Jim Antle reviews the serial incompetence of the House GOP leadership ahead of the midterms:

So facing opponents with such a dismal record and weak arguments, what do you do? Well, if you are a leader of the Republican Party, you promote policies that will anger your base while winning over no one else.

Antle mentions the recently-passed farm bill as one example of this, but it is the more consequential and self-destructive push for immigration legislation that truly confirms the horrible political judgment of the House leadership. Not only is this foolish when Republicans are trying to win control of the Senate this year, but they are risking serious disaffection from their supporters for the sake of bad policy. As Ross Douthat pointed out last week, the policy proposed by House Republican leaders is flawed on the substance and is simply foolish as a matter of politics:

But the House leadership seems to favor an approach that would create a permanent noncitizen class of low-wage workers and expand guest-worker programs — a recipe for looser labor markets, continued wage stagnation and fewer jobs for the existing unemployed [bold mine-DL].

So immigration policy is problematic on the merits — and then it’s politically problematic for Republicans as well. Immigration ranks 16th on the public’s list of priorities, according to the latest Pew numbers, so it’s difficult to see how making this the signature example of a new, solutions-oriented G.O.P. is going to help the party in the near term.

Having just lost a presidential election in part because the GOP was identified as a party that favors wealthy and corporate interests and remains oblivious to the concerns of middle- and working-class Americans, Republican leaders would like to prove to everyone with their immigration ideas that this identification was and is fair and accurate. Just as a few members of the party have begun promoting some potentially valuable and fresh ideas, the leaders want to dredge up some of the worst domestic policy ideas of the Bush years and alienate their core supporters at the same time. As Antle points out, Republicans stand to gain nothing if they help Obama achieve one of his legislative goals. Meanwhile, their “compromise” position of favoring legalization without citizenship so reeks of cynicism that it won’t be appealing to anyone outside the party. Indeed, favoring legalization without the possibility of citizenship is in some respects the most insulting position one can take, since it provides amnesty for those here illegally while keeping them as a non-citizen underclass that will continue to compete with American labor.