US Republican nomination

Can somebody please tell me what is going on?

The UK press portrays more or less every Republican with loathing (well my newspaper does) but the currently assembled field and the process of securing the nomination just leaves me alternately horrified and fascinated.

The vast amounts of money spent (who/where does it come from?), the appallingly personal nature of the attacks on each other, the role of religion (I want to say religious fundamentalism), and the sheer terrifying combination of extreme right wing policy and lack of anything approaching staesmanship is a sight to behold.

'Anyone but Romney' appears to be the shout, yet another describes Gingrich and the others as unelectable.

Obama has come in for some fairly strong criticism here in the UK in recent months, surely the USA needs a strong coherent opposition to make the forthcoming election a process of genuine debate and analysis? The Republican Party looks far from being able to offer that.

Is anyone in the USA (perhaps the silent majority?) looking at this whole fandango and wondering if a) the process is not deeply flawed, b) some of these people should not be trusted with a sharp knife let alone a nuclear trigger!

Bruce