In case you missed it, there was a rally in our nation’s capitol last week held by a group of several thousand people opposed to the Iran nuclear agreement. It’s doubtful a single one of them could actually explain the agreement with any sort of coherence, but that’s neither here nor there.

No, what was so absolutely wonderful about the gathering was the collection of speakers assembled to denounce the agreement: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, or what comedian Bill Maher accurately described as “a Woodstock of the mentally infirm.” On the other hand, it’s also a pretty good description of the Republican Party’s presidential candidates.

They are an astonishing bunch of dim bulbs (Scott Walker, Jim Gilmore, Rick Perry — oops, he’s gone), hopelessly encumbered (Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, etc.) and unelectable (everyone else). Jeb Bush has enough money to get the nomination but his lethargic, wheezing campaign suggests he couldn’t defeat Bernie Sanders.

And here’s an indication of why our electoral is totally broken. Rick Perry announced several days ago that’s he’s out of the race. But — his PAC announced that it will keep paying for ads promoting the campaign. So here’s what that says: we don’t need actual candidates to run for office any more, just PACs that pay for empty, meaningless ads. Welcome to our screwed up system of funding politics. Only a Republican could love it.