The best defense is a good offense. When one is attacking, the fighting is done on the enemy's land, destroying his fields and factories, while your lands remain productive. Even if you are defeated in the offensive, you have given yourself enough time to rebuild and attack again in a different spot, keeping the enemy off-balance and unable to recover.
That is what Karl Rove is doing to us.
They went on the offensive about 'terrorism'. They went on the offensive with Iraq. When their ineptitude was revealed, they went on the offensive against immigrants. And we remain on the defensive.
Don't play into their hands! If you are in the SouthWest, protect your fellow human beings from the INS. Political insiders in New York and DC: Your strategy ought to be to show that immigration is a red herring. Just say it, over and over again: This is a red herring. Bush is distracting us from his failure in Iraq. Immigration is not a crisis. Social security was not a crisis, and people found out, so we won (for a little while, at least).
We've got to get off immigration, because that is where they have momentum. They have redefined the entire debate- By putting "badges and guns" on the ground, they are making people forget about Iraq entirely. Where is Osama bin Ladin? Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction? Don't get distracted again, Democrats! Ignore the enemy's counter-attack!
Go on the offensive! We have today the chance to strike at the enemy's heart!
(alternatively, democrats could make sure an immigration-control bill gets passed extremely quickly so we can get back to the real issues, although this is not preferable because of that whole "ethnic cleansing" thing)