The GOP considers these candidates qualified?

It’s hard to believe that in a country that has over 310 million people, we can’t find a better crop of people to run for president. Putting Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman aside, the rest of the lineup is an example of how flawed the presidential primary system actually is.

Republican power brokers will tell you that primary contests give the people a chance to see a large variety of candidates, and that the process is healthy and good for the country. There’s no doubt that the 10 debates up to this week have been semi-entertaining, but is it fair to give some of the aspirants a platform for uninformed and way-out opinions? Oh yes, and how about some qualifications to be the leader of the free world?

I’m as much a supporter of the First Amendment as the next person, but isn’t it possible for the major political parties to set up some minimum standards for candidates and some guidelines on how long a candidate can be allowed to participate in public debates? Party leaders will tell you that once a candidate slips below 1 or 2 percent in the polls, they’re disqualified from public forums. The flaw in that argument is that at this very moment there are five candidates who are polling at around 8 percent who’ll be off the radar by Feb. 1.

Let’s start with former Sen. Rick Santorum. For two terms the people of Pennsylvania were able to watch Santorum carry out his duties and make one inflammatory statement after another. He managed to malign gays and working mothers, and push for the teaching of “intelligent design” in the public schools in addition to evolution. After 12 years of Santorum, the voters sent him a message in 2006, when he got only 41 percent of the vote.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann has provided more material for late-night comedians than any politician in recent memory. Once she joined the presidential aspirants, some of the voters in Minnesota had to be wondering how she escaped their attention. Her suggestion that eliminating “the minimum wage would virtually wipe out all unemployment” was a tie with the idea that the Founding Fathers were “dedicated to abolishing slavery.”