In his latest column on Rick Perry, Rich Lowry of National Review not only criticizes Perry's stance on illegals, but makes reference to the problem of legal immigration in a recession. 

"What Perry portrays as the great American job machine in his state has mostly benefited people who aren’t Americans, according to a new study by the Center for Immigration Studies. This significant caveat to the Texas Miracle raises the larger question of why the country has continued to welcome millions of new immigrants during the past few years while shedding millions of jobs."

[Rick Perry’s Border Problem | If he won’t use E-Verify, he can’t complain about lax immigration enforcement September 27, 2011]

The reason I mention this is that it must now be safe to say this, or trust me, Lowry wouldn't say it!

And if it's safe to say it, it's because of VDARE.com pushing it for years when many at NRO were pushing the other way. Look at the fit John Podhoretz threw in NRO's Corner blog in 2007:

 

"Immigration Is Incompatible With a Modern Society" [John Podhoretz]

"So sayeth Mark Krikorian. Thank you, Mark. You have written honest words. And this is where I came in. Nearly four years ago, speaking out in modest support for the original Bush proposal on immigration, I was hammered by John Derbyshire and others for not understanding the profound difference between LEGAL IMMIGRATION (good) and ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION (bad). Now it seems we are to view immigration — all immigration — as incompatible with a modern society. So why didn't you immigration restrictionists just say so in the first place, instead of hiding behind the word "illegal"? Why didn't you then acknowledge your problem wasn't with law-breaking at all but rather with the fact that any people are coming in? Could it be that you knew then it was an extremist view that only had support on the fringe, but that there would be real strength behind using the illegality of illegal immigration to rally people to your cause? And that now, with real movement in your direction ideologically, you now feel freer to advocate openly what you have always hinted at but have never quite said so blatantly?

Again, I thank you for your honesty. America is no longer to admit immigrants. Period. I hope you will now drop the weasel adjective "illegal" from the rhetoric from here on in, because otherwise, you will just be trying to snow people."

See also what Daniel Griswold, the late Richard Nadler, and just the other day, Kevin Williamson said on NRO for more pseudo-conservative NRO rhetoric in favor of legal and illegal immigration.

But if it is possible for NRO to criticize Rick Perry and legal immigration, will it be possible for them to stop acting like Republican operatives, and endorsing him anyway, like they did with McCain?