I'm afraid Republicans just won the '06 midterm elections:

In a defeat for President Bush, Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday that broad immigration legislation is all but doomed for the year, a victim of election-year concerns in the House and conservatives' implacable opposition to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

I really hoped the old arm-twisting Bush would reemerge and force the House and Senate to compromise -- I thought that would at least seal the doom of Senate Republicans, who'd be blamed for the "sellout" by the GOP's immigrant-bashing zealot base. Apparently that's not to be.

I know, I know: polls says Americans favor a balanced approach. But emotion drives voting decisions, and there's a lot more anti-immigrant emotion in this country among voters than pro-immigrant emotion. From gun control we know, or ought to know, that an obsessed minority can easily trump a non-obsessed majority. As a regular lurker at right-wing Web sites, I can assure you that anti-immigrant zealots are as passionate as Second Amendment absolutists.

In typical shameless fashion, Republicans plan to attack Democrats for essentially agreeing with a Republican president that illegal immigrants aren't Satan incarnate:

Some officials added that Republicans have begun discussing a pre-election strategy for seizing the political high ground on an issue that so far has served to highlight divisions within the party. Among the possibilities, these officials said, are holding votes in the House or Senate this fall on additional measures to secure the borders, or on legislation that would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving Social Security payments or other government benefits.

"The discussion is how to put the Democrats in a box without attacking the president," said one aide, speaking on condition of anonymity.

That, and not fact-finding, is obviously the point of this:

... House Republican leaders said Tuesday that they would hold summer hearings around the nation on the politically volatile subject....

"We are going to listen to the American people, and we are going to get a bill that is right," said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who said he had informed Mr. Bush of the plan....

Hmm -- I wonder which hotly contested congressional districts those hearings are going to be held in.

And gosh, Republicans seem to be experiencing a weird amnesia about the involvement of members of their own party in the Senate bill:

In a swipe at the Senate version, Representative Deborah Pryce of Ohio, a senior member of the Republican leadership, labeled the legislation the "Kennedy bill" -- a dismissive reference to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who helped write the measure in cooperation with Republicans including Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and John McCain of Arizona.

And here's another amnesiac:

Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean deliberately referred to the Senate measure as the "Kennedy'' bill, instead of the Kennedy-McCain bill, signaling the polarizing political dimensions of the road ahead.

Must be the heat that's causing all this memory loss.

You know what's happening, don't you? Immigration is becoming like Iraq or abortion -- an issue on which the public is split, but the Republicans have declared themselves the Champions of Normal Americans, while painting the Democrats as the party of the fringe. Eventually the Democrats will be cowed into silence, just as they have been until recently on Iraq, just as they are on abortion, just as they are on gun control. Therefore, even members of the public who disagree with the Republicans won't rally to the Democrats.

The odd detail this time is that Bush supports a path to citizenship. But that's not going to stop the GOP from attacking Democrats. Remember that Bush opposed the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, then supported it -- and then the GOP (successfully) made Democratic opposition to provisions in the final bill an election-year issue.

Here's what Democrats should do, but won't: on the day of each hearing on the GOP's tour, a full-page ad should appear in every local paper. The ad would be a dignified portrait of President Bush surrounded by bunting, with these words under it:

The vast majority of illegal immigrants are decent people who work hard, support their families, practice their faith, and lead responsible lives. They are a part of American life.

--President George W. Bush, May 15, 2006

or

Illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law, to pay their taxes, to learn English, and to work in a job for a number of years. People who meet these conditions should be able to apply for citizenship.

--President George W. Bush, May 15, 2006

That's it. Just that.

People should also volunteer to stand up at the back of each hearing holding up signs identical to the ad. They should do so silently, and in a dignified manner. If they're denied entry or arrested, they should go quietly, but there should be an effort to make sure the incident is publicized.

If Republicans are going to hang immigration around anyone's neck, the neck of the leader of their own party should not be spared.