The authors aren't being realistic. The Republicans won't nominate McCain because he is too liberal for the right wing and too much a maverick for big business. It's true that, late in the campaign, McCain came out for Bush and even campaigned with him, but that was just a show of loyalty to the party.

The Republican nominee will be close the Bush. The only chance for an un-Bush-like nominee is wholesale repugnance here in the US over the war in Iraq, and that's about as likely to happen as giving the country back to the Indians. We still haven't been honest with ourselves about Vietnam, so imagine how long it will take us to admit our insanity in Iraq.

As for Hilary Clinton, that's just silly. She's being touted by the Republican-controlled press, not by Democrats. If the Democrats can't elect a liberal, how could they possibly elect a woman? It would a suicidal move beyond any that the Democrats have committed thus far.