Bernie coulda been a contendah! Instead, he turned out to be a presidential never-was, as we rediscover on today’s walk down Memory Lane. In the top 21 through 30 Hot Air posts this year, we also return to the final debate live-blog and recall that people who refuse to accept election results are unpatriotic bums, predict that hopes for Hillary Clinton’s prosecution will result in a bummer, and get an explainer on how polls can give you a bum steer. And let’s not forget how bummed out Saturday Night Live was after the election:
- #30: For much of his life, Bernie Sanders was (let’s just say it…) a bum (2/17/2016) – Sometimes it just takes a while for a man to find himself. Usually when they do later rather than sooner, taxpayer funds are involved … and that’s been the Bernie ouevre his entire adult life.
- #29: Another view on what went so wrong during SNL’s cold open (11/14/2016) – This skit was so hypocritical and disturbing that it prompted two analyses at Hot Air. Jazz’ got the most traffic, and asked the biggest question about the entire show: Where was Trump?
- #28: This brilliant response to Obama’s ‘don’t discriminate’ warning to Louisiana is pure American gold (8/26/2016) – Obama rushed to judgment in assuming the worst about Louisiana as it reeled from massive flooding. Ben Husser begged to disagree, and highlighted Obama’s bigotry. It’s definitely worth the read after the election, because the national media and Democratic Party keeps making the same mistake.
- #27: How we now know that Hillary Clinton will not be prosecuted for anything (3/18/2016) – In March, Obama tried to quietly put his thumb on the scales of the Democratic primary by telling big-ticket donors to unite around Hillary Clinton and shun Bernie Sanders. Why would he have done that with a potential Department of Justice prosecution still in play? Ahem.
- #26: Live blog: Thunderdome Part III (10/19/2016) – At the time, I thought Trump had won the debate and the exchange over whether to accept the election results on Election Night wasn’t all that significant — in terms of how it impacted Donald Trump, anyway. I found the exchanges on Hillary’s lack of significant accomplishment at State or in the Senate to be more impactful. As it turns out, I was correct on that, and the real story was how the “election results” talking point ended up handcuffing Hillary rather than Donald.
- #25: University of Toronto learns why mandatory unisex bathrooms are a bad idea (4/11/2016) – Let’s put men in with women while they’re disrobing for private bodily functions. What could go wrong? Well …. the University of Toronto found out.
- #24: Sure looks like Kasich’s goal was to stop Cruz (5/4/2016) – It worked, didn’t it? So how did that work out for Ohio’s governor? He wound up as an irrelevancy as his state supported the Republican for whom he refused to campaign or vote. Bummer, dude.
- #23: Orlando terror attack: ISIS claims responsibility (6/12/2016) – Not a lone wolf after all, but both a “known wolf” and a devotee of ISIS. The FBI had already been on his trail at one point, but Omar Mateen dropped off their radar screen. In Berlin last week, we saw something very similar.
- #22: Tucker Carlson’s interview with an anti-Trump protester demonstrates why his new show is must-see TV (11/17/2016) – Tucker’s managed to make his new show “must-see TV,” Larry wrote six weeks ago just after it premiered. He’s still producing spicy exchanges practically designed to go viral.
- #21: Dana Perino: Let me drop a truth bomb on you about these polls (8/19/2016) – Dana wasn’t wrong about this, but there’s an important context to remember about polling, too: it only accounts for a brief slice of time. Trump’s polling looked bad in mid-August because he came out of the convention shooting himself in the foot. By the time Dana tried dropping the truth bomb, Trump had finally regained some discipline — and his numbers would go up by the first of September. Two months later, polls began showing the election as a margin-of-error contest that would come down to turnout and voter enthusiasm in the key swing states. Nate Silver tried to explain that truth bomb, only to get bombed by the Left for suggesting Trump had a chance of winning.
If you’re bummed that this is the end of our recap today, be sure to come back tomorrow as we crack the top twenty. We’ll have Election Night and debate live-blogs, Jill Stein’s only real accomplishment, and a Whole Foods response to a social-justice warrior hoax. Plus, CNN goes for the blur!