Fired supervisor joked about Palin

WASHINGTON – One of the Secret Service supervisors ousted in the agency’s ongoing prostitution scandal joked on Facebook that he was checking out former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as he protected her during the 2008 campaign.

David Chaney, one of two supervisors forced out of the agency this week, wrote: “I was really checking her out, if you know what i (sic) mean?” after a friend commented on the picture posted in January 2009.

In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Palin said the joke is on Chaney.

“Well, check this out, buddy – you’re fired!” Palin said.

Chaney posted at least two pictures of him with Palin, along with another in which a woman in a revealing bikini top stood in the background, looking at Chaney. The photo was captioned: “not in front of my son.”

Details of the photos and comments were first reported Thursday by the Washington Post.

Palin said the scandal is “a symptom of government run amok.”

“It’s like, who’s minding the store around here?” Palin told Fox. “The president, for one, he better be wary, there, of when Secret Service is accompanying his family on vacation. They may be checking out the first lady instead of guarding her.”

Earlier Thursday, the White House had expressed renewed confidence in the director of the Secret Service in the midst of the sordid scandal, which threatens to become a serious political distraction in an election year. A key lawmaker who oversees the Secret Service predicted more firings there soon.