Is Sarah Palin Honestly Endorsing Candidates or Just Picking Ponies?

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Beginning with Doug Hoffman, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin jumped into the political endorsement arena as a way of keeping her own notoriety worthy of endorsing political candidates. Yes, I know! - It makes as much sense as powdered water, but I digress.

The issue with Sarah Palin's endorsement so far, is that she hasn't been playing the game long enough to understand the nuances of party politics and the negative consequences that may result from her endorsements. Particularly in consideration of some high-ranking Republican feathers that some endorsements have ruffled along the way. This either means that Palin doesn't understand how big of a factor this will be should she want to toss her hat in the ring for the 2012 Republican nomination, or it means that she does understand and simply doesn't care.

Palin endorsed Tea Party Candidate Vaughn Ward to gain the Republican nomination so that he could oust Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick. It should be noted that Ward was facing charges that he plagiarized portions of Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention speech and used them in his own campaign speech in January.

The allegations came after a series of missteps by Ward's campaign. Ward then fired his campaign manager following an embarrassing discovery that he (the campaign manager) had copied portions of various other political speeches. Ward later sought to rebound from that setback with an appearance with Sarah Palin. Even though Ward's campaign was in the midst of a plagiarism scandal, Palin endorsed the him anyway. Ward lost by nearly 10 percentage points to Republican rival Raul Labrador, 48.1% to 38.8% in the Idaho primary.

Next up was Palin's endorsement of GOP nominee Cecile Bledsoe for Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District. On her Facebook page, Palin wrote the following about Cecile Bledsoe and misspelled the candidates name 4 out of 4 times.

"Just had a great talk with Cecil Bledsoe (and talk about “boots on the ground” in her grassroots campaign, she answered her own campaign phone when I called). She’s an inspiring individual whom I’m happy to support. Cecil is another Commonsense Conservative “mama grizzly” running for Congress this year. Her mission to protect our great country’s freedom is so commendable. Cecil is a pro-family, pro-2nd Amendment, fiscal conservative who will work hard for the people in Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District. Please join me in supporting another member of the “pink elephant stampede” of Commonsense Constitutional Conservative women who will take this country back to our roots of limited government and fiscal responsibility. Please vote for Cecil on Tuesday, June 8th." - Sarah Palin

Bledsoe lost to Steve Womack.

Then Sarah Palin endorsed Todd Tiahrt in the Republican battle for Kansas Senate. Tiahrt's website promoted the Palin endorsement and reprinted the personal message Palin sent out via her facebook page. Notice how Palin's written endorsement of Mr. Tiahrt isn't nearly as long as her endorsement of Ms. Bledsoe or any other female candidates that Palin has endorsed. Here are the 40 measly words that Palin wrote on bahalf of Tiahrt.

"I want to remind the good people of Kansas to vote on Tuesday for Todd Tiahrt for U.S. Senate. He is a strong commonsense conservative who will serve Kansans with honor and help put our country on the right fiscal track."

Tiahrt lost his primary bid to Congressman Jerry Moran.

Palin then used the magic of her FaceBook page to endorse House candidate CeCe Heil in the Republican primary race for Tennessee's 5th Congressional District. On her website, Heil also promoted the endorsement and reprinted Palin's personal message that was sent out to the millions of Palin's FaceBook Friends.

"I’m pleased to lend my support to CeCe Heil’s campaign for Congress from Tennessee’s 5th District. CeCe is another tough “mama grizzly” with the experience, passion, and integrity to restore some common sense to Washington. As a small business owner, attorney, constitutional scholar, and proud mother of two, she will fight tirelessly to protect our freedoms and rein in the excesses of an out-of-control federal government that seems set on spending away our children’s future. CeCe brings the business sense and the constitutional understanding that is so needed in DC right now.Please join me in supporting CeCe Heil’s campaign by visiting her website at www.ceceforcongress.com and following her on Facebook and Twitter."

Heil lost finishing 3rd in the primary with less votes than both Jeff Hartline, the second place finisher endorsed by Mike Huckabee, and the eventual victor, businessman Dave Hall.

Palin's endorsements are very willy-nilly to say the least. In some cases, she is endorses serious conservative candidates that can win or are already predicted to win, but she has also endorsed some serious long-shots like Sharron Angle of Nevada.

Angle has lost 11 percentage point in the span of a week against Harry Reid. I think that it is due to her religiously based bigotry and her contempt for the media. Between now and election night, Harry Reid would need to be caught with a dead hooker buried under 20 kilos of cocaine in the trunk of his car for Angle to have a fighting chance. But of course, that's only my opinion. What do I know?