On Wednesday a judge held up major portions of Arizona's controversial SB1070 immigration law just hours before they were to go into effect. Though not the final word on the issue by any means, the ruling does constitute a major setback for Arizona's effort to further the immensely popular "I'm not racist but..." approach to immigration reform. All of this puts Republicans in a rather difficult spot. After spending more than a year ginning up a phony crisis, they now have to pretend to be upset about not being able to resolve the aforementioned nonexistent crisis. That can be exhausting, not to mention confusing.

Still, Republicans have been preparing for a challenge like this for some time. Just take a look at any of the myriad of recent talk show appearances explaining how a tax cuts for the nation's top 1% will benefit their throngs of unemployed followers. Just when you think they can't possibly say it with a straight face, they prove you wrong again. It's almost unnerving.

Worst of all, the GOP will have to find a new way to distract people from their own inadiquacies leading up to the November elections. Already, pesky reporters are starting to ask uncomfortable questions like "assuming you guys take control, what do you stand for, by the way?" and "can you rephrase that answer without quite so many vagaries and cliches?" It's awful. Sooner or later some Republican candidate is going to be caught on the record being in favor of something specific- and we all know that will just lead to criticism, disillusionment in the base, and subsequent back-pedaling by everyone involved.

This year Republicans are on a mission to avoid saying anything substantive until at least the second week in November. Now that SB1070 is off the table for a while, their tried-and-true "hey, look over there!" mantra isn't going to cut it. With that in mind, the RNC has hastily requisitioned hundreds of shiny pocket watches for all their high-level operatives. "Our platform? Specific budget cuts? You are getting sleepy. Very Sleepy..."

Meanwhile, the folks at Fox want everyone to know that this ruling has dealt a terrible blow to Freedom and Liberty. And by "Freedom and Liberty" they're talking about two guys they know named Freedom and Liberty, a pair of super-patriotic Tea Party activists who have been waiting all summer for live deportation coverage on FNC. You have to feel bad for those two. They were really looking forward to this. It's tome to smash the "O-Pre-SHUN!" button again and again until ratings improve. Just keep saying "activist judge" until people take you seriously.

"Activist judge," said Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. "Clearly, this is the ruling of a judicial activist. I don't even know the judge's name. I don't have to. Just looking at the headline I can see the effect of judicial activism. Viewers at home, please understand that I share your knee-jerk outrage over all of this. Do you respect me now?"

All along critics have been arguing that Arizona overstepped its bounds by assuming powers assigned exclusively to the federal government. For people who hate the federal government (Boo! Hiss!!) but love the Constitution (Hell yeah! Fireworks!) this was a particularly troubling development. Few bothered to look it up, but it turns out that kill-joys on the left are probably right. Apparently this sort of thing is frowned upon by the very document the law's proponents so fervently worship.

"The Constitution, feh," said one disappointed anti-immigration protester, kicking an empty soda can down the lonely road in front of the Arizona statehouse. "The damn thing takes the fun out of everything! Come on, let's go home."

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will probably suffer the most if SB1070 goes down in flames. Once you take away the "if racism is inevitable lay back and enjoy it" aspect of her administration, there really doesn't seem to be anything left. Without SB1070 she is nothing, a ghostly wisp on the wind that is made of other, slightly smaller, wisps.

"People have said repeatedly that our law is racist, but how is that possible if the law is so popular?" said Brewer. "It's not racism if enough people agree with it. That's a rule or something as far as I know. You see, racism is a lot like drunkenness. It's all relative, and if you're not the most obnoxious person in the room you have nothing to worry about."