The GOP has released a draft version of their new "Pledge to America"; the official release will be tomorrow at a Virginia hardware store (for that extra-special down-home touch). They focus on five main areas:

* "A Plan to Create Jobs, End Economic Uncertainty, and Make America More Competitive"
* "A Plan to Stop Out-of-Control Spending and Reduce the Size of Government"
* "A Plan to Repeal and Replace the Government Takeover of Health Care"
* "A Plan to Reform Congress and Restore Trust"
* "A Plan to Keep Our Nation Secure at Home & Abroad"

Following page upon page devoted to the first four, the last is tucked at the end almost as an addendum. And, tucked onto the end of that are the only three items directly relating to immigration:

* Establish Operational Control of the Border: We must take action to secure our borders, and that action starts with enforcing our laws. We will ensure that the Border Patrol has the tools and authorities to establish operational control at the border and prohibit the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture from interfering with Border Patrol enforcement activities on federal lands.

* Work with State and Local Officials to Enforce Our Immigration Laws: The problem of illegal immigration and Mexican drug cartels engaged in an increasingly violent conflict means we need all hands on deck to address this challenge. We will reaffirm the authority of state and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of all federal immigration laws.

* Strengthen Visa Security: To stop terrorists like Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, we will require the Department of Homeland Security to review all visa applications at high-risk consular posts and prevent aliens from attempting to avoid deportation after having their visas revoked.

Secure the border is oftentimes a dodge meant to hide other weaknesses on immigration; see the link. And, that's probably what it is in this case too, although the sentence about the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture are hopeful and more than I would have expected. See this for the backstory.

The second paragraph certainly sounds better than what Janet Napolitano does, but whether they'd go as far as allowing Joe Arpaio and others to conduct immigration sweeps isn't clear.

And, the third is, of course, what we should have been doing but apparently haven't.

That sounds good, but the plan doesn't include, for instance, anything about attrition (now the official state policy of Arizona), or supporting/opposing guest workers, anything involving language issues, or opposing anti-American bills like the DREAM Act. In fact, it doesn't say anything about opposing amnesty or comprehensive immigration reform at all. It doesn't point out how very vulnerable almost all Democratic leaders are to good arguments against their immigration policies. It doesn't acknowledge that the Hispanic vote is to a good degree an illusion. It doesn't acknowledge that massive illegal immigration is an indicator of massive private and public corruption and pledge to avoid any attempts to profit from or enable the profiting from illegal activity.

In other words, it's not completely bogus, but considering the source it's close.