Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline. 

"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. 

Now, I've been quite critical of McCain's handlers for the terrible campaign being run on the GOP side.  But Palin going it on her own is ridiculous.

First of all, "Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout…"?!?

Palin's rollout was great!  The convention speech?  Come on!  I mean, I wasn't impressed, but it I wasn't going to be.  But it certainly helped the McCain campaign for a few weeks.

As for Palin's "tarnished public image", that can only be blamed on Palin herself, not her handlers.  That is, unless her handlers told her to give non-answers in the debate, and screw up her interviews with Katie Couric and others.

In fact, I'm willing to bet that this gaffe was probably Palin's doing, and not that of her handlers.

Finally, it says something unseemly about Palin if this is in fact true.  Clearly, she's gearing up for 2012, and trying to save her hide.  So much for helping McCain.  Or even "country first".