Nope. I fought hard. It takes two to have a fight. To be sure, the national party did start the fight. Had they left amnesty alone and moved to border security only, there would never have been a fight. But no doubt, conservatives continued the fight. And, the party leadership started the name calling too (remember "vigilantes" escalating to "rascists?").
But there's nothing wrong with a fight, as long as it's about something important. The "circular firing squad" language is always used by people who are about to get their way and want the folks who oppose them to shut up. The implication of the language is that we are killing each other over nothing.
But this was much more than a circular firing squad. The base saved the party leadership from itself, which was about to commit suicide on behalf of the entire party. And some important markers were laid down in that fight about what the Republican party stands for. And the presidential candidates noticed. You don't find them running around arguing that amnesty is a good idea this year (even if they secretly think it is). Eight years ago, our leading candidate was doing just that.
I have no doubt that amnesty is coming. There is too much money and power behind it for it not to happen (D underclass exploiters combined with R businesses is a POWERFUL coalition). But when it happens, and eventually it will, it will be a dem initiative almost entirely--the R leadership is stupid, but no so stupid that it will sponsor amnesty, which has only minority support in their party and unanimous support in the crazy branch of the D's. So we will be able to pin amnesty on the dems when it happens. That will go far toward recreating the Reagan coalition because it will peel off the Reagan democrats.
Yup immigration and amnesty is one issue. There are more issues too which are also important. Smart voting is always a matter of setting proiorities and picking your battles. The immigration fight is a good battle and has support on both sides. However, circular firing squads are usually fought by those who are too myopic to see the enemy at their back.