Today’s New York Times editorial plays quite a trick.  It’s a soaring, pleasing-enough headline — “Ain’t That America.”  But the pessimistic dark-clouded copy quickly shows the paper’s true colors.

The topic is illegal immigration, linked to “America’s greatest historical shames”:

“We are heading down this road again. … The evidence can be seen in any state or town that has passed constitutionally dubious laws to deny undocumented immigrants the basics of living, like housing or the right to gather or to seek work. It’s in hot lines for citizens to turn in neighbors. It’s on talk radio and blogs. It’s on the campaign trail, where candidates are pressed to disown moderate positions.”

Feel free to roll your eyes.  We know, we know, America is going down the crapper because of talk radio and blogs.  Oh, and because of conservatives.  Words like “worst” and “shame” and “hate” are hardly surprising when the Times throw this type of tantrum.

But what’s surprising this go-around is that the paper missed an easy opportunity to say one good thing about immigrants and America.  That thing, of course, is Louisiana’s new governor, Bobby Jindal, a son of immigrants — legal immigrants — from India.

That single uplifting anecdote  is probably at cross-purposes (Too optimistic?  Too, gulp, Republican?) with the Times’ editorial purposes.  We’ll just have to share that happy immigration news among ourselves.   Bobby Jindal — Ain’t That America?