Worst of Three Worlds! House Judiciary Rep. Bob Goodlatte has come out of the closet as an amnesty supporter. Of course, Goodlatte wants legalization, not citizenship–or rather, not a “special path” to citizenship. But he would apparently still legalize more or less the entire illegal immigrant population. Traditional amnesty advocates would clearly jump to accept the plan. …

Goodlatte seems to be hoping he can bring along conservatives by claiming his proposal isn’t as bad as the Senate’s massive bill (and, implicitly, by suggesting it would be better for Republicans by delaying the day when all those newly legalized immigrants could register and vote Democratic). Never mind that it’s the worst-of-both-worlds for the GOPs–actually, the worst of three worlds: It (1) creates a huge incentive for further illegal immigration–’Look, they got to stay legally’–while (2) expanding the Democratic electorate in the long run while (3) giving Dems an issue (the denial of citizenship) to use to keep winning the Latino vote in the short run. …