I’ll confess I nearly canceled my scheduled workday appearance Monday because of what we’ll call “security concerns.”

It was another weekend when I’d received an “onslaught of personal attacks,” including one accusing me of chuckling when Christina Aguilera blew her lines singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

Usually, I shrug these things off as part of the job. Besides, I rarely chuckle, although sometimes I do guffaw, but that’s another story.

But this time was different. It’s not every day when Sarah Palin — the mama grizzliest of the mama grizzlies, the man uppiest of the man uppers — has had a Colorado event canceled in fear of Palin’s safety.

From what I’ve been able to piece together, the Sharon K. Pacheco Foundation announced on Friday that Palin would keynote a gala in Glendale in May and then announced the very next day that the appearance was off because of “safety concerns resulting from an onslaught of negative feedback received by the organization.”

I was shocked. In one day, there’d been an actual onslaught — and it was a Saturday, too. I don’t know about the rest of Colorado liberals, but I spent my Saturday sleeping late, going out for brunch, hitting the grocery store before the snow in preparation for a long Sunday of Super Bowl watching. I didn’t have time for an onslaught. I barely had time to pick up the beer.

And, besides, this is Colorado, where people tend to spend their Saturdays on the ski slopes, not on the slippery slope to a hatefest.

But I’ve had to reassess, particularly after reading John Hayward’s report in Human Events, a historically important source of conservative thought. The piece ran under this subhead: “The Climate of Hate dumps an ice storm on Colorado.” In it, Hayward wrote of the event that was to celebrate military families: “It’s a shame the needs of those families and children must be sacrificed on the altar of liberal hate.”

I needed to find out more. Does Colorado actually have an altar of liberal hate? Was Colorado the only place in America where Palin — who surely leads all non-Obama categories in nasty comments received — not safe to speak? I just saw her at DU last year and the most dangerous part was crossing University Boulevard.

But what really struck me was the idea that Palin would ever back down to any number of nasty e-mails. After Tucson, she had pretty much dismissed the idea of ugly rhetoric leading to violence.

And this is the Palin, remember, of don’t-retreat, reload fame. Had she turned into Sarah “Lock and Scamper” Palin when no one was looking?

We’ve seen her in action, taking down a caribou. Sure, it took her six shots. But if you can handle yourself with a caribou, how much trouble could an effete latte-sipping liberal pose? Is someone saying that if the caribou had sent a blast e-mail, Palin would never have left the house?

I called Leo Pacheco, who runs the Sharon K. Pacheco Foundation. I wanted to ask him about tickets — it seems that two days before the event was officially announced, the $185 tickets already had been discounted by 50 percent. Was there not an, uh, onslaught of buyers? There were also reports, in my own newspaper, of tax records showing the organization had raised only $1,000 in 2008 and $2,204 in 2009. Did Pacheco really have the money to afford Palin?

Pacheco didn’t call back. I called his spokesperson. She didn’t call back either. I e-mailed them both. They didn’t e-mail back.

I could only assume that because of the onslaught, they had moved to an undisclosed location.

They did, however, take the time to update their website. In the original press release, the foundation said no “direct threats” had been made against anyone, but rather the issue was an increase of “negative rhetoric” against Palin, presumably a one-day increase. But the update cites people who “attempted to berate our namesake, volunteers, and others in a very brutal and personal way, which has raised personal safety concerns . . . .”

A Post reporter tried the local police, who hadn’t heard of any threats. I tried to reach Palin’s people to ask what they knew of this, if Palin had anything to say about the rhetoric, whether I could write this column without using the trademark sign next to her name.

I got back an e-mail from SarahPac and thought I’d finally gotten somewhere. Until I read it. My request, it said, was “under consideration.”

As of deadline, no word. Scary.

E-mail Mike Littwin at mlittwin@denverpost.com.