<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">So this list is, like all listicles, a contrivance. Here, “worst” can be seen as an equivalent to “most annoying” or “most aggravating” or “most <em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;">please for the love of God can I go on Facebook for just five minutes without seeing this crap?</em>” With that said, please enjoy this quick-and-dirty recap of some of the worst moments in what was — for American politics, at least — an extremely no good year.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: BentonSansCondMedium, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.25rem;">6. The Supreme Court’s taking on King v. Burwell</span></p><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_14007303" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.8182px; width: 630px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="http://media.salon.com/2015/07/supreme_court_justices.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;"><img alt="Supreme Court Justices" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1e1fa2455e9c679c2debe5301cd71591" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="40deb" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4OTg0OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDc4NTA3OX0.DfJAAmZbeyow8V9vFMnaJYdcKFrVpTUT_Q6CrnIoDJM/img.jpg?width=980"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Supreme Court Justices, July 1, 2015 Reuters/Larry Downing</p></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">It’s hard to imagine a Supreme Court case inspiring more cynicism and disillusionment than Bush v. Gore — but King v. Burwell came very, very close.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The case, which was spearheaded by anti-Obamacare absolutists within the Republican Party and the libertarian movement, was laughable on its face. Its proponents argued that because a single line in the bill, ripped from context, suggested that it was <em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;">possible</em> that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) intended to deny subsidies to those who lived in states that did not set up their own exchanges, the subsidies making health insurance affordable for millions of Americans in Republican-run states were unconstitutional. As <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-obamacare-scotus-king-burwell-20150304-story.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">many noted at the time</a>, to accept the argument, one essentially had to believe that the then-Democratic Congress of 2009-2010<em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;">purposefully</em> hid a time-bomb within the ACA.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Reason ultimately prevailed, with the majority of the Court siding with the government because, as Chief Justice John Roberts put it, the law was clearly intended “to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.” Still, the fact that we even got to this point was deeply troubling for those who, against mounting evidence, would like to think the Justices of the Court are more than politicians in robes.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.25rem; font-family: BentonSansCondMedium, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">5. Hillary Clinton’s damn emails</h2><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_14283980" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.8182px; width: 670px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="http://media.salon.com/2015/12/dem-2016-clinton-terrorism.jpeg-e1450901107384.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;"><img alt="Hillary Clinton" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9a00d1b9713f1315870415ccf84be8a2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="49759" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4OTg0OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzgxODQ1Nn0.FCwYOK_5_YMXBvx8fasPKtD1iaYS_3XoNYugOYh-E9w/img.jpg?width=980"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">AP Photo/Seth Wenig AP</p></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">While I’m no longer inclined to see the scandal around former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server as a <em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;">total</em> non-issue (hat tip to <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/heres-why-you-actually-should-care-about-hillarys-damn-emails-1014" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Jason Leopold</a> for changing my mind on that one), the idea that a story so arcane, technical and far removed from Election Day could matter in 2016 was always ridiculous.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">As is almost always the case when it comes to Clinton, it brought out <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/12/the_media_st_show_is_back_why_coverage_of_hillary_clinton_has_been_an_embarrassment/" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">the absolute worst</a> neuroses and instincts of the mainstream campaign press. The likelihood of finding a “smoking gun” (an email from Clinton with the subject line: “I did Benghazi, and it was good. LOL!” perhaps?) was always infinitesimally small. Clinton isn’t that stupid, for one thing; and even if we hypothetically grant that she is corrupt, that’s not how corruption works. Not in 2015, and not when it comes to someone so firmly enmeshed in the global elite.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Yet because the press was bored, scandal-thirsty, and desperate to ensure the Democratic primary wasn’t a total snooze, we spent I-don’t-even-want-to-know how much time talking about Clinton’s emails, her servers, her “home brew.” There was a reason, in other words, that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-emails_561db703e4b028dd7ea5ada3" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Sen. Bernie Sanders’ quip</a> about the issue during an October debate went viral.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.25rem; font-family: BentonSansCondMedium, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">4. Kim Davis’ 15 minutes of fame</h2><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_14062791" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.8182px; width: 630px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="http://media.salon.com/2015/09/kim_davi3.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;"><img alt="Kim Davis" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5aea928a09b0bad4ad2b7086c9b0413d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="e4291" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4OTg1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTI3NTg1Mn0.iapL5rYFamTR5Yc2WbOKXo39kBFW0OZjvm8XsoVagbA/img.jpg?width=980"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">AP/Timothy D. Easley</p></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">As far as stale leftovers of the culture war go, the story of religious fanatic and Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, whose <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/02/meet-kim-davis-the-ky-clerk-who-defying-the-supreme-court-refuses-to-issue-gay-marriage-licenses/" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">refusal to grant marriage licenses</a> to same-sex couples made her a global story, is better than most. I’d certainly be more willing to relive Davis’ histrionics (and Mike Huckabee’s <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjXg8jt6fLJAhVJOz4KHT66D5YQFggqMAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2015%2F09%2F08%2Fpolitics%2Fkim-davis-kentucky-clerk-2016-candidates-chris-christie%2F&usg=AFQjCNHRiCwnnpW-aJhsqpiVYlNLu4bHsA&sig2=l1BnwYgjP-MnMM6AlW_maA" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">opportunism</a>) than those of Cliven Bundy (and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/04/25/no-sean-hannity-you-cant-distance-yourself-from-cliven-bundy/" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Sean Hannity</a>). But, really, that’s not saying much.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">What made the Davis story such a drag, though, wasn’t just her bigotry and the Christian right’s eagerness to defend it. No, what made the Kim Davis story such a drag was the way it confirmed that, despite the Supreme Court’s recognition of a right to marry, the culture war would endure for quite some time. Not in some separate form, mind you, but rather almost exactly as it was throughout the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s: with huckster zealots like Ralph Reed on one side, self-satisfied elitists like Bill Maher on the other, and with no new arguments, and no new perspectives. Just lots and lots of yelling.</p><div class="toggle-group target hideOnInit" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.8182px; opacity: 1; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.25rem; font-family: BentonSansCondMedium, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal !important; background: transparent;">3. Ben Carson’s deep thoughts about Egyptian pyramids</h2><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_14202464" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; width: 630px; background: transparent;"><a href="http://media.salon.com/2015/11/ben_carson15.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;"><img alt="Ben Carson" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="57bac0c60ece05fe61aab9bebc8cb6a8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="b0ecd" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4OTg1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTY4NzcxNX0.ORVa-NKnFExpgaB9ZFYXr7XF6bCP3VtZMWlPI3l8xrI/img.jpg?width=980"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Reuters/Steve Marcus</p></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Dr. Ben Carson is a fascinating person. His is a genuine rags-to-riches story, for one thing. And because such stories are both 1) incredibly, unfathomably rare, and 2) inestimably important to America’s self-mythology, they’re always worth a close examination. Are there any lessons to be drawn from Carson’s experience, beyond the usual Protestant work ethic pablum? Did his earlier experiences of crushing poverty make it necessary for him to close off the part of himself where empathy would usual reside?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Or go ahead and skip all that coming-of-age stuff and go straight to his pioneering work as a neurosurgeon. Some of Carson’s most celebrated achievements raised<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/11/13/siamese-twin-separation-that-launched-ben-carson-fame-ended-poorly-for-twins/miZSU7XaINfDWFXWsfYLDO/story.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">profound and irresolvable ethical questions</a>, for example. Questions that touch on many of life’s most painful and unavoidable realities; questions concerning death, God, individual autonomy, the pursuit of glory, the true nature of what it means to be “alive,” etc.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Hell, you can go ahead and skip <em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;">that</em>, too. Just dive into Carson’s <a href="http://vox%20ben%20carson%20glenn%20beck/" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">politicization and radicalization</a>, both of which may have been far more recently come to than Carson lets on. Or how about the relationship between his years spent on the inspirational speaker circuit and the skills necessary to run for president in today’s Republican Party? What about the fact that Carson’s spent almost as much money <em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;">raising more money</em> as he has on anything else? Is this a new kind of political campaign?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">All of these areas of inquiry were off the top of my head. All would have been worth the media’s time and attention. The media spent an enormous amount of time and energy making fun of Carson’s <a href="http://buff.ly/1ZpSrQT" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">views on ancient pyramids</a> instead.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.25rem; font-family: BentonSansCondMedium, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal !important; background: transparent;">2. Joe Biden’s crypto-presidential campaign</h2><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_14178575" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; width: 630px; background: transparent;"><a href="http://media.salon.com/2015/10/joe_biden3.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;"><img alt="Joe Biden" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59cc3d9db670af781df333b1f806f322" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="f4df4" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4OTg1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTI3NzAxMX0.3ESoZWtuvv1XCzDjx2UYLIR5Y1X5kHBZSVGaiooJiRs/img.jpg?width=980"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Reuters/Carlos Barria</p></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Although I’ve got nothing especially against Vice President Joe Biden and don’t think he would be an appreciably worse president than any other mainstream Democrat, I still consider his (belated, tediously drawn-out) <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/10/07/a_joe_biden_campaign_would_be_an_epic_mistake_hed_make_the_race_a_contest_of_personalities_not_policies/" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">decision not to run</a> for president to be the best thing he’s done in quite some time.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Why? Because his campaign simply never made sense. Biden was never going to be the left-wing challenger to Clinton — Sanders’ bona fides in that regard towered over his — and on most major policy issues, he was either the same (or worse) than the former secretary of state. His record on criminal justice is not-so-good; his record when it comes to holding the financial industry to account is not-so-good; and his record on reproductive health is not-so-good, either.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">Maybe that’s part of the reason why Biden’s biggest fans weren’t found among the rank-and-file of the Democratic Party, most of whom like him but saw no need for him to take on Clinton, but among the elite D.C. media he’d spent decades schmoozing. To be fair, some of his old Republican buddies from his days in the Senate were enthusiastic about the idea, too.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">And if you think Hillary Clinton’s gender — aka “likability” — wasn’t a major force behind the whole circus, I’ve got some primo beachfront property in Iowa to sell you.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.25rem; font-family: BentonSansCondMedium, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal !important; background: transparent;">1. Donald Trump’s ascendance</h2><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_14290953" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; width: 630px; background: transparent;"><a href="http://media.salon.com/2015/12/donald_trump59.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;"><img alt="Donald Trump" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7bfcc743e8c56541cfeba313772a29f5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="f20b9" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU4OTg1My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDg5MjczMn0.88x1dWEdU_rqDaVqwccQYyDHMGhf787qbDgD4_AtTEo/img.jpg?width=980"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">AP/John Locher</p></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1rem; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; line-height: 1.5rem; background: transparent;">I have written <em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; background: transparent;"><a href="http://buff.ly/1RHcfhd" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">so much</a></em> about Donald Trump over the past six months that the prospect of repeating myself fills me with a cold, gnawing dread. So let’s just say that while Trump has provided some moments of gonzo humor, as well as some decent schoolyard insults, his net effect on the GOP primary, and U.S. politics in general, has been overwhelmingly for the worse. What’s most upsetting about Trump, however, isn’t that he may be president (still a long-shot). It’s that somewhere out there is the next Trump, watching and learning from “the Donald’s” mistakes.</p></div>
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