It's Wednesday, So We Must Have A New Position (Review of Hillary's Backpedaling on Illegals)

Captain's Quarters ^ | Nov. 14, 2007 | Ed Morrissey

[jdm]

First she sounded sympathetic to the idea during a televised debate, and within moments had refused to endorse it. Afterwards, she changed her mind and endorsed it. Now today, after Governor Eliot Spitzer shelved a plan to issue New York drivers licenses to illegal aliens, Hillary Clinton shifted her position yet again to oppose the idea entirely:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor.

Clinton has faced criticism from candidates in both parties for her noncommittal answers on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses. Spitzer abandoned the effort Wednesday.

"I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal," Clinton said in a statement. "As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."

People laughed at John Kerry for saying, "I was for the $87 billion before I was against it." He looks like the Rock of Gibraltar next to Hillary Clinton. She has now taken four different positions in two weeks on a single topic.

Let's review them all. First, Hillary says this to Tim Russert:

MR. RUSSERT: Thank you, Brian.

Senator Clinton, Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer has proposed giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. You told the Nashua, New Hampshire editorial board it makes a lot of sense. Why does it make a lot of sense to give an illegal immigrant a driver's license?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, what Governor Spitzer is trying to do is fill the vacuum left by the failure of this administration to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. We know in New York we have several million at any one time who are in New York illegally. They are undocumented workers. They are driving on our roads. The possibility of them having an accident that harms themselves or others is just a matter of the odds. It's probability. So what Governor Spitzer is trying to do is to fill the vacuum.

After Chris Dodd reminds her that driving is a privilege and not a right, Hillary backpedaled:

Do I think this is the best thing for any governor to do? No. But do I understand the sense of real desperation, trying to get a handle on this? Remember, in New York we want to know who's in New York. We want people to come out of the shadows. He's making an honest effort to do it. We should have passed immigration reform.

The next day, the campaign made the following statement, noted at The Caucus:

“Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,’” her campaign said.

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.

And tonight?

"As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."

It's absurd to think that someone who prepared for this run at the presidency for at least the last seven years couldn't come up with a single answer. After all, this was her home state -- and she had supported the plan to the Nashua paper's editorial board already. It wasn't the first time she had been asked about the policy -- and yet she has simply collapsed on it over a two-week span.

These quotes will be the basis of most political advertisements against her from now until next November -- if she actually wins the nomination. Hillary has been exposed as an empty suit on par with John Edwards and Barack Obama. Bill Richardson may be the Democrats' only hope of actually capturing the White House, if they're smart enough to recognize it.

UPDATE: Did Hillary pressure Spitzer into ending his plan to take the heat off of her? I'm with Allahpundit on this one; I'm somewhat skeptical that Hillary has that much pull with Spitzer, and Hillary makes a handy enough scapegoat to allow Spitzer off the hook. John Stephenson has a roundup of links.

[jdm]

She has now taken four different positions in two weeks on a single topic.

LOL.

[jdm]

ping.

[Eighth Square]

And the sheep are still out there a’clapping and a’hollering, amazing, truly amazing!

[doug from upland]

[shankbear]

FLIP.....FLOP........PILF........POLF

[TomGuy]

Report: Clinton Aides Told Spitzer to Dump Licenses for Illegals

Posted by TomGuy to governsleastgovernsbest
On News/Activism 11/14/2007 5:32:37 PM CST · 21 of 63

Clinton Says No to Licenses for Illegals

Posted by TomGuy to Sub-Driver On News/Activism 11/14/2007 4:36:20 PM CST · 115 of 133 NYT on Hillary's position on driver's licenses, almost one month ago: October 18, 2007,  5:18 pm Clinton Takes Stand on Driver’s License Issue (Sort Of) uhhhh. Wait! Not so fast. October 19: NY Daily News: Hillary cheers, but doesn’t back Spitzer license plan Hold on! The wind has shifted. November 1: Boston.com: Clinton backs N.Y. driver's license plan for illegal immigrants Recall Wesley Clark's cry "Mary! Help!" during a presser when he first announced his run in 2004? Hillary yells: "Bill! Help!"> November 6: Associated Press Text of Bill Clinton's Comments I think it's fine to discuss immigration. We should. I believe immigration needs to be discussed. And it's fine for Hillary and all the other Democrats to discuss Governor Spitzer's plan. But not in 30 seconds, yes, no, raise your hand. This is a complicated issue. This is a complicated issue.

[jdm]

LOL, doug!

[stbdside]

The bad part is that there are many that are stupid enough to vote for the Hildebeast.

[skinkinthegrass]

'ol Wolf Blitzer, had better NOT be in Washington D.C. (Fort Marcy Park :) anytime soon....$hrillary, May want to take him "for an Taxi ride."

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

>>She has now taken four different positions in two weeks on a single topic.<<

Or six. Obama:

"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it’s easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them."

[justa-hairyape]

Amazing. Our brilliant Democratic and Rino leadership admits that we have unsafe drivers on our roads that are causing accidents. These unsafe drivers are illegal and really should not be in the country in the first place. So the obvious and logical solution to this problem is to remove the unsafe drivers. Unfortunately, that solution is apparently too logical and too obvious for the brilliant Democrats and Rinos to accept. Their solution ? Give the unsafe illegal drivers a drivers license. Let me guess. Most of these drivers would be given a written test printed in the Spanish language ? That will really help them as they drive around trying to figure what all the street signs and directional signs written in English actually mean.