Spitzer Defiantly Refuses to Get It.

Here's the latest from Gov. Spitzer on the immigrant license question from the AP state correspondent:

"There is enormous support from those who understand these are the objectives and these have been the objectives," Spitzer told The Associated Press. "There is also opposition from fringe [sic] on the other side who simply don't want to give the immigrant community any rights."

I don't know what's more pathetic: Spitzer's intellectual dishonesty in conflating the "immigrant community" with undocumented, illegal immigrants, or his bizarre attempt to invoke the authority of Secretary Chertoff of Homeland Security in support of his plan. This is the state of New York, after all; whom did he expect to impress with that bit of name dropping?

This article clarifies some details about the three-tier license system. Most importantly, the basic license for which the undocumented will be eligible will apparently include a disclaimer warning that it does not prove legal residency in the country. This sounds like a half-measure at best, but realistically speaking, who would want a license that affirmed that the bearer is an illegal immigrant? I suppose this is a way for Spitzer to show that he's really only interested in giving the undocumented the opportunity to learn how to drive properly, since the basic license is theoretically no gateway to other privileges. But he's still given opponents of his plan no reason to abandon their belief that trespassers in this country shouldn't have the right to drive. Instead, he falls back on name-calling and blanket accusations that border (no pun intended) on slander. He still has a long way to go before this issue is past him.