Why Hispanics will miss Bush

Republicans these days insist that their anti-immigration stance has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It's the left, they say, that injects identity politics into everything. I caught the well-coiffed, permanently snarling ideologue Michelle Malkin making that exact point on television a few weeks back. "Let me drive this through the thick skulls of the open-border zealots at the New York Times and elsewhere," she barked. "This (illegal immigration) crisis has nothing to do with race. It's about peaceful citizens of all colors and creeds demanding that their government do everything possible to secure the blessings of liberty." And then, as if she couldn't control herself, Malkin punctuated her diatribe with a sarcastic bit of Spanish: "Comprende?"

OK, so immigration isn't about Hispanics. I guess that follows because as far as the Republicans are concerned, nothing is about Hispanics.