Political wind

Political wind, War on Terror

Torture is not a hypothetical 2008 election issue

by  • 

In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Alan Dershowitz writes that the Democrat Party will lose the presidential race if it defines itself as soft on terror:

This pacifistic stance appeals to the left wing of the democratic electorate, which may have some influence on the outcome of democratic primaries, but which is far less likely to determine the outcome of the general election. Most Americans — Democrats, Republicans, independents or undecided — want a president who will be strong, as well as smart, on national security, and who will do everything in his or her lawful power to prevent further acts of terrorism.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans may watch Michael Moore’s movies or cheer Cindy Sheehan’s demonstrations, but tens of millions want the Moores and Sheehans of our nation as far away as possible from influencing national security policy. That is why Rudy Giuliani seems to be doing surprisingly well among many segments of the electorate, ranging from centrist Democrats to Republicans and even some on the religious right.

It may seem strange that a candidate, who came to national prominence as the New York mayor, and one with a mixed record in that job, would be the choice of so many on security issues, despite his lack of experience in the national and international arenas. But the post- 9/11 Rudy conveys a sense of toughness, of no-nonsense defense of America.
…
The members of the judiciary committee who voted against Judge Mukasey, because of his unwillingness to support an absolute prohibition on waterboarding and all other forms of torture, should be asked the direct question: Would you authorize the use of waterboarding, or other non-lethal forms of torture, if you believed that it was the only possible way of saving the lives of hundreds of Americans in a situation of the kind faced by Israeli authorities on the eve of Yom Kippur? Would you want your president to authorize extraordinary means of interrogation in such a situation? If so, what means? If not, would you be prepared to accept responsibility for the preventable deaths of hundreds of Americans?

Undoubtedly, most Americans only ever asked themselves those questions in the abstract before 9/11. We no longer have that luxury.

Hillary Clinton, Political wind

77 percent against illegals getting drivers licenses

by  • 

Why does Hillary Clinton only “broadly support” Governor Eliot Spitzer’s plan to allow illegal aliens to get a New York state drivers license? Why does Charles Schumer dodge whether he is for or against the plan yet add, “I am for, at the federal level, Real ID, which doesn’t countenance illegal immigrants” using driver’s licenses “for any purpose at all?”

The answer is in today’s Washington Times:

Voters oppose driver’s licenses for illegal aliens by a nearly five-to-one margin, a new Fox 5/Washington Times/Rasmussen Reports poll finds. As immigration politics explode into the presidential race, polls show Americans are taking a hard line on benefits for illegal aliens, including opposing driver’s licenses and such taxpayer-funded benefits as scholarships at state colleges for illegal-alien students.

The new poll found 77 percent of the adults surveyed opposed making driver’s licenses available to illegal aliens, while just 16 percent supported the idea.

Licenses fared poorly across party lines, including near-blanket opposition among self-identified Republicans, at 88 percent. Among independents and Democrats, it was still overwhelmingly unpopular, drawing 75 percent and 68 percent opposition, respectively.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in September proposed adding New York to the list of seven states that offer licenses to illegal aliens, and the issue has refused to die down since.

Most Democratic presidential candidates have embraced the policy, including front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, arguing it’s a matter of road safety and a valid response to the federal government’s failure to give a path to citizenship to illegal aliens.

Hillary Clinton will not win the Presidency next year if she continues to support open borders and drivers licenses for illegal aliens.

And someone should ask her if her broad support for Gov. Spitzer’s plan includes his facilitating illegals voting in federal elections. He ordered DMVs to offer a voter registration to all applicants and unblocked the electronic submission of registrants who fail to provide a Social Security number.

So much for Senator Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric about the “rule of law.”