Randy Scheuneman is John McCain's top foreign affairs advisor. And he may also be the reason John McCain won't and shouldn't become president.

Up until May 15 of this year, Scheuneman, according to the Washington Post, has been a very highly paid lobbyist for the foreign government of Georgia. The whole notion of having your top advisor moonlighting as a lobbysist for any foreign country is weird, but this is weider-- it has become a crucial conflict of interest for McCain. And it is no wonder McCain has been saying he doesn't want the Russian/Georgian conflict to be "politicized." The "politics"is really bad for McCain.

Keep in mind, Scheuneman wasn't just a minor player for the Georgian government. He received $290,000 from that country and was simultanously advising McCain and Georgia just months leading up to the August battles.

This will and should disqualify McCain for a number of reasons:

1. Forget about whether Georgia's cause is the right cause. I happen to agree with McCain and Scheuneman that Russia is a great danger and Georgia needs strong allies. That's not the point. The initial problem for McCain is that he will be unable to do anything about this problem as president unless he can broker with credibility between both parties, the good guys and the bad guys. No matter how tough we talk, we are never, ever, ever, going to challenge Russia militarily. So the only hope we have is through building alliances and jawboning Russia back to civilization. McCain has and will always have zero credibility with Russia.
2. The entire Scheuneman connection to McCain and Georgia also raises enormous concerns and suspicions. What advice was Scheuneman giving Georgia as he advised McCain to pledge to protect and defend it during this campaign? Did they expect protection because Scheuneman, an extreme neo-con thinker, signaled that America would step in to defend their sovereignty? Well we didn't. Is Georgia holding out for a McCain administration, thinking it will (nonsensically) be able to fend off Russia, a real nuclear superpower? We won't.
3. So there is no question Scheuneman must go. Otherwise this scandal will get out of control as it should before November. But is already too late? I think it is entirely probable that the timing of Russia's actions were wuite deliberate. First, they took place during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics with Bush and Putin holding hands and kissing in Beijing. This timing maximized Russian nationalism and their support for the attacks. It also assured that the world's attention be averted.
4. Second, Putin knows that America loves a tough guy and, uder the circumstances, Russia would far prefer Mr. Empy Threats to a genuine uniter like Obama. With McCain, Russia will have the excuse he needs to ignore American pressure and to do exactly what it wants -- to reestablish itself in the entire region. With Obama there is a chance of an international alliance that will complicate matters for Putin.

This whole Scheuneman thing stinks to high heaven and has the potential for a Teapot Dome Scandal for McCain. A foreign state has infiltrated the thinking and compromised the credibility of a major party nominee for president. There may be a short term gain for toughness, but it won't be long until the press wakes up to the horror or putting McCain at the helm.

George Bush is to blame for much of America's current international crisis, but McCain is not McSame -- he's McWorse!

correct, and when you add Robert Kagan to the mix, it gets worse, if possible.

Just keeping these two, and their coterie of lesser-known Neocon wannabes, out of the Executive Branch is enough reason to vote for Obama.

You'd think everybody would have learned from the likes of Wolfowitz, Feith, and Cambone.