Of course it was predictable that the Republican National Committee members would scatter like terrified hens when faced with a vote on a matter of principle like Randy Pullen’s Immigration resolution. Particularly when it involved defying the White House. Courage and principle are not conducive to survival in a calling which as I said last Sunday, generally appeals to limelight hogs and professional courtiers.

And yes, it is not pretty that not one of the nine co-sponsors was brave enough to join the valiant Pullen:

Mr. Pullen…was the only RNC member to say “no” during the vote on the pro-guest worker resolution.

GOP backs Bush on guest-worker plan By Stephen Dinan THE WASHINGTON TIMES January 21, 2006

But wars have to be fought with the forces available. I see this as a satisfactory skirmish. Pullen and Tom Tancredo got decent national publicity for their views:

Mr. Pullen said …said he has yet to see a guest-worker plan that doesn’t amount to amnesty, and said Mr. Bush has his work cut out for him trying to explain how he can craft such a plan…”he’s going to have to articulate to the Republican Party exactly what that plan means. I haven’t heard it yet,”

(Mostly too late to help with RNC lobbying of course, but we’re talking MSM here.)

The White House was apparently put to considerable trouble, and as usual resorted to bullying – which annoys people and uses up political capital:

GOP leaders, including Vice President Dick Cheney, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, lobbied hard for the Crocker resolution and against the efforts of immigration critics.
“We’re really not happy with what’s going on down there right now,” said Jessica Echard of Eagle Forum on Friday morning.

Republican Divide Over Immigration Keeps Widening BY BRIAN MITCHELL
INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 1/20/2006

(I would say this article is probably the best analysis I have seen:

the fact that there was a debate at all at the RNC, which typically backs Bush vigorously, underscores the big Republican split over immigration…Before Christmas, House Republicans, who are closer to the grass roots, won passage of a bill on border control without a provision for guest workers.
Senate Republicans, who run statewide and owe more to big campaign donors, are expected to pass a guest-worker bill in the coming months.)

Pleasantly, a gauge of how much this has annoyed the Party Establishment is provided by the total silence still being maintained on the issue by NRO, usually so fascinated by Beltway minutiae.

There is even some gratifying evidence that the blogosphere is having an influence:

Pullen told his fellow Republican National Committee members that he had received thousands of e-mails in support. He read one aloud, quoting the sender thanking him for “standing up for we little guys.”

Amid Rifts, GOP Backs Guest-Worker Plan-by Peter Wallsten The Los Angeles Times January 21 2006

A story by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief of the Orange County Register , unenthusiastically echoes this:

For nearly a decade, there were fewer than a dozen Republican lawmakers who had been pushing for restrictions on immigration and crusading against illegal immigration. It was an uphill battle…Now, these House members have not only increased in number but in clout…From an inside-the-Beltway vantage point, what seems to have emboldened the restrictionist members and enabled them to bolster their ranks is the animated, vocal and emotional involvement of ordinary citizens around the country who are campaigning against illegal immigration.

[VDARE.com emphasis]

Immigration plans under microscope. Sunday,January 22, 2006

But there are some negative signs also. Apparently the RNC “debate” gave rise to crude expressions of ethnic and familial particularism

…the full committee voted almost unanimously to side with Bush, urged by a series of speeches by committee members who said they were immigrants or related to immigrants.

GOP backs guest-worker initiative by Peter Wallsten Los Angeles Times January 21 2006

The sad truth is that the driving force behind the Bush Adminstration’s efforts to sustain open borders may well not be fatuous arithmetical delusions about the Hispanic vote, or even venal appetite for big business largesse. Family tradition could be the key. A reader wondered this some time ago about Karl Rove. And an interesting article last month

Anti-immigration Bill Pits Jewish GOPers Against House Hard-liners By E.J. KESSLER Forward December 23, 2005

tells us that Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman‘s

mother once headed the Baltimore region of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

HIAS, of course, has recently turned to promoting immigration from backward African countries.

Could Ken just be trying to please Mom?

Applaud Randy Pullen

Be nice to his co- sponsors (scroll down). They were cowards, but they might be our cowards. Without their co-sponsorship, Pullen would probably have been totally repressed.