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RUSH: I’ve been watching and reading some of the reaction to the debate, and a bunch of the people at National Review Online, on our side, think Hillary just hit a grand-slam home run last night. I watched this thing last night, and I saw her unnerved, steely eyed, flip-flopping over basically a mild line of questioning, and then I’ve read some of the big newspapers and the big theme is — in fact, folks, I’ll tell you what, if we could discover new energy supplies as easily as the Drive-By Media discover new spins on Mrs. Clinton, we would be energy independent in a week. If you missed — and I don’t blame you if you did — if you missed the big Democrat debate last night — and more than 250 million Americans did — you missed the new Drive-By Media action line, the new narrative, the new template: withering attacks on Mrs. Clinton, attacks where they came out swinging, she was hammered, they invaded her space. It’s all over the New York Times. It’s all over the Washington Post. I guess the Drive-Bys are just bored silly with their action line, ‘she’s inevitable,’ looking for some new angle that can keep ’em covering the Democrats, and, shazam, withering attacks.

I think also as part of this is an effort to deflect any of those withering attacks by attacking the people who are engaging in the withering attacks, because as far as Democrats are concerned, you’re not supposed to attack Hillary, you’re not supposed to attack her, witheringly or otherwise. You can’t hit the girl, and you especially can’t hit Hillary. Hillary is the queen. You can’t hit her. That’s what these withering attacks are. By the way, the quote in the debate last night, she replied forcefully to a question: ‘If you believe that combat missions should be continued in Iraq without a timetable for withdrawal,’ Edwards said, ‘then Senator Clinton is your candidate.’ Edwards vowed to have all combat troops out of Iraq, quote, ‘In my first year in office.’ That’s a bit of a change because he previously, in another debate, said he couldn’t commit to that. He said he couldn’t commit to getting troops out even after four years.

I’ll tell you, if you missed this last night, the guy that came across really smarmy and snake oil, John O’Sullivan said it best, ‘There’s one guy that might make me give up on democracy if he’s elected, and that’s John Edwards.’ This guy is just smarmy. Anyway, Clinton said, in response to his promise to get us out of Iraq in his first year in office, ‘I don’t know how you pursue Al-Qaeda without engaging them in combat.’ That is what I have been saying. Every time these people have been talking about getting out of Iraq, they would leave some troops around to handle Al-Qaeda. Well, how you going to engage Al-Qaeda without going into combat with them? So here’s Mrs. Clinton basically offering up the same thought and strategery, philosophy, thinking, that I offered up. But, ladies and gentlemen, the big, big, big event last night in the debate was set up by me on this program yesterday. Audio sound bite number one, please, Mister Broadcast Engineer.

RUSH ARCHIVE: What is amazing to me about this is how Mrs. Clinton gets to be quiet when she wants to be quiet. This is her state! The fact that she’s a presidential candidate only adds to the fact she should be asked about this. The fact that she’s a senator from the state of New York and is not being peppered by the press: ‘What do you think of the governor’s plans here for illegal immigrants getting driver’s licenses?’ It’s amazing how she’s able to skate. She’s given a pass! ‘It’s too radioactive for her,’ writes the AP. Man, oh, man, oh, man, would I have loved over several occasions the last 18 years for you dummkopfs in the media to think certain issues were too radioactive for me to talk about. Good grief. Woman doesn’t have to say diddly-squat about anything, and she doesn’t.

RUSH: That was just the tail end of the rant. AP had a story about how radioactive the New York driver’s license for illegal immigrants is, the governor’s idea there, Eliot Spitzer. And I said, ‘Well, go ask her, what, are you going to just stay away and not ask her about this to protect her? Oh, it’s radioactive, but you, a journalist, aren’t going to go ask her about it?’ Well, she was asked about it last night. She was asked about it by Tim Russert. ‘Senator Clinton, the governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, has proposed giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He told a 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?’

HILLARY: 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.

RUSH: That was the most pathetic skate; the most pathetic avoidance; that was horribly bad. Governor Spitzer — she wouldn’t even tell us what she thought about it. What governor Spitzer’s trying to do is fill a vacuum created by this administration? It’s BS. Let me give you the dirty little secret. Driver’s licenses for illegals in New York, is all about one thing: voter fraud. Because of Motor Voter, the federal Motor Voter law, everybody getting a driver’s license in New York is automatically handed a voter registration form. Five hundred thousand or more — Mrs. Clinton just said a million — illegal aliens. The potential for voter fraud here is profound, and to say that he’s just trying to fill a vacuum? Well, Chris Dodd was next up on this, and Tim Russert said, ‘Does anyone here believe an illegal immigrant should not have a driver’s license?’

DODD: The idea that we’re going to extend this privilege here of a driver’s license I think is troublesome. A license is a privilege and that ought not to be extended, in my view.

HILLARY: Well, I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize what Governor Spitzer is trying to do, and we have failed, we have failed.

DODD: No, no, no. You said yes, you thought it made sense to do it.

HILLARY: No, I didn’t, Chris.

RUSH: So Russert asked her again. She flip-flopped. Dodd said there’s no way illegals ought to have drivers licenses, just common sense. We’re going to abandon all pretense of adherence to the law where illegals are concerned? I’m telling you, the Democrats are interested in this issue for one reason. They need those voters, they want those voters, and they want those victims. So Russert said, ‘Senator Clinton, I just want to make sure what I heard. Do you, the New York senator, Hillary Clinton…’ I knew I drove this question, I’m telling you I drove this whole thing last night with my rant, ‘…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 a Nashua, New Hampshire, paper that it made a lot of sense. Do you support his plan?’

HILLARY: 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 problem. 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 — 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.

RUSH: Oh, my gosh, oh, this is just… folks, this is incompetence. It’s not a yes or a no. It is neither one. It’s, ‘I want both sides of the issue.’ She will not answer this question. She just didn’t answer. She has to go back, we want immigration, and we should have passed immigration reform. That is a stupid thing to say knowing full well what the national polls on amnesty and that particular piece of legislation was. This was not the smartest woman in the world. Then the Breck Girl, he had to get in on the act here, and he had this to say about Hillary’s answer.

EDWARDS: Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes, just a few minutes ago, and I think this is a real issue for the country. I mean, America is looking for a president who will say the same thing, who will be consistent, who will be straight with them, because what we’ve had for seven years is double-talk from Bush and from Cheney, and I think America deserves to be straight.

RUSH: Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes, just a few minutes ago and instead of going after her, he has to end up going after Bush and Cheney. And yet these were withering attacks, don’t forget, withering, withering, blistering attacks. This was a wimp-out if I ever heard one. So Obama, who just doesn’t have it in him, folks — last night he had no energy. He doesn’t have the ability to speak in sound bites, not experienced at this. He just doesn’t have it in him. Brian Williams said, ‘Senator Obama, why are you nodding your head?’

OBAMA: I was confused on Senator Clinton’s answer. I — I can’t tell whether she was for it or against it.

RUSH: Withering attack, another withering, scorching, brutal attack, from Barack Obama, preceded immediately by the withering, brutal, scorching attack on Mrs. Clinton by the Breck Girl. The media, by the way, sort of panicked over Hillary’s immigration answer.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I checked the e-mail during the break. ‘What do you mean, Rush? Could you elaborate on this business of the New York illegal driver’s licenses being a voter fraud scheme?’ Folks, it’s very simple. This is the plan by the New York governor Eliot Spitzer. If you get a driver’s license, you get what? You get a photo ID, and a photo ID would allow you… When you show up to get your driver’s license, because of the federal Motor Voter Act, everybody that gets a driver’s license in New York is automatically handed a voter registration form, and if you do not have to prove citizenship to get a driver’s license, then you go ahead and fill out whatever you want on your Motor Voter registration form, send it in, and you could probably vote with impunity. ‘In order to register, a person must sign an affidavit stating that they are an American citizen.’ Now, how does New York deal with this? Lee Daghlian, state board of elections spokesman, said, ‘You assume that people don’t lie, and that’s what the form says. [But] I suppose it would be [tough to catch] if someone wanted to take advantage of the system and try to get a number of people registered who aren’t citizens and went ahead and got them driver’s licenses.’

He then concedes, ‘Nobody checks it’ to determine if somebody registering is truly eligible. You show up with a driver’s license, and you’ve got a picture, a photo ID on it, and you’ve signed an affidavit saying you’re a legal citizen, and New York assumes you’re telling the truth, and Democrats run New York, what do you think is going on here? Five hundred thousand or more illegal immigrants — and this is just the tip of the iceberg. You know, a lot of other states might try to do this if this isn’t beaten back. The Spitzer administration, by the way, ‘has reversed a policy that would have barred the Department of Motor Vehicles from handing out Motor Voter registration forms to anybody without a Social Security number.’ You had to have a Social Security number in order to get a Motor Voter form, but the Spitzer administration’s reversed that policy. So there’s no question what this is about, and, of course, Mrs. Clinton’s flip-flopping answers on this, she can’t in any way allude to that possibility. Actually, she did, when she talked about how we should have passed immigration reform. So let’s go back to the audiotape. We’re up now to audio sound bite number seven. This is Chris Matthews speaking with correspondent Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington.

MATTHEWS: The central question of immigration is so hot on the Republican side. It may well drive their nominating fight.

MITCHELL: She got caught on something that, perhaps, she wasn’t prepared for.

RUSH: Yeah, she wasn’t prepared for the question on New York driver’s licenses. She expected to get a pass. She got a question on illegal immigration. She was expecting not to have to answer that question, because the press has dutifully let her skate on it. For some reason, I’m ready to take the credit, the question was asked last night, and she did step in it when she said, ‘We should have passed immigration reform.’ With the national polling numbers on that issue being what they are, that is what Andrea Mitchell meant with, ‘She got caught on something that perhaps she wasn’t prepared for,’ not, wow, did she blow it. She got caught. Then last night, Hardball, Chris Matthews spoke to Chaka Fattah, who said this about Hillary’s immigration answer.

FATTAH: Republicans last time they won a few states bashing gays.

MATTHEWS: Right.

FATTAH: They win on God, guns, gays. This time it’s — it’s immigrants.

RUSH: It’s illegal immigrants, Chaka. Is that right? Chaka Fattah. He’s a Democrat from Pennsylvania. ‘Last time the Republicans won a few states bashing gays. They won on God, guns, gays. This time, it’s immigrants.’ So you see, Republicans and conservatives are simply bigoted. We’re back here to the central theme of the whole debate during the amnesty bill was that people that opposed amnesty for illegals were racists and nativists, and restrictionists, and all that sort of thing. So we see, ladies and gentlemen, that despite the failure of that bill, the Democrats’ passion for it and their thinking on it, still hasn’t changed. They just suppressed it. That question drew Mrs. Clinton out, and she did, indeed, step in it. Then later on in the program here’s Matthews talking to NBC political director Chuck Todd about Hillary’s briefing book.

MATTHEWS: Did you feel, Chuck, that her briefing book let her down? She was well proposed by Mandy [Grunwald] and Mark Penn and the others, and Howard Wolfson, but she got stuck on an issue of state politics, the issue of these driver’s licenses in New York state, and she didn’t have a clear answer?

TODD: No. I think she got stuck when she has tried very hard not to answer specifics, and she does it because it’s something that her husband learned very well: Be careful what you say in these primaries. I think she was trying to figure out a way to have it both ways.

RUSH: Exactly right! She was trying to not to tell us what she really thought about it, and she ended up telling us what she really thinks about it when she said we should have passed immigration reform. You’re going to see during the day-to-day and throughout the rest of the campaign a whole bunch of people circling the wagons for her, such as this question, ‘Did the briefing book fail her?’ Did the briefing book fail her! Notice, she didn’t fail herself? No! It’s her briefing book that ‘failed,’ as these people analyze and look at this sort of things. By the way, on this New York driver’s license business, there’s a New York Times story today. ‘The phone call from a top aide to Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, came two weeks ago, and the message was clear: The department was concerned that Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants would undermine a federal initiative to roll out a new highly secure, nationally recognized license.

‘The prospect of Mr. Chertoff coming out publicly against Mr. Spitzer’s plan caused deep anxiety among Spitzer administration officials, said Michael A.L. Balboni, the governor’s deputy secretary for public safety… The license plan had already set off angry attacks from Republicans and unease among Democratic allies, and had made the governor a target of national groups rallying for tougher immigration policies. … Aides to the governor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had not foreseen the intensity of opposition the license plan would touch off.’ What planet with these people on? This is now, I think, the third or fourth story or instance of Democrats and/or the media being stunned that immigration is an important issue to people. One was a story in the Washington Post about Northern Virginia politics and how it’s a big issue on the ballot there. I think one in New Hampshire, one in New York, now this. They know full-well. This business about being blindsided and not having foreseen the intensity of opposition? They are ignoring the opposition, and they’re trying nevertheless to get around the opposition. This is in-your-face to those of us that don’t like licenses or any other grants to illegal aliens. That’s all this is: in our face.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Tony in Pittsburgh, as we start on the phones. You’re up first. It’s great to have you. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello, sir.

CALLER: Mega Steeler dittos.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: If I were one of Mrs. Clinton’s opponents yesterday, I think the easiest way to attack her would have been to basically say, ‘Mrs. Clinton, you said that it was Bush’s fault that he hasn’t addressed illegal immigration, and that has forced the New York governor to make this horrible choice. Unless I’m missing something, Mrs. Clinton, illegal immigration has been a problem in this country for decades. Why didn’t you and your husband, when you had the White House for eight years, address the illegal immigration problem and not leave it to the Bush administration?’

RUSH: That’s a good point. But I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen if that ever does happen. The fact that Mrs. Clinton was co-president, and has announced herself as co-president, has presented herself as co-president, and her husband did as well, means that she is vulnerable, shall we say, to that question. ‘Well, look, you talk about health care, you had eight years. You talk about terrorism, you had eight years. You didn’t do anything about it.’ Her response to that, ‘We were making great progress. My husband and I worked very hard on these things. When the Supreme Court handed the election to George W. Bush, then all that we did began to unravel. That’s why we need change in Washington.’ That’s what she’ll say, and the press will go, ‘She’s so smart, she is so smart, that is such a brilliant answer, blame it on the Supreme Court and Bush.’ I’m telling you that’s what her answer will be. But there’s a way still to hit her on this stuff and that’s to keep doing it and keep reminding people. To hell with what her answer is, just remind people. The election is about the voters, and you remind the voters what she did and what they didn’t do; what they passed on; how they didn’t tackle any big issues whatsoever. Their presidency was a never-ending campaign, and more so than governing the country.

Here’s Nancy in Buffalo. Nancy, I’m glad you called. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Mr. Limbaugh, thrill to speak with you —

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: — and I hope I can make my points as eloquently as you do. Quite nervous. Anyway, I am, unfortunately, a resident of New York state, Buffalo, New York, specifically, so Mrs. Clinton is one of my representatives, and I was naturally very alarmed to hear her answer because I, along with 72% of New Yorkers, am opposed to giving the illegals New York state licenses.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: But I was more alarmed to hear her explanation, ‘Well, what’s the governor supposed to do?’ Apparently, she doesn’t have any kind of an answer for their question, and it alarms me not only as a New York state resident, but as a citizen of the United States. In other words, she does not have an answer to this question or doesn’t have a counterproposal —

RUSH: Yes, she does.

CALLER: Please tell me. I hope it’s a good one, because I’m —

RUSH: The answer is she wants illegals to have driver’s licenses, just not going to say so because she knows 72% of the people in New York oppose it, and almost the same number in the country oppose this kind of thing, so she’s not going to say it. That’s what she was trying to sidestep all along, ‘What’s the governor supposed to do? We’re hamstrung here. The Supreme Court made Bush president, and everything’s gone to hell in a handbasket since then.’ That’s what she wants people to think. But, you’re right, the answer comes off as somewhat helpless.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: She’s running for president, she’s talking about a governor who’s helpless in a policy that is very proactive. This is not a policy born of helplessness. It’s a policy born of activism. Let’s go back, grab audio sound bite number four so people can hear what you are talking about here, Nancy. This is a question from Tim Russert, and Hillary was flip-flopping all over the place inside of a few minutes last night on the question of illegal aliens getting driver’s licenses. The question from Russert: ‘Senator Clinton, I just want to make sure 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 that made a lot of sense. So do you support his plan?’

HILLARY: 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 problem. 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 — 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.

RUSH: Folks, that answer is going to haunt her. We want to know who’s here. We want people to come out of the shadows. We should have passed immigration reform. She’s talking about the amnesty bill, and then throws her hand up, this is just gotcha, Tim. Gotcha is holding her accountable. She was really, really mad. You should have seen her, the steely look last night in her eyes. Anyway, Nancy got a great point out there, because what’s the governor supposed to do? Our hands are tied, we want to know who’s here and we gotta get these people out of the shadows. They’re out of the shadows.

CALLER: If she’s the smartest woman, I hope she comes up with a very good plan, because I haven’t heard anything yet that impresses me, and it’s very alarming. And just remember, Tim Russert’s a hometown boy, and maybe Big Russ is not too happy hearing (unintelligible) about it, either, because we’re a border city right by Canada, and that’s another concern here, Lackawanna Six, blah, blah, blah. Don’t have to go on. You know all of this. But it’s been a pleasure, sir, and thank you so much. I’m so excited today.

RUSH: Thank you. But Nancy, before you go.

CALLER: Yes?

RUSH: You keep saying, ‘I hope she comes up with a plan.’

CALLER: Oh, no, I’m not voting for her. Don’t worry.

RUSH: No, no. No, no, no, no. I want you to hear me on this.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: She has a plan. Would you check her votes on the amnesty bill and on the DREAM Act?

CALLER: I know.

RUSH: The last thing this governor is, Eliot Spitzer, is helpless. This is one of the most activist, liberal, radical governors New York has ever had, and that’s saying something. They are telling us exactly what they want to do. They keep trying to sneak amnesty in under all sorts of cover, either called the DREAM Act, this illegal driver’s license business. They support it, Nancy. But she knows that 72% of the people oppose it, that’s why this is such a big step in it when she said we should have passed that immigration amnesty bill. They are trying to get it done anyway, even though the American people and the people of New York, like you, oppose it, because in radical Democrats’ minds, what you want is irrelevant, because you’re stupid! You don’t understand. You don’t understand the importance. You are looked at with arrogance and condescension and contempt by your representatives, if they’re Democrats. You are to be avoided.

Okay, 72% of New Yorkers don’t want driver’s licenses for illegals. What do Democrats do? Figure out a way to get it done anyway. Why do they want it? They need the votes. It’s about the acquisition and maintenance of power. They want the votes. This is all about getting these people registered to vote as illegals. I have been warning you people about this for six months or more that that’s what this was all about. The whole push toward immigration, amnesty, it’s all about getting these people registered to vote, and Spitzer is showing us how they intend to do it.

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