Signs of hope. A columnist I love and hate gets it totally right on today:

Why doesn’t Alan Simpson include in his critique of the religious right their obsessive hostility to any recognition of gay citizens? He’s right about the politics of abortion; and he is on the record saying the same things about gay equality. And yet he still balks. But in some ways, the gay issue is the primary one that the far right will insist on using to gin up their base and make life difficult for president Bush. They will treat the long-overdue reversal of blatantly discriminatory sodomy laws as some kind of assault on the family. And they will surely try to respond to any civil recognition of gay relationships with a truly poisonous bid to amend the federal constitution to keep marriage from including all citizens, gay and straight. Their threat to a sane conservatism is as profound as their indifference to fomenting deep social division. At some point, the president must realize this. Let’s hope it’s not before it’s too late.

But tell us, what if the president doesn’t realize it in time? What then? Will sane conservatives like you still support a president who supports “truly poisonous” amendments to the constitution? Because as far as this topic goes, I see no way out. Our president has sold his soul to the too-far right, and there is no reclaiming it. I truly hope I am wrong on this, but it appears that Bush has passed the point of no return. What then?