There’s plenty of speculation surrounding this particular story already, but the lede seems to be beyond question and confirmed by Jeff Zucker in an internal memo. Candy Crowley is leaving CNN after nearly three decades with the network.

Candy Crowley, the veteran CNN political correspondent and host of CNN’s State of the Union, will leave after 27 years with the network, CNN president Jeff Zucker announced in a memo to staff on Friday.

“[I]t is with mixed emotions, that I wanted to let you know that Candy has let us know that she has made the decision to move on, so she can embark on the next chapter of her already prolific career,” Zucker wrote. “As difficult as it is for us to imagine CNN without Candy, we know that she comes to this decision thoughtfully, and she has our full support.”

Zucker did not mention who would replace Crowley on State of the Union, the network’s Sunday public affairs program. The network will be keeping the show, a spokesperson confirmed.*

So was she “moving on to new opportunities” or was she actually shoved out the door? Thomas Lifson thinks it’s probably the latter.

Candy Crowley finally is out at CNN, in what sounds like her being fired. Of course, those words would never be used, but how hard is it to decipher the code when CNN head Jeff Zucker wrote in an internal memo that she “has made the decision to move on” and she has no specific plans for her next gig?

Crowley now joins Dan Rather in a Hall of Shame of journalism, for her transparent coordination with the Obama campaign trying to flummox Mitt Romney in the second presidential debate of 2012.

That’s far from definitive, but it’s not an unfair question to ask. Generally when a major brand name at any of the networks “moves on” they already have their next gig lined up, with the new stable issuing a glowing welcome message in short order after the announcement of the departure. For Crowley to just walk out the door is curious, though it’s still possible she’s simply planning some decompression time now that the election is over. For that matter, at 65 years old it wouldn’t be all the remarkable if she simply retired. But if that were the case, why not just say so?

But on the other hand, what would have prompted Zucker to push her out the door now? You can recall Ed’s coverage of what was possibly the nadir of Crowley’s credibility during the 2012 presidential debates. That was only one of Crowley’s many instances of overt bias, and none of them seemed to bother her bosses too much. I can’t think of any other performance related scandals in recent history which could prompt it.

The ratings probably weren’t a driving factor either. For the first half of this year State of the Union was still holding on to the number two position in the time slot for the target demo, which is really not bad at all considering how badly the network has been tanking overall. That’s a really competitive hour for the news networks, and they could easily do a lot worse than second place. And really, who is out there and available to draft that could put them over the top? I suppose they could give the slot to Jake Tapper and let him have his final revenge on ABC for not giving him the big chair at This Week, but would he want it at this point? Tapper is on the air almost continuously as it is without taking on a Sunday morning obligation as well.

If Crowley was forced out, we may not know for a long time. And if not, the result is still the same. A new face on Sunday mornings can’t be a bad thing.