2008 Woodie Awards
Immigrants and driver's licenses
Ticket to terrorism or enhanced security?
Michael Griffin
Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: Opinions
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A few weeks ago, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer attempted to make his state's roads safer by reducing the number of people without licenses and insurance who travel on them. His plan was to allow undocumented citizens who could pass a rigorous standard of proof in substantiating their identity the chance to earn a driver's license.
Among other things, Gov. Spitzer calculated that as a result of the legislation, roughly $120 million per year born by the cost of uninsured drivers would be saved, the number of hit-and-run accidents would decrease and the state would have at least some data on the estimated one million undocumented people residing there - ultimately making the state more secure.
Of course, like so many other things involving immigration, the fanatics on the right in the supposedly liberal media quickly doused the proposal in nativist gasoline and set it on fire. Indeed, Lou Dobbs could be heard nightly on CNN railing against illegal immigrants, calling Mr. Spitzer a "spoiled, rich kid brat," deriding him as a "genius," and misconstruing his proposed policy as a sanctuary program for terrorists (New York Times, Oct. 22).
Among the other liberal media outlets, MSNBC's Tucker Carlson, CNN Headline News' Glen Beck (who once quipped in 2006 that there are three reasons why an illegal immigrant "comes across the border in the middle of the night: one, they're terrorists; two, they're escaping the law; or three, they're hungry. They can't make a living in their own dirtbag country"), and Fox News (which functions as a de facto apparatchik of the Republican Party), mouthing party sentiments and skewing news reports almost verbatim from the GOP's playbook, were all in full-hate mode seething at the thought that their very own fear-card of national security could be used against them to give brown people a driver's license (Media Matters for America).
Not that racist-fueled, anti-immigrant positions should surprise anyone, especially those citizens of Irish, Italian, Polish or Jewish ancestry cognizant of the Immigration Act of 1924, but today's commentators are careful to conceal their bigoted contempt for immigrants and any possible policies that may aid them by: 1) relentlessly discussing the immigrant's only relevant characteristic, their "illegality;" and 2) constantly associating undocumented immigrants with terrorists or as potential terrorists incognito.
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Among other things, Gov. Spitzer calculated that as a result of the legislation, roughly $120 million per year born by the cost of uninsured drivers would be saved, the number of hit-and-run accidents would decrease and the state would have at least some data on the estimated one million undocumented people residing there - ultimately making the state more secure.
Of course, like so many other things involving immigration, the fanatics on the right in the supposedly liberal media quickly doused the proposal in nativist gasoline and set it on fire. Indeed, Lou Dobbs could be heard nightly on CNN railing against illegal immigrants, calling Mr. Spitzer a "spoiled, rich kid brat," deriding him as a "genius," and misconstruing his proposed policy as a sanctuary program for terrorists (New York Times, Oct. 22).
Among the other liberal media outlets, MSNBC's Tucker Carlson, CNN Headline News' Glen Beck (who once quipped in 2006 that there are three reasons why an illegal immigrant "comes across the border in the middle of the night: one, they're terrorists; two, they're escaping the law; or three, they're hungry. They can't make a living in their own dirtbag country"), and Fox News (which functions as a de facto apparatchik of the Republican Party), mouthing party sentiments and skewing news reports almost verbatim from the GOP's playbook, were all in full-hate mode seething at the thought that their very own fear-card of national security could be used against them to give brown people a driver's license (Media Matters for America).
Not that racist-fueled, anti-immigrant positions should surprise anyone, especially those citizens of Irish, Italian, Polish or Jewish ancestry cognizant of the Immigration Act of 1924, but today's commentators are careful to conceal their bigoted contempt for immigrants and any possible policies that may aid them by: 1) relentlessly discussing the immigrant's only relevant characteristic, their "illegality;" and 2) constantly associating undocumented immigrants with terrorists or as potential terrorists incognito.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
Tom Ellis
posted 11/12/07 @ 8:24 PM CST
Waaah! The whiny hippy didn't get a new present for his beloved invaders! Waaah! Those bad mean Americans are RACIST! Waaah! If you don't bend over backwards for our 40 million "undocumented pre-citizen heroes" you're a XENOPHOBIC RACIST! Waaah! Waaah! WAAAH!
And with your inane, blathering, pouty temper tantrum, the nearly-meaningless term "racist" approaches utter worthlessness. (Continued…)
Burns
posted 11/12/07 @ 9:08 PM CST
I've found that nothing irritates a bleeding-heart, agenda-driven, thumb-sucking, rhethoric-spewing liberal like the facts.
Somehow the weasel, excuse me, writer of this article forgot to mention that 72% of New Yorkers polled were against it and a Rasmussen poll found that 77% of Americans opposed it in a national poll. (Continued…)
kicemout
posted 11/12/07 @ 9:14 PM CST
The author of this article talks about the fanatics on the right. He is definitely a fanatic on the left. The article doesn't even deserve a comment. (Continued…)
dharcourt
posted 11/12/07 @ 10:32 PM CST
Liberal idiots. The great governor said he could save 120 million dollars a year if he could give these fine "citizens" a drivers license.He could save billions a year from the free medical,foodstamps,sec. (Continued…)
larry ross
posted 11/12/07 @ 11:24 PM CST
the author of this article ought to spend some time in los angeles/orange county to see how his beloved illegals have ruined the place. what kind of country do these sob sister half wits want their children and grandchildren to grow up in?
Mike McGarry
posted 11/13/07 @ 3:07 AM CST
Wow, these race-baiting punks are really getting desparate, as evidenced by this clown's aggressiveness and stridency. I once had one of these guys, knowing my contempt for illegal alienage, approach me on the street trash talk me in the same manner a this dope. (Continued…)
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