Republicans spent the Day After in some disarray -- a House leadership fight, a President bringing back his old "uniter not a divider" act, the surprise sacking of Don Rumsfeld.

But do not expect the GOP to remain fractured for long. As I argue in Wait! Don't Move To Canada!:

When they do lose, Republicans don't devolve into making soul-searching spectacles of themselves. There's no debate about whether they still support lower taxes or if they should finally give peace a chance. They have their factions and their squabbles, but the big-picture stuff is set in stone.

(To the extent that they are squabbling over big-picture stuff right now, it's over whether they are living up to their current principles, not if they should get some new principles.)

But they are off their game for the moment. If Dems are to take advantage, they should act fast, and not give the GOP time to regroup.

The biggest betrayal of their weak political position was when Dubya suggested he could cut a deal on raising the minimum wage:

...[minimum wage is] an area where I believe we can make some -- find common ground. And as we do, I'll be, of course, making sure that our small businesses are -- there's compensation for the small businesses in the bill.

A veto of a popular minimum wage hike clearly is something Dubya wants to avoid.

While signing a temporary raise that will eventually be wiped out by inflation again wouldn't upset GOP corporate backers too badly (especially considering how low the minimum currently is).

And getting a little bipartisan cred would restore some of his depleted political capital.

So why give Bush the lifeline? Especially if any compromise would do little to lift up the working class.

Instead, the soon-to-be Speaker and Senate Majority Leader should announce that any minimum wage package must include automatic annual cost-of-living increases.

Groundwork has been laid on that front, as voters in six states just approved such measures.

If Bush blinks on that, great. We will finally solve the problem of the perennially degrading minimum wage.

If (as is more likely) Bush just can't swallow that, it will further clarify what separates the two parties, and further the effort to better define what the Democratic Party stands and fights for -- a representative and responsive government, that responsibly addresses root causes of problems, so we can build an economy that works for all Americans.

Now, if Democrats are hungry to pass something for Bush to sign, just to show that they can, immigration reform is the better bet (which Bush also hinted at yesterday.)

They basically shared the same position this year, so no compromises are needed.

But there's no need to give Republicans a chance for them to pretend they care about working Americans, by passing a temporary wage hike that everyone knows will only dissipate again.