Do you know the difference between Sarah Palin and a Pit Bull? By her own admission, lipstick! Palin seemed to think she was very clever at the Republican Convention when she told that joke. The truth is that Pit Bulls are a dangerous breed of animal!

Pit Bulls are the breed of dog responsible for the greatest number of human deaths. Thirty-two percent of human deaths from dogs are from pitbulls. Rotweillers are responsible for the second greatest number of human deaths, and they account for almost half as many at 18%.  Pit Bulls are so dangerous that a large number of jurisdictions have enacted breed-specific legislation due to the number of deaths.

“Dangerous” is how some would describe Sarah Palin. In case there had been any confusion about the dangerous character of her rhetoric, Gabby Giffords herself commented on violence provoking rhetoric, and Sarah Palin in particular.  The families of the six people who were killed in Arizona would agree with Palin’s characterization of herself as a “pit bull.” Even her bus tour has been criticized as dangerous. Up to 15 cars transporting media and reporters are closely following her bus because she has refused to notify the press about her schedule. It has even been called the “Dangerous Mystery tour.”

For over two years we have listened to Palin’s repeated and unrelenting attacks on Barack Obama. From his handling of the Gulf Oil Spill to producing pictures of Osama bin Laden’s body, Palin is credited with the most prolific attacks on, and disrespect of, Barack Obama. Now the pit bull has turned on her own kind. With the Republican primary ahead, Palin knows only how to operate in attack mode, so that is now her approach against her fiercest competitor in the Republican primary, Mitt Romney. In a recent poll, Palin andRomney each have 16% of the Republicans surveyed.

Romney was in New Hampshire when he made his announcement that he would run for the GOP nomination in 2012. While on her bus tour, Palin acknowledged that she plans to visit New Hampshire. Even though she doesn’t believe in coincidences as explained in Going Rogue, Palin now says that the timing of her trip to New Hampshire is purely coincidental. However the pit bull came out when Palin attacked Romney in New Hampshire the same day that Romney was in New Hampshire to make the announcement. Attacking Romney on health care, the pit bull said:

““In my opinion any mandate coming from government is not a good thing,”

“[E]ven on a state level and even a local level, mandates coming from a governing body, it’s tough for a lot of us independent Americans to accept, because we have great faith in the private sectors and our own families, and our own businessmen and women making decisions for ourselves.”

Twisting the political knife in a bit further Palin said that appealing to the tea party will be a “big challenge” for Romney.

By way of contrast Mitt Romney has gone to great lengths not to attack Sarah Palin.

Some Democrats have been hopeful that Palin would run against Obama, thinking Palin would be the easiest of the GOP candidates to beat.  Up until this point I had focused on the ease with which Obama could demonstrate that Sarah Palin was ignorant, unqualified, and incompetent. However those of us opposed to Palin may realize an additional benefit of having her run in the primary. With a pit bull loose in the GOP primary we may see attacks on every GOP candidate who runs against Sarah Palin. The fact that the pit bull only has one gear, that of attack, she may help Obama win the 2012 election with lethal attacks on every GOP candidate. Her most recent attack on Mitt Romney sends a clear message: she is running, and she is only concerned with her own election, rather than helping the GOP. As with the race in Alaska between Murkowski and Miller, Sarah Palin is only focused on her own agenda, rather than helping the GOP. Her bite may be fatal to the GOP. Even if Palin doesn’t ultimately win the GOP nomination, the fatality of her bite may prove to be lethal to the Republican Party.

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