Hillary Clinton Support Spitzer Illegal Alien License Plan

Fresh off her dismal performance in the latest Democratic Party debate, her spinmeisters are busy claiming that she indeed does support New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to extend drivers licenses to illegal aliens.

A day removed from the waffling roasting at the hands of Dodd and moderator Russert, her staff admits that she indeed is supporting Spitzer and his plan to open up drivers licenses to illegal aliens.

Mrs. Clinton’s aides said her statement was intended to signal that she broadly supported Mr. Spitzer’s goal of awarding driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Mr. Spitzer initially proposed a blanket program of awarding full-fledged driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants; in the face of sharp opposition from the Legislature, he backed off and presented a two-tier program system of awarding licenses to illegal immigrants.

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said that she had not studied either plan, and was not specifically endorsing either of them.

Still, the wording of the statement was murkier than what many of her opponents have said in either supporting or opposing Mr. Spitzer’s initiatives. Among those opposing it were Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut; Senator Barack Obama of Illinois supported it.

Still, the release of the statement suggested her advisers believed it was politically wiser to embrace a position that could clearly hurt her in a general election rather than risk providing more fuel to what has emerged as a damaging line of criticism: That she, taking advantage of her dominant position in some polls, is not being candid about her views and about would she would do as president.

That argument was voiced by Senator Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat, in an interview leading up to the debate and set the framework for two hours of attacks on Mrs. Clinton. And it continued this morning as Democratic and Republican presidential candidates attacked her for her answer on Social Security.

“She is a habitual evader,” said Mr. Obama’s senior strategist, David Axelrod.

Clinton's people can't help but take digs at the Bush administration over this, despite the fact that Bush himself is an open borders kind of guy, just like one William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary's husband and former President. The opposition to the amnesty plan came from both sides of the aisle against a bipartisan group of politicians who realize that border control and dealing with the illegal alien mess shouldn't include amnesty - not when existing law hasn't been enforced for decades and the borders are still not properly secured.

Never mind that so much of the public finds the idea of giving illegal aliens drivers licenses - a privilege and not a right. Never mind that this is an issue that could torpedo her chances because so much Democrat support comes from the very kinds of leftists and socialist groups that support open borders and extending illegal aliens all kinds of rights and privileges.

New Yorkers have grave reservations over the plan, and I'm talking about Democrats. Forget about GOP denunciations of Spitzer's ill conceived plan to extend drivers licenses to illegal aliens, consider that many leading Democrats in New York are wary of giving those illegals the privilege of driving because of the security concerns.

What security concerns? Well, consider that drivers licenses are a gateway document, enabling the procurement of other key documents, and terrorists and criminal enterprises are keen to exploit weaknesses in such document procurement to further their own criminal and terroristic exploits.

Driving is a privilege, and extending to illegals this privilege does not bring them out of the shadows. Indeed, illegal aliens are not in the shadows. They're defiantly open about their presence and mark on the country. You've got illegal aliens openly demonstrating against those who seek to secure US borders and enforce existing US law, as though that is somehow racist or biased. You've got illegal aliens utilizing advocacy groups to further their agenda in a very open and obvious manner.

These people aren't hiding in the shadows and they certainly aren't afraid to come out and show their intentions.

Spitzer has seriously miscalculated on the issue, and his own DMV is up in arms over this since it affects all New York State drivers - drivers licenses are a key document showing residency in the State.

Hot Air has more, including links to Hillary's performance at the debate and the inevitable pretzel logic invoked by Clinton and her people to pin the blame on someone other than Hillary for this.