Last Friday over at Human Events Online, Amanda Carpenter, anticipating yesterday's demonstrations, gave her readers a list of "Top 10 Places to Shop and Eat on May 1."

Here's what odd about the list: It has nothing to do with immigration. It simply "ranks the Top 10 businesses that give the most to Republicans, according to BuyBlue.org, a website that encourages liberals to shop at business that donate to Democrats." It's just a list of -- by one measure -- the most Republican retailers in America.

Which is bizarre, because a Republican president is seeking changes the most fervent anti-immigrant zealots consider "amnesty." And I've seen nothing to suggest that the listed companies themselves do anything special to discourage illegal immigration. Outback Steakhouse is #1, for instance, and Wendy's is #3. Yesterday's demonstrations shut down quite a bit of America's meatpacking. If Outback and Wendy's scrupulously avoid buying meat from companies that hire immigrants, it's news to me.

But none of that matters to Amanda Carpenter. These companies give money to Republicans. That's the salient point. Everything we think is bad is Democratic. Everything we think is good is Republican.

It's hard to tell whether the rank-and-file will maintain that sort of brand loyalty if an "amnesty" bill becomes law through the efforts of Bush and the Republican Congress. But I guess that's why there are "marriage protection" referendums and wars with countries whose names begin with "Ira-."