Quotas could do it. So might the devastation wrought by this administration upon the armed forces, which would surely get worse under Al Gore or Bill Bradley, who have made clear that they will take their advice about unit cohesion not from Colin Powell but from Patricia Ireland and Barney Frank. No one bloc gets it all, but no one is wholly neglected. McCain has let the Republican base think he is giving it nothing. And it has shut him out in return.
Politicians like to go back in time, searching for scenarios that suit their wishes.
Democrats like 1988, with Al Gore cast as George H.W. Bush, the vice president. Republicans like 1984, with Al Gore cast as Fritz Mondale. Candidates trailing in the polls like 1948, with themselves cast as Truman. Some Bushies like to think about the 1896 election, when William McKinley ushered in an age of Republican dominance. If McCain now seems in danger of becoming TR in his Bull Moose incarnation, George W. Bush has to guard against becoming President Taft, with establishment backing, and damned little else.