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The video is called “Loaded for Bear,” an idiom meaning either “angry” or “drunk,” and it’s a terrific representation of Palin herself: vague on specifics but pissed off and patriotic, egotistical in the extreme (who else but Palin would name a PAC after herself, despite not running for anything?), and ignorant of inconvenient facts.“She picks winners,” Ted Cruz intones early in the video. Actually, not so much. Her website features a Palin’s Picks section where you can see a list of the 16 candidates she endorsed in 2012. (It works out to 15 elections because Rebecca Kleefisch was Scott Walker’s running mate.) Here’s how they did:Winners: Paul Gosar, Jeff Flake, Scott Walker/Rebecca Kleefisch, Ted Yoho, Orrin Hatch, Deb Fischer, Ted CruzLosers: Allen West, Mia Love, Martha Zoller, Kirk Adams, Dan Bongino, Richard Mourdock, Sandy Adams, Sarah SteelmanThat’s a record of 7–8, and upon a closer look, it’s even less impressive. Orrin Hatch and Scott Walker were politically powerful incumbents who probably didn’t need her help. Sarah Steelman lost in a primary election, and Richard Mourdock is famous for losing his race after saying pregnancies that result from rapes are “something that God intended.” Palin’s been good at backing intensely conservative “underdog” candidates in GOP primaries, but they generally go on to lose in the general elections. Matthew Dowd, a Republican analyst, told ABC before the 2012 election, “Singularly, she doesn't win these races… But if there is a forest with a bunch of kindling, she puts a match and a light on it. The forest wood had to be dry, but she's a spark.” Another way to put it is that everything she touches explodes into flame.
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