Bush’s advice: Unwelcome Mat

Although George Bush's unpopularity contributed to significant GOP losses in 2006 and 2008, the departing president recently gave his party some good advice. Bush restated his confidence in "compassionate conservatism," and identified immigration as an area where rhetoric and posture have hurt Republicans seriously -- and, if the party does not correct itself soon, perhaps fatally.

Although the U.S. must regain control of its borders, and while it is perfectly proper to draw distinctions between legal and illegal immigration, arguments against illegality frequently resemble bashing. Every time a member of the so-called base refers to the "real" America or the "real" Virginia, he insults newcomers who love their homes and want to play by the rules. People know when the mat says "not welcome." They recognize hostility. Gestures do not have to be overt to be noticed, either.

It is no coincidence that states making dramatic shifts from red to blue boast large and growing Hispanic populations. Last November Barack Obama won Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada -- all of which John Kerry lost four years before. If favorite son John McCain had not led the ticket, the GOP would have lost Arizona as well. And . . .

. . . The Virginia jurisdictions responsible for Democratic progress statewide typically are those with great diversity. The GOP has all but destroyed itself inside the Beltway, and, thanks in part to bashing, is destroying itself not only in Northern Virginia's vote-rich outer suburbs but even in Central Virginia.

On this one, Bush has it right. Republicans ought to listen.