“Do they not realize that the presidential election process includes both a general election AND a series of primary elections?”
Says who? Is that in the constitution?
“....that the primaries systematically narrows that number down to a final two?”
Do you feel like the majority of Republicans selected McCain? McCain was selected by the party leadership. Why should anyone who’s trying to serve their country as president step into a Republican primary field? So they can get booted out by the leadership like Duncan Hunter was?
Apparently you don't get it. Without the support of Republican voters the Republican leadership that, as you say, 'selected' McCain as the nominee never would have been in a position to do so in the first place. Leadership of the party is there because of the support they receive from their constituency. Of course this is a moot point since you cannot get around the fact that there were approximately 10 candidates to choose from during the primaries and John McCain received the most votes out of the bunch. To deny that, and pretend that somehow McCain wasn't the candidate chosen by voters, is to deny reality.