Nov 15, 2007 8:43 am US/Eastern
Did Sen. Clinton Pressure To End Spitzer's Plan?
Timing Of Governor's Announcement, Polls Raise Suspicion
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer killed his plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. But was it Hillary Clinton driving the decision?
Sen. Clinton took heat for dodging the question: Does she or does she not support the Spitzer plan to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants?
"I did not say it should be done. I recognize what Gov. Spitzer is saying. Is trying to do and we have failed. I say: What are we going to do with all the illegal immigrants?" she said.
Ever since that debate, she's been slipping in the polls.
Gov. Spitzer, however, abandoned the plan, claiming it was public opinion, not the Clintons, that persuaded him to pull the plug.
"It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic," he said.
Conservative commentators, like talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh, don't buy it. "I wonder if anybody sighted New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer on a rowboat out on Lake Placid with Don Vito Clintonleone?" he said.
And then, there's Spitzer's timing. The next presidential debate is Thursday night in Vegas. "What coincidence! It happens on the day prior to the next debate with the Democrats," Limbaugh noted.
Senator Clinton on Wednesday said she supported Spitzer's decision, and tried to clarify her own position.
She released this 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."
WCBSTV.com's Most Popular Pages
Slideshow: World's Most Bizarre Deaths
Slideshow: 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time
Slideshow: The Coolest Fighter Jets…Ever!
Slideshow: Lindsay Lohan Grows Up, Or Does She?
Slideshow: Celebrity Sex Tapes Revealed
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
