The Republican candidates

[Phony Moderate]

People, people. Those comments (all of which are objectively correct) are not predictions. Unless the slump somehow ends, then an upset will always be at least possible. Plenty of laughably bad candidates have gone on to win elections.

Not U.S. Presidential Elections.

So not impossible. Though seemingly unlikely.

And which of the things in your OP fit the 1976 Jimmy Carter? He certainly wasn't a fraud (quite the opposite in fact), or a failure. Definitely not a nutter or a creep. And isn't virtually every career politician a hack to an extent? Oh, and obviously not the other three things either.

[Phony Moderate]

People, people. Those comments (all of which are objectively correct) are not predictions. Unless the slump somehow ends, then an upset will always be at least possible. Plenty of laughably bad candidates have gone on to win elections.

Not U.S. Presidential Elections.

Jimmy Carter was considered a pretty bad candidate and he won.  So was Bill Clinton in early 1992.

He was no worse than Ford.

[tpfkaw]

Every non-incumbent presidential winner going back to 60 was considered a weak candidate at one point.

[King]

Every non-incumbent presidential winner going back to 60 was considered a weak candidate at one point.

And loser as well.

[milhouse24]

Let's be honest about this. And as fair as possible. And so on. And so forth. But...

They all suck, don't they? A dismal array of frauds, failures, nutters, creeps, hacks, idiots, swivel-eyed fanatics and the sort of people that you would not let within five feet of small children. And all of the above, obviously.

Yeah, wtf is up with this post.  Is he trying to be funny, but not offer any constructive criticism?  If you're a liberal, then you're just trolling. 
If you're an independent and just don't like the field, then vote for Obama, or is Obama doing something wrong. 
Otherwise start a write in campaign for Mitch Daniels, Al Gore, or Ralph Nader.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And which of the things in your OP fit the 1976 Jimmy Carter?

He didn't. But (and this is the point) he was a terrible candidate, but won anyway. Which demonstrates that it is at least possible under certain circumstances.