Jack and company., originally uploaded by Invisionary Photos.

The Wall Street Journal is at it again today, giving the White House free rein over its editorial page. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman do their best to sell the amnesty deal to a skeptical public and enraged conservative base.

With the latest Rasmussen poll showing that just 16% believe the bill will actually reduce illegal immigration, the White House is pulling out all everything at its disposal to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, Bush and Mehlman’s argument is the same rhetoric that we’re tired of hearing. They even have the gall to say the bill “reinforces the rule of law in a practical and fair way” (emphasis added). What’s wrong with just enforcing the law?

Just a few days ago, I wrote about the dangers of using public policy to achieve political ends. But today, Bush and Mehlman make exactly that case. They write:

Both of us have spent much of our professional lives working to help build the Republican Party. We believe this legislation will be good for the GOP. Hispanic Americans are natural Republicans.

Does that argument sound familiar? The White House told conservatives the same thing in 2003 when Karl Rove and President Bush strong-armed Republicans in Congress into supporting the largest entitlement program since the days of LBJ’s Great Society. The Medicare prescription drug bill, we were told, would guarantee Republicans the majority for decades. Three years later, the GOP was knocked out of power in Congress.

Bush and Mehlman must think we’re a bunch of fools.

UPDATE — 11:58 a.m.: Heather Mac Donald has a good piece on National Review Online countering what Bush and Mehlman had to say about Proposition 187 in California.