Ramesh: Up to a point, Lord Copper. I think Kristol is right about the

FMA, though. This is really a no-brainer for the Left. They just have to

spin it to: “You want to be unkind to people. You are the unkind party–the

party of bigotry, of EXCLUSION. We Democrats would prefer to seek some way

that people can live freely and enjoy full civil rights, without trespassing

unduly on hallowed social institutions. See, we have this Federal Civil

Unions proposal…yada yada yada.” This is the kind of spin operation the

Left is superbly good at, and very well-practiced at. If Bush hitches

himself to the FMA in ‘04, he’ll lose a million votes. My guess is he knows

this. He has always been exquisitely sensitive to the “GOP–flint-faced and

exclusionary, Dems–kind and generous” dichotomy. The phrase “compassionate

conservatism” mean anything?