Mitt Romney's team fires its first salvo at Sarah Palin. Palin's team immediately plays the victim card and uses ghost of Ronald Reagan as shield against criticism. Oh yeah, they're screwed!

From Politico:

In potentially the first inter-staff dust up of the 2012 presidential race, an aide of Sarah Palin is hitting back at Mitt Romney’s camp for saying the former Alaska governor is “not a serious human being.”

A “Romney intimate” was quoted by Time’s Mark Halperin in a Thursday column as saying that Palin could not withstand the rigors of a presidential campaign.

“If she’s standing up there in a debate and the answers are more than 15 seconds long, she’s in trouble,” the Romney intimate said.

An additional Romney “adviser” was quoted as saying the former Massachusetts governor’s team is not intimidated by a possible Palin run. “She’s not a serious human being,” the adviser said.

Asked about the comments by POLITICO, a longtime Palin aide unloaded on Romney’s staff.

“It shocks me that anyone would try to do that,” the aide said. “You’d think we’d all be working together toward a common goal – that being 2010 – and that should be the focus right now. Those who try to claim the mantle of Reagan would be good to follow one of his most sacred tenets.” ("Sacred tenets?" She does recognize the difference between Reagan and Jesus, right?)

“For Washington consultants to sit around and personally disparage the Governor anonymously to reporters is unfortunate and counterproductive and frankly immature,” the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, continued.

Comparing the quotes to those attributed to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) staff attacking Palin toward the end of the presidential campaign, the aide said, “We've seen this movie before and it didn't end so well for those anonymous consultants.” (Yep the poor bastards are now working for Romney and other political campaigns. Oh God how they have suffered!)

“She’s not focused on promoting herself or disparaging other Republicans,” the aide said. The Republican Party is “not worried about 2012. We should be focused on 2010.” (Did she just say that Palin is "not focused on promoting herself?" WTF?)

"Long time Palin aide?" Sarah has been dropping "long time aides" as often as  Mel Gibson drops the F-bomb.  This person can only be Sarah Palin's most ardent fan, and Facebook ghostwriter Rebecca Mansour, or RAM.  The tone sounds very much like the kind of whiny defensiveness that issues from RAM every time somebody dares to recognize that her idol is a phony.

"What?  I can't believe that Republicans would attack the most glorious person to ever walk the planet earth like that!  Just like Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin is a carbon based life form that breathes oxygen and she has done nothing (that you can prove) to attack any other potential GOP candidates. Sarah Palin is a goddess who will one day rule over this planet with benevolence and charity, and then you will all see the error of your ways. All hail the Queen of light......wait what was I saying? Oh yeah. Just like Ronald Reagan (except for the bad wigs, the wonky eye, the padded bra, and the constantly knocked up daughter), Sarah Palin is a TRUE patriot who understands that we should ALL be working together and keeping our eye on the prize for 2010, unlike that walking store front mannequin!"

You know not that I want to necessarily protect Sarah from herself, but she may want to keep a little distance between herself and RAM. In the end having somebody that crazed on her team could really work out poorly for her.  I wonder if she has ever read about the fate of the Mexican pop star Selena?