Bloomberg.com conveniently labels freshman Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado a conservative, while pointing out that his position on illegal immigration amounts to little more than giving Barack Obama a free hand to do what he wants, irrespective of what the American people or even the House might prefer.

Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, a conservative Republican, warned his former colleagues in the House that they made a mistake by voting to roll back President Barack Obama’s executive action shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

When Democrats sought to stop what they viewed as misguided policy decisions by the Bush administration, saying no seemed to be enough. Unfortunately, Republicans like Gardner don’t appear to have the backbone to just say no to anything. That might require them to actually advocate for something such as the rule of law to constituents back at home, as opposed to simply going with the flow of illegal immigration that Democrats and many in the media prefer.

“Instead of just saying ‘no,'” Republicans need to “actually come up with a solution,” Gardner said in an interview on Public Broadcasting System’s “Charlie Rose” program. “Just to stop this or that isn’t the best foot forward.”

What a difference a promotion can make.

He had served two terms in the House of Representatives, where he was a popular conservative in Republican circles. But, reflecting his statewide office, he cautioned Republicans to avoid sending an excessively negative message on immigration. He disagreed with Obama’s executive order in November, though he supported the 2012 action on the Dreamers. Now he believes his party should start with bills to beef up border security along with a guest-worker program, which would ultimately be followed by a move to legal status or citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants. “At some point that will be one of the solutions that is reached,” he said in the interview.

This may not win Gardner any friends across the GOP base. Perhaps he reasons: who needs friends like that when he has… Joe Biden.