these ugly things and why.

Right. Losing (and lost) campaigns tend to find scapegoats, partially because the aides want to avoid blame when they seek their next job, and partially because campaigns are an exercise in holding together fractious parties. The campaign is over, and now the Republican factions will enter a period of infighting among social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, small-government conservatives, neoconservatives, etc. as they renegotiate their coalition.