California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner (R-CA) has been pulling out every stop to present himself as a conservative immigration hawk and convince California voters that his opponent, former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman (R-CA), is “no real Republican.” His most recent effort consists of a television ad which alleges that, by supporting a path to legalization that would require undocumented immigrants to go to the back of the line, pay a fine, and learn English, Whitman and President Obama both support a policy of “amnesty.” Watch it:

Poziner’s research team may have missed Whitman affirmatively declaring herself “100 percent against amnesty, no exceptions.” They also may want to look “amnesty” up in the dictionary. The term implies that someone is pardoned for his or her crimes without penalty or acknowledgement of wrongdoing. Both President Obama and Whitman have stated that they support a tough and earned path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, but that’s not amnesty. For that matter, Whitman also shares a similar view with many conservative leaders including Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, former President George W. Bush, and even tea party strategist Dick Armey.

Tony Quinn, a GOP political commentator, has described Poizner’s anti-immigrant race baiting as “political suicide”:

California in 2010 is not Alabama in 1958. For one thing, immigration ranks low on the GOP issue totem pole, well behind taxes, bad schools, poor roads and the mad hatter state budget mess. Immigration into California has slowed in the past decade because of the poor economy, making immigrants less of a target. And California voters don’t believe the politicians will do anything about it anyway.

But Poizner has accomplished one thing; he’s made himself unelectable in November, and further damaged his own party. [...] Poizner’s done; it’s time to stick a fork in him, and business and responsible Republicans ought to lead the way.

As of 2007, 43.6% of immigrants (or 4.4 million people) in California were naturalized U.S. citizens who can vote. Latinos meanwhile comprised 21.4% of California voters in the 2008 elections, and Asians 9.7%. Meanwhile, Quinn also points out that white voters are “the most liberal voters in California.”

A businessman like Poizner should also be sensitive to the fact that California could risk losing $164.2 billion in expenditures, $72.9 billion in economic output, and approximately 717,000 jobs if it removed all of its undocumented immigrants. A study by the University of Southern California found that putting California’s 1.8 million undocumented Latino immigrants on a path to legalization would generate $16 billion annually.

In an interview published today in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Moshe Ya’alon — Israel’s Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Strategic Affairs, and a close adviser of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu — reveals that the lame efforts to resume the negotiations with the Palestinians are just “maneuvers” by the Netanyahu administration. Ya’alon’s comments explain that the gestures made by Netanyahu — from the qualified endorsement of the two-state solution to the decision to partially and temporarily freeze construction in the settlements — are all strategically intended to allow for greater settlement expansion in the future.

“And I say so out of knowledge,” Ya’alon told Yediot. “Nobody in the forum of seven [senior cabinet ministers] thinks that we can reach an agreement with the Palestinians.” Yediot Ahronot reports (print version, translated from Hebrew):

Q: So why all these games of make-believe negotiations? It’s possible to announce that we will not reach an agreement, and that is all.

YA’ALON: Because in the political establishment there are pressures. Peace Now from within and other elements from without. So you have to maneuver. But what I’m saying now has to be given over to the Americans, and I hope that they will understand.

Some of what we have to do is maneuver with the American administration and the European establishment, which are also nourished by Israeli elements, which create the illusion that an agreement can be reached.

Ya’alon disclosed that Netanyahu has made clear that he intends to increase settlement activity as soon as the freeze expires. “The prime minister reiterates all the time,” Ya’alon said, “and also brought a decision to the security cabinet that says clearly, that immediately after the freeze, we will continue to build in Judea and Samaria as we did before.”

Q: Will we evacuate settlements in the end?

YA’ALON: I do not accept that. What has happened to us in recent years obligates us to stop with everything connected to withdrawal.

The Netanyahu administration’s refusal to offer any compromise on settlement expansion in Jerusalem so angered President Obama that the president “walked out of his meeting” with the Prime Minister. The Netanyahu camp is huddling for discussions today, reportedly considering how to respond to Obama’s demands. It remains to be seen whether they will offer genuine accommodation or just more “maneuvers.”

(Hebrew translation provided by Americans for Peace Now.)