Being 'viable' means looking at the past. Generals. Governors. The occasional senator. The 'other' category you could count on one hand.
There's been about two people with as little qualification as Bachmann. Not in the 20th or 21st centuries, though. There have been no businessmen with no elected experience elected as President, ever.
Palin's resume is, comparatively speaking, light, but it is sufficient by historical standards. Even those standards are getting tougher. Our last 20+ years have had Ivy League resumes or multi-term governors. GHWB's resume is so strong you'd think it's fake. Reagan was a multi-term governor of a very large state. You see where I'm going with this.
Representatives and businessmen are simply not Presidential material. That's not some kind of media whammy. It's 200+ years of American tradition.
A 2 year senator with a pathetic state voting record in Illinois whose only experience was rabble-rousing as a community organizer got elected. Bachman, Cain, Palin, Trump or Speed Racer are better qualified.
You are simply letting the Establishment dictate who is qualified. GHW Bush was never elected to anything but a House seat until he got on Reagan's coattails. He held a series of appointed posts, that's all. He was the quintessential Establishment Pubbie, and we all paid the price. He was a weak poltician and a poor campaigner, as was his son.
What is needed is 1) honesty 2) conservative principles as a matter of deeply held conviction, not political opportunism, and 3) an uncompromising, combative spirit. Bachmann, Palin, and Cain have all those qualities. " The rest is up to us. "Executive experience " simply guarantees a survivalist hack--a Romney, Perry, or the like.
Carter, Clinton, Bush, Rockefeller, Bloomberg--these guys all had "gubernatorial executive experience." A lot of good that did us. It's a myth that 0bama is a failure because he lacked experience. He is a disaster because he is a communist committed to destroying America.