The southern Democrats refused to see the writing on the wall until the 1960s (then they flipped Republican). They knew that the northern branch of the party (and those silly things like civil rights and obeying the Constitution) all were on the ascendant and they were losing their relevance, but these beliefs die hard. To me, it's a matter of the need for solid moderate/liberal Republican leadership on immigration to get DREAM, CIR etc. into law AND to save their party from irrelevance and ridicule in the eyes of most Americans.

In other words, Steele was an awful choice. This "fresh" approach is bunk, and most people will realize that if they don't already.