Hillary Clinton: soft on driver's licenses for illegal aliens (Obama supports it)

I'll replace the following with a transcript when it's available, but from tonight's Democratic debate:

[Hillary Clinton says:] [Eliot Spitzer] is trying to make up for the failure of the Bush Administration to address illegal immigration. He's filling a vaccuum... We need to get back to comprehensive immigration reform."

Only Dodd thinks that illegal immigrants should not have driver's licenses.

Hillary refuses to say she supports it, but says she understands why Spitzer is doing it.

Dodd tries to go after her, and seems to succeed. "But what is the identification if someone runs into you today?" She says, "It makes a lot of sense. What is a governor supposed to do? We have failed, and George W. Bush has failed to address this issue."

UPDATE: The exchange starts on page 20. Chris Dodd is actually stronger against this then I would have given him credit for:

Clinton: Well, I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Governor Spitzer is trying to do...

(Unknown): Wait a minute...

Clinton: And we have failed. We have failed.

Dodd: No, no, no. You said -- you said yes...

Clinton: No.

Dodd: ... you thought it made sense to do it.

Clinton: No, I didn't, Chris. But the point is, what are we going to do with all these illegal immigrants who are driving...

Dodd: That's a legitimate issue. But driver's license goes too far, in my view.

Clinton: Well, you may say that, but what is the identification?

If somebody runs into you today who is an undocumented worker...

Dodd: There's ways of dealing with that.

Clinton: Well...

Dodd: This is a privilege, not a right.

Clinton: Well, what Governor Spitzer has agreed to do is to have three different licenses, one that provides identification for actually going onto airplanes and other kinds of security issues, another which is another ordinary driver's license, and then a special card that identifies the people who would be on the road, so...

Dodd: That's a bureaucratic nightmare.

Clinton: ... it's not the full privilege.

Russert: Senator Clinton, I just want to make sure of what I heard. Do you, the New York senator, Hillary Clinton, support the New York governor's plan to give illegal immigrants a driver's license?

You told the New Hampshire paper that it made a lot of sense. Do you support his plan?

Clinton: You know, Tim, this is where everybody plays "gotcha." It makes a lot of sense. What is the governor supposed to do? He is dealing with a serious problems. We have failed. And George Bush has failed. 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.

Immigration_dls · Tue, 10/30/2007 - 18:58 · · Importance: 1