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With the motor running, the drunk was in fact operating a motor vehicle under the influence.

Pfft... prove it. The vehicle WAS NOT MOVING, why is that hard to understand?

I'm sitting in front of my computer while it is running, and...I'm drinking, does that make it an S.U.I., Surfing Under the Influence?

“Driving” and “operating” are not synonyms (which is why you don’t speak of driving your computer, even though it may make use of several “drives” and and many “drivers”), and therefore it depends on the legal definition of “operating” as it pertains to the vehicle codes in the respective state. A machine in a factory, for example can be “in operation” by and “operator” but not be “driven” by the operator.

I had previously said very clearly that it depends on the laws in each state and how the law on the books defines the words, but you chose to ignore that, and leave that out of your quote of me.

“Operate” may be a much broader word than “drive” and therefore may have broader implications under law in some states. This was explained to us in high school driver’s education by a California Highway Patrolman under the discussion of “reciprocal” nature of state licensure. The question was “Why do the states honor the licenses of all the other states?” One point the Patrolman brought up was that some states’ licenses say, “OPERATOR LICENSE,” while others say, “DRIVER LICENSE.” There is a difference.

My wife just pulled out her Indiana license and it uses BOTH words: “INIDIANA OPERATOR DRIVER LICENSE.” If the two two words were synonymous, there would be no need to use both. Indiana evidently decided to cover all the implications. Her previous license said, “INDIANA DRIVERS LICENSE” and then the word “OPERATOR” was typed in, in another section, upon issue.