The 12 most cringeworthy campaign gaffes of 2015

1. Ben Carson’s denunciation of ‘Hummus’

Earlier this month, the retired neurosurgeon and Republican hopeful repeatedly mispronounced the Palestinian terrorist group “Hamas” as “hummus” — a popular chickpea spread that pairs well with pita — during a speech to Jewish donors in Washington, D.C.

Carson’s mispronunciation quickly went viral, producing a stockpile of hummus-related puns and embarrassing gifs.

2. When Hillary Clinton invoked Sept. 11 in defense of her cozy Wall Street ties

The former secretary of state faced significant blowback after using the Sept. 11 terror attacks to justify her controversial ties to Wall Street during the second Democratic primary debate.

“I represented New York and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? In downtown Manhattan, where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild, that was good for New York, that was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists that had attacked our country,” she said.

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus later said the remark was “a new low” for the Democratic front-runner.

3. Chris Christie’s plan to speak to the dead as president

The New Jersey governor slammed President Obama during the fifth GOP primary debate, saying, “This president’s not trusted … but I’ll tell you this: When I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan, and I say to him, ‘You have a friend again, sir, who will stand with you to fight this fight,’ he’ll change his mind.”

However, the Jordanian king Christie cited has been dead since 1999. Christie later said he “misspoke,” and touted his friendship with Jordan’s current leader, King Abdullah II.

4. The time Rick Santorum demonstrated how willing he is to FIGHT!

With a national polling average below 1 percent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has yet to gain traction in the crowded Republican field. But during the fourth GOP undercard debate in mid-November, the two-time Republican presidential hopeful did something to make himself stand out — whether he meant to or not.

“You know who I respect? The Democratic Party,” Santorum told the moderators, as his voice began to rise. “You know why I respect them?”

“Because they fight!” he shouted, likely waking viewers of the otherwise dull happy-hour event. Santorum has never indicated he regrets the outburst, but perhaps the mockery that followed was something his campaign could have done without.

5. Marco Rubio’s underage drinking pal

Asked during a campaign event in New Hampshire who he’d like to grab a beer with, the Florida senator named 18-year-old Pakistani activist and Nobel Prize-laureate Malala Yousafzai.

The problem? Not only is Malala under 21, the legal drinking age in the U.S., she’s a proud Muslim from a country where prohibition for Muslim citizens has existed since the mid-1970s.

6. All the ‘cool things’ Jeb Bush could be doing rather than running for president

A verbal attack against Donald Trump quickly turned into an awkward admission for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in late October, during a town hall in South Carolina.

“If this election is about how we’re going to fight to get nothing done … I don’t want any part of it,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that.”

Less than a week later, the Bush campaign launched its “Jeb Can Fix It” reboot tour.

7. George Pataki’s pro-Trump Freudian slip

The former New York governor accidentally called rival Donald Trump “president” while answering a question during the fifth GOP undercard debate about Trump’s proposal to temporarily bar non-American Muslims from entering the United States.

“It’s one of many absurd things this president has said, to target a religion and say that regardless of whether you’re an American soldier who’s fought on our side or allies we have overseas simply because of your religion we’re going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong,” Pataki said.

Trump later responded to Pataki’s mistake, tweeting: “I don’t want his endorsement!”

8. Mike Huckabee urges America to “wake up and smell the falafel”

While criticizing the Obama administration’s intake of Syrian refugees following the terror attacks in Paris, France, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told America, “It’s time to wake up and smell the falafel.”

“Something isn’t going right in this open-immigration policy. We are importing terrorism,” he said during the appearance on Fox News.

The remark was later criticized by a handful of left-leaning activists, including “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.

“There are a few things wrong with that statement. Number one, falafel is not a breakfast food; number two, it doesn’t really smell like anything; and number three, the racism,” Noah said during the show’s Nov. 17 episode.

9. When Donald Trump’s “intern” insulted Iowans and their beloved corn

In late-October, after a poll showed him falling to second place behind Ben Carson in Iowa, Donald Trump retweeted a supporter who suggested Iowans’ consumption of genetically-modified corn made them delusional enough to support Carson.

In the wake of heavy backlash for insulting voters’ intelligence, Trump laid the blame on an intern: “The young intern who accidentally did a Retweet apologizes.”

10. Hillary Clinton’s shrugs off her email scandal

The leading Democratic candidate responded with a nonchalant shrug when asked, during a press conference, about her sharing of classified information on the private email server she kept as secretary of state. Clinton also laughed off allegations that she wiped the email server: “What, like with a cloth or something?”

The shrug itself went viral almost instantaneously, with headlines like, “Shrug heard ’round the world” and videos poking fun at the former first lady.

11. Rand Paul’s uncontrollable enthusiasm about his day-long livestream

Despite everything that could go wrong, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul agreed, in mid-October, to live-stream a full day of his life on the campaign trail. At one point, Paul addressed one of the most-Googled questions about him: “Is Rand Paul still running for president?”

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t be doing this dumbass livestreaming if I weren’t,” Paul said sharply, adding, “Yes, I’m running for president. Get over it.”

The campaign later capitalized on the gaffe by introducing a new piece of merchandise on its website.

12. Bernie Sanders ponders student loan refinance rates

Over Christmas weekend, socialist senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders asked the Internet, “You have families out there paying 6, 8, 10 percent on student debt but you can refinance your homes at 3 percent. What sense is that?”

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called the tweet “economically illiterate,” and the Internet’s response did not disappoint.