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Politics as usual 

It's gotta get better than this, doesn't it?

I don't blame Jon Stewart for leaving The Daily Show. His reason? The monotony of covering yet another presidential election. "I'd covered an election four times, and it didn't appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one," he says in an interview with The Guardian.

Yes, it's politics as usual.

In my younger days, I couldn't care less who was nominated to an office. Everyone wants to make the other candidate/party look worse than themselves. And then, every few years, it's rinse and repeat.

I tried to stay away from politics, but now I struggle to hold back from making comments on social media and pointing out why some of these candidates are just. so. bad. Do we really want any of these people to be the next leader of the free world?

The Democrats

When Hilary Clinton announced her candidacy in mid-April, a number of Democratic supporters were excited. Others thought, "Her again?" She already lost to Barack Obama six years ago. If she wasn't good enough then, why is she going to be good enough now — after Benghazi-gate, after emails were deleted, after last week's news about questionable foundation donations?

The only other people who have announced their candidacy, as of press time, are a 9/11 Truther named Jeff Boss — yeah, good luck, buddy — and a Charlotte resident named Robby Wells.

Wells ran for president in 2012 first under the Reform Party and then under the Constitution Party. In November 2012, he said he would be running in 2016 as an independent, and then in 2013 he changed to running as a Democrat. His major campaign platform is the idea of Eaglenomics — getting away from gold-backed money for a system that will increase industrialization, offer free healthcare and higher education, eliminate the national debt and promote a free market and lower energy costs, among other ideals. I'm guessing Wells' push to the White House won't get much further than Concord.

The Republicans

Ted Cruz just doesn't get it. He's one of many Republicans who see the mass movement in the country to legalize gay marriage as an attack on Christianity. This week, the Supreme Court hears historic arguments about gay marriage. By the end of June, the Court could end up making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. But here's the deal: that doesn't affect a person's individual beliefs. If you want to remain bigoted and intolerant toward other people, that's your right.

Rand Paul is getting off to a good start: He's already gotten Sen. John McCain calling him a "wacko bird" and "the worst possible candidate ... on the most important issue, which is national security." Last week, Paul defended President Obama's use of drone strikes that killed hostages. He's also joined Democrats in pushing for the legalization of medical marijuana. He's hoping to win over independents who rooted for his father and possibly some right-leaning Democrats, but they'll only replace those hard-core Republicans he's turning off.

Outside of the Great White Nope is Marco Rubio, but he's turning off the base of the party by siding with Democrats on immigration reform. Since 2012's Republican National Convention, Rubio's been on a downhill slide in popularity polls. Some think the 43-year-old senator is too young for the position with not enough legislative experience ­— the same issue Republicans had with Obama.

Neurosurgeon Ben "I'm not crazy" Carson is also running, but his comments that homosexuality is a choice as proven by prison and that Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery will surely haunt him through his run for the White House. That, and the fact Republicans would be committing horrible hypocrisy since Carson has zero political experience, and that was their biggest criticism of Obama when he first ran.

Meanwhile, some people are hoping Jeb Bush throws his hat in the ring — does anyone want another Bush in the White House? — and Scott Walker — who once said you'd have to be crazy to run for president and recently dismissed the mentally ill — is narrowly leading some national polls.

Who Else?

Surely, there has to be someone who can crawl out of the woodwork on either side and be a shining beacon amongst this mélange of meh. If not, I guess there's always Vermin Supreme or Waka Flocka Flame.

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