The preemptive blame-game within the McCain-Palin campaign has begun, with Sarah Palin deeming the best defense to be a good offense:

“She’s lost confidence in most of the people on the plane,” said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to “go rogue” in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.

“I think she’d like to go more rogue,” he said.

The emergence of a Palin faction comes as Republicans gird for a battle over the future of their party: Some see her as a charismatic, hawkish conservative leader with the potential, still unrealized, to cross over to attract moderate voters. Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated.

Indeed, hints of that rogue factor manifested last week, when she visibly broke with McCain over policy points. As I said then, all of this points to Palin basically giving up on hopes of getting to the White House, and instead salvaging her reputation, at least within conservative circles.

I guess my fascination stems from how one of the two major parties could find themselves in such high-profile dysfunction. Especially the Republicans, who are allegedly more solidified than the Democrats when it comes to party discipline. I guess the late economic upheaval is enough to throw even the best-organized politicos into disarray.