Yep, and look what we have. I think your idea of looking at past performance rather than the faith label is a good one. Faith labels often don't tell us much, as you pointed out.
ah, touche'!
Yes, unfortunately, as you hear financial counselors give their "past performance is not indicative of future prospects" disclaimer, so is true of mere "affiliations." But as I said, I take into consideration the "other-worldly commitments" (or lack thereof) of candidates into consideration...even when their affiliation is "orthodox."
I think God purposely raises up folks to "shame" the empty orthodox folks.
The Samaritans weren't total heretics on everything...but we have "The Good Samaritan" parable in Scripture for a reason...Scripture does give examples of what you might call "God-fearers" (folks outside of Israel in the OT & Judeo-Christianity in the NT) who still respected God.
Still, we have folks who are openly militating vs. Christianity and its standards; it's those folks who I can't bring to vote for.