...or will issuing driver's licenses to illegals drive Eliot Spitzer crazy?

Can God create a puzzle that God can't solve? Can the Governor of New York create a puzzle that Hillary Clinton can't solve? How many Democratic Presidential Candidates can fit on the head of a pin? Weighty questions indeed! These are not, however, the issues that currently plague the Democratic Governor of New York. Instead, Gov. Spitzer is wondering which one of his aides to assassinate for suggesting the issuing of driver's licenses to New York's one million illegal residents (including about 50,000 Irish). This political hand grenade was clearly manufactured by the same company that gave Bill Clinton a stinkbomb called "Don't ask, don't tell". A fact or two is required before we proceed: First, Eliot Spitzer didn't dream up this bit of political suicide by himself. As of 2003, 15 states allowed undocumented "guests" to own a driver's license. Lest you think that the roster is comprised exclusively of blue-state lefties, think again. Idaho, Montana, North Carolina and Utah are on the list. Massachusetts is not. (The current number of states on the list is seven but isitjustme is too lazy to do all that research to discover which ones they are.) Second, the law enforcement community is mostly in favor of licensing everyone who drives a car. Because the task of mopping up America's highways falls to them, you can see their point. Better to have illegals trained, tested and licensed, with insurance, based on the theory that they will probably drive anyway. Cops may be Conservatives at heart but they are pragmatic. Also, a driver is less likely to leave the scene of an accident if they know that they won't end up calling AllState from Guatemala. The Governor's plan, to issue undocumented drivers a special license which will declare their status as illegal, addressed some of the concerns regarding voting and boarding a plane but why read the fine print when yelling "treason" is so much more fun? By the way, could someone, anyone please stuff a sock in Lou Dobbs' mouth. This boy is in serious need of Ritalin. The way he rants and goes all red-in-the-face on the subject of immigration, you'd think that all 12 million illegals moved into his condo complex. I wonder who cuts his lawn and cleans his toilets? No one is forgetting that there are 12 million folks at our party without an invitation. Many of these people work hard and live so far below the radar that no one knows how many are really here. We are faced with an issue that presents few good solutions. Conservatives, as usual, smell blood in the waters. Immigration will be the wedge issue in 2008 and the Karl Rove types will certainly paint Democrats as "soft on illegals". The driver's license issue in New York doesn't help. Democrats will need to get out in front of this or risk a repeat of 2000/2004. Sadly, many of my fellow citizens have the attention span of a Great Dane and a gut issue like illegal immigration can easily make them forget Katrina, Iraq (six years, 2900 Americans dead, no end in sight), and all of the myriad failures of Bush 43. Kansas will cling to any issue that will allow them to vote Red. The issue of illegals is too important to reduce to political sound bites. Everyone with an IQ of two digits understands that there is no quick fix. We need bipartisan solutions that are workable and address the long range goals of stopping millions of strangers from entering America illegally. Unfortunately we are entering an election year and the Republicans are in deep trouble. Don't expect any intelligent proposals in 2008. In the meantime, try to limit all your driving to New Jersey.