That's when he decided to slip in his prepared attack. "They're coming here because there is a magnet. And the magnet is called jobs. And those people that hire illegals ought to be penalized," Perry said. "And Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year. And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy."

It should be said that there is a Republican who deserves mockery for his hypocrisy on immigration. Meet Lou Dobbs, whose embarrassment must be epic. But Mitt Romney? Here are the facts: "The Boston Globe first reported in December 2006 that Mr. Romney was employing a lawn care company that regularly hired illegal immigrants. He said he had dismissed an illegal immigrant he discovered working on his property. But he continued to use the same lawn company, and a year later The Globe reported that the company had once again employed illegal immigrants for lawn care. The day of the second Globe report, Mr. Romney fired the company." This is supposed to be a factor in a race for the presidency? Nonsense.

The irony is that as a lifelong Texan, and a rich one for some time now, the notion that Perry has never so much as done business with anyone who employs illegal immigrants is laughable. Does he ever eat out? Or take taxis? Does he verify the legal status of every house cleaner, gardener, plumber, locksmith and carpenter who sets foot on his property? How will his donors feel about the notion that anyone who has employed an illegal immigrant deserves censure?

Here's how Romney came back at Perry. "When I was governor, I took the action of empowering our state police to enforce immigration laws," he said. "When you were governor, you said, I don't want to build a fence. You put in place a magnet. You talked about magnets. You put in place a magnet to draw illegals into the state, which was giving $100,000 of tuition credit to illegals that come into this country, and then you have states -- the big states of illegal immigrants are California and Florida. Over the last 10 years, they've had no increase in illegal immigration.Texas has had 60 percent increase in illegal immigrants in Texas. If there's someone who has a record as governor with regards to illegal immigration that doesn't stand up to muster, it's you."

This too is nonsense.

When it comes to illegal immigration, jobs are the only "magnet" that matters. Whatever one thinks of in-state tuition for illegal immigrant kids who grew up in Texas for a substantial chunk of their childhoods, the notion that significant numbers of people sneaked across the border because they hoped that years later their kids could get a price break at UT defies common sense.