Radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt has a brandy-new “must-read” book for political junkies called Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority, in which Hugh offers his own sage advice to Republicans if they want to maintain or extend their majority in Congress this fall.

While I’m looking forward to reading Hugh’s book, it is my own humble view that if Republicans have any hopes of holding (or bettering) their majority status following the 2006 elections and beyond, all they really have to do is grow a spine and condense their message around five core issues:

1) Stay the course in Iraq and the Global War on Terror.

In other words, plaster John Murtha’s defeatist message all over the airwaves, then follow it up with this rebuttal: we’re not leaving Iraq one day earlier than necesary to get the job done, which means: securing a stable government for its people, and leaving with the confidence that Iraq can stand on its own. The war against Saddam has morphed into a bitter struggle between Al-Qaida and radical Islamic fundamentalism one one hand, and the U.S. and western civilization and values on the other, which is fine, let’s destroy them over there so we don’t have to do it here. Wars are messy; post-wars even messier. Want proof? We still have troops in Korea and Germany, don’t we?

2) Tax reduction and continued tax relief.

This is one area where the Democrats have absolutely no credibility. The message should be clear and simple: vote Democrat, and you’re voting for higher taxes. Period.

3) Confirming conservative judges:

A critical issue for getting the base out. Conservatives may not be happy with Republicans in Congress (especially the Senate) right now, but you cannot deny that the possibility of the GOP losing it’s ability to replace aging, liberal activist judges with younger jurists of a more restrained philoposophical bent on both the Supreme Court and U.S. District Court benches should be incentive enough to convince even the most recalcitrant conservative and apathetic Libertarian to support GOP candidates when they might otherwise stay home.

4) Put forth a plan to reduce Federal spending.

Where have all the Reagan Republicans gone? The greatest danger facing Republican chances this fall and beyond. The GOP’s woeful record in this Congress, allowing the federal budget and the deficit to grow like it has, has deflated conservative morale and encouraged the Libertarian movement. One thing for sure: if Republicans do poorly this fall, it will be primarily due to a lack of enthusiasm by the base, resulting from the decided lack of fiscal discipline exhibited by President Bush and the Republican-led Congress of the past six years.

5) Tough immigration reform.

Another area where the Republicans in Congress have lost their spine. Are they so worried about offending Hispanic voters in the Southwest that they’re willing to forego a natural, made-to-order constituency that could ultimately pay HUGE dividends at the ballot box: blue-collar families (the old “Reagan Democrats”) and the labor unions of the electoral vote-rich Rust Belt.

If Republicans would do a full-court press on these voters, explaining how illegal immigration depresses salaries and reduces overall quality of work (valid arguments to blue-collar workers), takes away American jobs (the very reason United Farm Worker’s Union poster-boy Caesar Chavez vehemently opposed illegal immigration), and diverts money and resources that could otherwise be directed towards social programs and/or tax incentives for American businesses, thereby reducing “off-shoring” and increasing economic growth and employment. By making this powerful case to an otherwise-loyal Democratic constituency, you never know - it could lay the groundwork for a Midwest resurgence that would not only dampen Democratic hopes in 2006, it could grease the skids for another Republican president in 2008.

So there you have it - The Great White Shank’s fail-proof, down-home recipe for Republican success in the fall. See, I just spared you the cost of Hugh’s book! Just kidding, Hugh…

But seriously, folks, without even having read it yet, I would highly recommend Hugh’s new book, if for no other reason than his uncanny ability to predict the future. In his previous book If It’s Not Close They Can’t Cheat, he stressed the importance of Republican get-out-the-vote efforts to counteract the pre-election shenanigans the Democratic Party has become increasingly reliant on in recent years. In Blog, he accurately foretold the growth of the “blogsphere” and the impact bloggers would have on both the cultural and political landscape, and the mainstream media who once controlled it.

The common wisdom out there is that 2006 will be a bloodbath for Republicans and a watershed year for the Democratic Party. If the GOP apparatus in Washington and across the nation were to pay heed to Hugh’s book (or, even better, this post ), it doesn’t have to be that way. Out in the American heartland, and here in Phoenix - one of the epicenters of the immigration reform battle - my sense is that the spirit of the conservative base, while weary of the mainstream media’s overwhelmingly-negative coverage of events in Iraq, the constant thrashing of the President by Democrats and their cohorts in both the mainstream media and Hollywood, nevertheless remain willing. Nevertheless, it will be up to the GOP and its roster of candidates for national election to run campaigns that are bold, dynamic, and issues-oriented to ensure that the flesh come November does not go weak.

BTW, Hugh was part of a panel at the Heritage Foundation earlier today to discuss his book, and Mary Katharine Ham was there.

Yesterday, it was about the West’s changing perceptions of Islam and Muslims. Today, it’s immigration, specifically the debate over illegal immigration.

Has American public opinion finally reached the tipping point on illegal immigration? Have our clueless Beltway politicians finally gotten the point that illegal immigration is a serious issue, requiring serious action? In both cases, I’m thinking the answer may finally be yes, and both the burgeoning Spanish media in the U.S. and the huge illegal immigration lobby out there (both way ahead of the curve and the lumbering, slumbering mainstream media on this, by the way) know it.

This seems apparent given that we now know that it was Spanish radio stations across the country that sparked the huge outpouring of weekend rallies in support of illegal immigration - rallies that continued yesterday all across the Southwest.

If the tipping point hadn’t been reached prior to last week, my guess is the weekend rallies, rather than galvanizing public support for their cause, in fact had the opposite effect, and the rallies organizers have only themselves to blame. Did they really think that blocking traffic and creating chaos, waving Mexican flags and denouncing any goverment effort to tighten up our nation’s immigration policies (thanks, Free Republic!) is the way to shape and mold public support into believing illegal immigration is a good thing? If so, I think they seriously miscalculated and will live to regret their strategy, and soon.

Here in Phoenix, one of the epicenters of the immigration problem, we have had several days of rallies, but, if what I’ve heard around and about is any measure of public opinion, people are basically pi$$ed. Here, we know that the true by-products of illegal immigration are soaring public health costs, depressed wages for critical blue-collar jobs like construction, bloated jail populations, and one of the highest crime rates (including THE highest stolen car rate) in the nation, and no amount of rallies featuring spoiled, class-cutting high-school students will convince the locals here otherwise.

Of course, there are many complex issues surrounding the immigration issue, and many who have articulated thoughtful positions on them far more effectively than I ever could. So, without further adieu, might I recommend the following for your consideration:

Bill O’Reilly offers a sound, straight-forward 8-point plan free of bloviation.

At Red State, California Yankee has more info on how the weekend rallies were organized, and Paul J Cella has thoughts about the real issue at stake behind immigration reform.

Michelle Malkin has her usual comprehensive roundup of news and views from the weekend rallies, including this Kaus link that supports exactly what I was saying above.

Polipundit slaps the Ted Kennedy/John McCain amnesty plan upside the face to good effect. Hear! Hear!

And, about that idea that we need illegal immigrantion because they supposedly are the only ones willing to do work no other Americans want to do? Ankle Biting Pundits has a story on a subsection of the legal American population who could use a lift, emplyment-wise.

Had every intention tonight to post “Tipping Point Part II” (my immigration companion to today’s earlier post, but that will just have to wait until tomorrow…

Received from Amazon today the DVD and CD companion for Nashville Sounds, Volume I, a 1996 collection of songs by Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, sung by a variety of country music artists.

This was not a collection I was prepared to enjoy, but watching the DVD and listening to the CD made me realize just how much Brian Wilson’s timeless music transcends musical styles: whether it be Willie Nelson’s splendid rendition of “Warmth of the Sun”, or Tammy Wynette’s achingly-sincere “In My Room”, the honesty and spiritual transcendence of Brian’s music enables these performances to sound as fresh and original as if the artists had composed them themselves.

I came to know the Beach Boys long after their surf music glory days were past. It was 1974, I had long since bought my last Beatles album, and, with my brother Mark, had long been a passionate Pink Floyd fan. Nevertheless, we were both, I think, looking for something more personal and more accessible in our own musical journeys. One day, we found it when my friend Bob Noftle excitedly brought over The Beach Boys In Concert album, saying we absolutely had to hear this album. Like everyone else, I had known the Beach Boys from their “Surfin’ USA” and “Help Me, Rhonda” days, but had never taken them seriously as musical artists. To this day, however, I still remember being absolutely blown away by their soaring harmonies and diverse body of work (most of which I had never heard before) presented passionately and effectively in a concert setting.

Over the next year, Mark and I scoured every budget bin we could find at W.T. Grants, Woolworth’s, and Jordan Marsh looking for Beach Boys records we never knew existed (remember, this is how you did it in the days before the Internet) and gradually discovered the entire Beach Boys catalog, even to the point of incorporating - at that time - such obscure late 60’s nuggets like “Do It Again” into our own band’s repertoire.

Becoming the most ardent of fans, I was quicky swept away by the diverse personalities within the group:
* Brian, the resident genius - moody, eccentric, and vulnerable, he was everything I wanted to be as a person and musical artist in my own right;
* Carl Wilson, Brian’s younger brother. Solid, passionate, and protective of his brother’s musical legacy, he assumed the mantle of leadership both in the studio and on-stage after Brian suffered a nervous breakdown;
* Dennis Wilson, the devil-may-care drummer who raised more hell this side of Keith Moon, yet someone whose drum-playing drove the on-stage band, and whose music contained an aching vulnerability hard to ignore;
* Alan Jardine and Bruce Johnston, solid bandmates who helped communicate Brian’s music in a concert setting; and, of course,
* Mike Love, irascible and obnoxious, but someone who even the most ardent Brian Wilson fan must admit, provided an optimistic writing style that complemented (and at times, rescued) Brian’s music from its overwhelming melancholy.

Since then, I have collected every conceivable piece of music by Brian and “the Boys”, and continue to be astonished at how fresh it all still sounds, and how deeply it touches my soul. How Brian was somehow able to beautifully and honestly communicate all the vulnerability, pain, ainguish, and complexity of life still amazes me. Regardless of how dark the depths of despair I can feel, whenever I hear Brian’s music, I somehow know I’m never alone, and that everything is somehow, in some way, made right again.

How is that, you say? Is not “Til I Die”, “Caroline, No”, “In My Room”, “Surfer Girl”, and and “Warmth of the Sun” the most absolutely devastatingly beautiful music anyone in rock music has ever produced? Does not “California Girls”, Help Me, Rhonda”, “Good Vibrations”, and “I Get Around” communicate the timeless joy of being a teenager, free of obligations, mortgage payments, marriage ties, and punching time clocks? The Beatles may have indeed been the greatest band the rock n’ roll generation will ever produce, but for me, if Brian Wilson’s music and the Beach Boys’ harmonies are the last thing my ears ever hear, then that’s not the worst way to depart this life at all.

The Great White Shank’s Top Ten Beach Boys tunes (in no particular order):
* California Girls (Summer Days and Summer Nights!)
* In My Room (Surfer Girl)
* Caroline, No (Pet Sounds)
* ‘Til I Die (Surf’s Up)
* Warmth of the Sun (Shut Down Vol. 2)
* Surf’s Up (Surf’s Up)
* Do It Again (20/20)
* Heroes And Villains (Smiley Smile)
* Surfer Girl (Surfer Girl)
* I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (Pet Sounds)

The Great White Shank’s Top 5 Beach Boys Albums:
* Pet Sounds (1966)
* The Beach Boys Love You (1977)
* Sunflower (1970)
* Friends (1968)
* Holland (1972)

If there are any Beach Boys fan out there, I welcome your own choices and thoughts.