Over in the Corner, there’s a heated debate over whether using the term “nation of immigrants” is now some sort of code language to advocate open borders.

There is nothing that will turn the GOP into a minority quicker – that will make the completely-out-of-power eras of 1992-1994 and 1976-1980 look like glory days – than to position the GOP as a party that opposes, or at least looks down upon legal immigration. And at least one candidate has made that case:

TANCREDO: But let’s be serious about this, you guys. We can talk about all the immigration reform we want and what it’s got to get down to is this: Are we ready for a time-out? Are we actually ready to say, enough is enough, we have to stop all legal immigration except for people coming into this country as family members, immediate family members, and/or refugees.

I was glad that Rudy, among other candidates, swung away at Tom Tancredo like he was a slow, hanging curve right over the plate. I refer readers to one of the best speeches of the 2004 Republican convention:

To my fellow immigrants listening tonight, I want you to know how welcome you are in this party. We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in you[r] future. And one thing I learned about America is that if you work hard and if you play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything. Everything I have — my career, my success, my family — I owe to America. In this country, it doesn’t make any difference where you were born. It doesn’t make any difference who your parents were. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re like me and you couldn’t even speak English until you were in your twenties. America gave me opportunities and my immigrant dreams came true. I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities. And I believe they can. That’s why I believe in this country. That’s why I believe in this Party, and that’s why I believe in this President.

Other countries look at circumstances like Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming governor of California and have a bit of envy, because they know that immigrants cannot rise and achieve in their nation the way they can in the United States. What can Austria, or Germany, or the UK, or Japan, or even China offer the hardworking dreamers and entrepreneurs around the world? We will always be able to attract the best and brightest, so long as we make opportunities for them – and they’re willing to work hard and follow our laws and rules.

There is a distinction between wanting immigrants to obey the law and not wanting them at all. A party that doesn’t make that distinction clear will alienate all kinds of voters.

As readers can guess, I concur with John Boehner’s off-color assessment of the immigration deal, and I oppose any legislation that gives off a whiff of amnesty. But the moment voices within the GOP start trying to turn it into the anti-legal-immigration party, all hell will break loose, and the accusations of xenophobia will start carrying some weight.