The editors of the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal were sitting around an oversized table in an office high above Manhattan talking with one another in those tones of mutual approbation that members of the wise-and-knowing class reserve for one another when they are talking about the unenlightened.

In this case, the targets of their conversation were the benighted "conservatives" now insisting that the federal government make a serious effort to enforce the laws of the United States before giving up and granting amnesty to somewhere between 12 million and 20 million illegal aliens.

The conference was captured on videotape and posted on the Internet -- apparently by the editors themselves.

"But the other thing that is fascinating to me," said Journal Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot, "is the degree to which the right isn't even rational about this anymore."

Gigot named a name.

The "conservatives at National Review," he said, are pushing an "enforcement-first agenda," which means they want to build a "border fence" and "harass business."

Another editor was certain that deep down the drive to enforce the immigration laws had dark and sinister -- even unspeakable -- roots. "But the fact is," said Deputy Editorial Page Editor Daniel Henninger, "their objection is fundamentally cultural -- and they can't say that, OK. It's the biggest unspoken truth at the center of this debate, and they can't talk about it."

Excuse me, Mr. Henninger. Let's talk about it now.

When I saw the tape of this Wall Street Journal editorial meeting -- which was linked to an editorial posted at National Review Online (for which I have occasionally written) in which the editors of National Review challenged the Journal editors to a debate on immigration -- I thought of a certain Catholic parish on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.

This parish, I suspect, must be one of the most multiethnic institutions in America. Survey the pews on any Sunday, and you will find people who can trace their ancestors -- or perhaps their own birth -- to every continent on Earth. All shades of human epidermis are represented in that congregation. Continued...