As I keep reading about Republicans being unhappy with their choices for the GOP nomination, it strikes me funny, especially when they call their choices weak.
The truth of the matter is that their candidates are weak because their politics are extreme. Right now, those in the field are either crazy (Cain, Gingrich, Bachmann, Paul, etc.) or having to lie about some non-crazy positions they've taken in the past (Romney). In order to win the nomination (and this has long been the case for either party) you've got to cater to the base. Right now, the Republican base has shifted farther right, and they've got no one but themselves to blame, with all the fear-mongering they've done over the past few years.
When it comes to electability, Democrats have figured out you need someone who can feel your pain and stare eloquently off into space; Republicans need some aw-shucks guy who just seems too friendly to be crazy. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama fit the bill, as do Reagan and Dubya. Jimmy Carter and Bush the First don't, so they were one-termers. And all of the losing nominees since the 1970s didn't fit the bill either, so they were no-termers.
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