I'm at a panel on immigration and American politics that is really quite convincing on how screwed the Republicans are. In a couple of decades, Hispanic immigrants will make up almost a quarter of the country. Even now, 70 of the 100 largest cities are in the South and the West, and are that large because of Hispanic immigration.
That would all be rough enough for the Right, but to hear the recent narrative on immigration as explained by those experiencing it was a little shocking: You had the Sensenbrenner Bill, and the attempt in 2006 to make immigrants the new gays/terrorists/communists. You have John Boehner refusing to take up any reform bills, and you have Republicans objecting to everything from S-CHIP to education reform because it will do too much for undocumented children. You have Lou Dobbs and the recent immigration battle, which is almost less important for the bill that failed than for the astonishing amount of hate, vitriol, and mobilization exploding out of talk radio. And much of this came after the 2006 election, when Hispanic turnout leapt up and broke almost 70:30 for Democrats. That's a bad trend line for the Right, and it's one, if you watch the Bush administration, that Karl Rove has done everything he could to prevent. But even the Architect couldn't stand against the base.
