we got lucky with Reagan - lucky to have him. He essentially served 3 terms, Bush 41 having served Reagan's third term essentially. The country elected Carter, then Clinton twice. And Gore, who was essentially running for Clinton's third term, won the popular vote while serving as the VP of an impeached President who had disgraced the office like no other.
you give the American sheeple too much credit.
Attacking good people to run, to sacrifice so much of their personal lives to serve, is a big part of party building.
Consider, if you will, the current Gov. of CA. He was attracted to the GOP because the party maintained a hard anticommunist stand (after all, Arnold grew up knowing first hand of the oppression of the USSR). When it came time for him to run for office, his liberal connections through his wife Maria could have attracted him just as easily to the DNC.
I'm so very proud to be witness to the Reagan Revolution living on in the great state of CA.
That is not to say that bums don't get put into office every so often, and as the saying goes, few have lost money (or elections) by underestimating the intelligence of the American [sheeple].
But at the appropriate time, it seems that that "diamond in the rough" comes along and just about everyone can recognize it. Call me an optimist, I guess...