David Frum suggests that Mike Pence may have been the victim of the infamous Pence Plan, that he may have been "suckered" by someone in the Open Borders Lobby.

(This would be Helen Krieble, see VDARE.com's reportage here.) If so, that would make him too naive to be an effective minority leader. But Mickey Kaus, on Slate.com, believes that Pence is not too idealistic to be minority party leader—he's not idealistic enough. Meaning he's genuinely dishonest and treacherous. Here's what Mickey has to say:

Hmm. I rise to the defend Pence's cynicism and guilefulness. On Laura Ingraham's radio show, he gave the impression that he'd abandoned the Pence plan (which would reward illegal immigrants by letting employers arrange for them to become guest workers—the technical wrinkle being they'd have to leave the country briefly or perhaps just touch base at a border station). But in this Tuesday interview with Mary Katharine Ham it becomes clear Pence still backs the Pence Plan, and indeed intends to bring it up again if the opportunity arises.

As I told all of my colleagues, I stand by the legislation that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and I built, that we put border security first, and then create a guest worker program outside of the United States, only after completed border security measures. And applicants to that guest worker program would have to leave the United States of America to apply. We add into that strong employer enforcement sanctions. I believe then and I believe now that is a solution that could work and could be acceptable to many conservatives, me included. But I want to say again, that ship has sailed. That compromise will not be considered. We are going to get the McCain-Kennedy Bill. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs a math lesson. They have the math; they have control of the floor of the House and Senate now. I was heartened to hear Senator Jon Kyl expressed the willingness in the last twenty-four hours to use a filibuster in the Senate to stop an amnesty bill. I will look forward to being the power of the House minority effort to back that rhetorically and to use every weapon in our arsenal. The American people do not support amnesty and do not want to see Congress pass amnesty legislation. With that being said, I still believe the idea that we floated with a good one, and if we were in a different universe, I would still be advocating for it. [E.A.]

In other words, he's been trying to con gullible conservatives into thinking he's abandoned his con. Meta-fraud! By Frum's lights, he's the perfect minority leader. ... P.S.: To hear Pence oleaginate on Ingraham's show, click here. ... 5:38 P.M.

So if Pence is either naive, (David Frum's version) or sleazy, (Mickey Kaus's version) he's not going to make a good minority leader—and either way, the Pence Plan may be back.