I think it's safe to assume the right will be less than pleased with Rudy Giuliani's interview with Glenn Beck yesterday:

GLENN: [I]sn't illegal immigration a crime in and of itself?

GIULIANI: No.

GLENN: Aren't you saying --

GIULIANI: Glenn --

GLENN: You're protecting criminals by saying that being treated as a criminal is unfair.

GIULIANI: Glenn, it's not a crime. I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime.

GLENN: It's a misdemeanor but if you've been nailed, it is a crime. If you've been nailed, ship back and come back, it is a crime.

GIULIANI: Glenn, being an illegal immigrant, the 400,000 were not prosecuted for crimes by the federal government, nor could they be.... In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding.

Beck followed up by asking if illegal immigration should be a crime, prompting Giuliani to argue, "No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it."

Now, Giuliani isn't wrong. Illegal immigrants aren't imprisoned for being in the country; they're deported. There's simply no practical way to incarcerate every single person who enters the U.S. illegally.

But as far as the Republican base is concerned, the former NYC mayor, whose record on immigration was far too liberal for GOP tastes anyway, has given far-right activists just another reason to question his conservative bona fides.