Send in the Pinkertons

In today's NY Newsday, the paper's Jim Pinkerton writes a prescient column about how the immigration debate is being won by hardliners. Pinkerton underscores our critique of the Drum Majorettes, folks who continue to obfuscate the immigration issue-as well as the lack of support that exists throughout the state and the country for giving unearned benefits to illegals.

What Pinkerton also points out, another issue that we've harped on, is how the failure to support a stronger anti-illegal immigration policy will come back to bit the Democrats on the butt: "But unfortunately for Spitzer and the bulk of his party, the politics of immigration are changing rapidly, nationwide, in a Tancredo-esque direction. Yesterday The Washington Post released a poll showing that three-fourths of Virginians count illegal immigration as an "important" issue, and they don't mean that in a good way."

In spite of these electoral realities there are still those who see the actions against the governor's plan as politically dubious-check out the responses to Liz's piece today on El Diario's shilling for the Spitzer plan (and Gerson Borrero's "jellyfish" epithet). The eight Dems that voted against the governor aren't spineless, they are "calling them as they see them." It would, however, truly be spineless to vote for the governor's plan out of a fear of political retribution.

The old saw is, "A rising tide lifts all boats;" But this political wave is more like an undertow, and it threatens to wash the Democrats out to sea if they don't alter their panderistic polemics.