Spitzer Is A Hero! And A Bum!

Gov. Spitzer of New York has abandoned his controversial plan to offer driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and the NY Times delivers something for everyone in their coverage. 

In the depths of the Metro section we learn that Spitzer is a hero:

Dropping License Plan Wins Praise for Spitzer

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — A day after abandoning his proposal to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, Gov. Eliot Spitzer won the kind of wide acclaim from elected officials that he could not win for the proposal itself.

From Albany to Capitol Hill, Democratic politicians voiced public words of praise — and breathed private sighs of relief — at Mr. Spitzer’s announcement that he would scuttle the proposal, after a bitter seven-week battle that battered the governor and turned New York into a battleground over illegal immigration.

And never is heard a discouraging word, until readers turn to the NY Times editorial, where they are informed that Spitzer is a bum:

The Governor in His Labyrinth

When Gov. Eliot Spitzer dropped his proposal to make driver’s licenses available to undocumented immigrants yesterday, he sowed disappointment and anger among many of his supporters — who felt, rightly, that they had been left holding the bag. His original plan to make highways safer and the state more secure was the right idea. But New York’s embattled governor did not handle it properly, first waffling on his principles under pressure from the Bush administration, and then slowly recognizing that he was endangering the rest of his agenda by knocking over the hornet’s nest that is the nation’s immigration debate.

It's a pity the reporters couldn't find any of these supporters to quote in their story lauding Spitzer.  But I'm sure they are out there!

 

Comments

[Matthew Crandall]

Geez. I can't possibly imagine that tone being taken with, say, a Republican governor who had abandoned a divisive proposal to ban late term abortion. Why does the NY Times always have to root for dems, even when they are crumbling apart like this demagogue Spitzer?

[Porchlight]

I liked this from the editorial:

Mr. Spitzer can either figure out how to operate the governor’s office more skillfully for the next three years, or he can fail in his vital mission to reform and restart New York State.

Doesn't have to be either/or. He could become a more "skillful" governor and still fail to reform the state - i.e., he could successfully implement lousy ideas....like driver's licenses for illegals.

[dick]

I read that and the only thought I could come up with is that sounds like the praise you give retarded kids when they learn to tie their own shoelaces. I do hope the accounting department at the NYT has a billing number set up for the Democratic party.

[dick]

I read that and the only thought I could come up with is that sounds like the praise you give retarded kids when they learn to tie their own shoelaces. I do hope the accounting department at the NYT has a billing number set up for the Democratic party.

[Forbes]

What!?! Another example of the editorial page failing to read their own news pages? Say it ain't so!

Or was this just another example of partisan "bucking up" on the news pages? Who can ever tell with the Times?

It really does look like Bloomberg will run for governor, and not president.

[hit and run]

From the editorial:
When Gov. Eliot Spitzer dropped his proposal to make driver’s licenses available to undocumented immigrants yesterday

I've got good news and bad news? Which do you want first? The bad news?

Well. They call them driver's licenses.

The good news? OK.

They call them undocumented immigrants, not illegal immigrants.

Now, if they can just properly frame driver's licenses as "documents", we could make this work.

"Documents for the undocumented immigrants". See, it sounds much better that way.

Sincerly,
George Lakoff