Man, when they switch to epic mythology mode, you know they're desperate.

[TS] Sir Galahad of the G.O.P.

By DAVID BROOKS

The elevator guy is cheerful and the subway operators are polite, but there is something about the subterranean trip from the Capitol back to your Senate office building that gets you down. The dinginess. The barren walls. And you don't need that right now. You're a Republican senator supporting the immigration compromise.

You should know now our hero's lot doesn't improve by the end of the op-ed. No...

What bothers you about the restrictionists is not that they are primitives or racists. They're not.

Not all of them, anyway.

It's their imperviousness, their unwillingness to compromise. They don't have the numbers to govern, but they think they have the numbers to destroy.

Of course. They are the Angry White Men. It's the first political tactic they learned, the first that worked...it is to AWMs what protest marches are to Civil Rights workers.

And here's the thing, Mr. Imaginary Senator...these folk elected you. You know who they are. On the highest levels and the lowest, they are your strongest supporters.

It's almost as if they are not going to engage in any back-and-forth as a matter of principle.

Of course...of all the traits that bound them to George Bush, that is among their favorites. No flip-flopping. Stay the course. Act from principle. And they are angry because YOU are now coming up decidedly short of the principles you espoused to get elected.

You know this is a classic Frankenstein story, right?

And you feel the support in your politician's bones. 

Hate to tell you, David...that's not support you feel in your bones. It's fear.