According to this article, Democrats have a big law and order problem stemming from their position on illegal immigration.

Last week there was a feverish debate following Hillary Clinton’s rhetorical acrobatics over proposals to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Yet it’s the uniform backing of this policy by the leading Democratic presidential candidates that may prove more foreboding for liberals in the general election.

The rising American discontent with illegal immigration has the potential to sever Democrats from the majority of voters, especially those in the working and middle class, like no issue has in four decades.

This isn’t good news for Democrats. I wouldn’t be surprised if illegal immigration is the defining issue in 2008. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t a stiff wind behind the GOP’s back. Here’s why I think that:

1. People are getting sick of the additional expenses illegal immigrants force on working families. These additional expenses range from higher property taxes to school children of illegal immigrants to higher health insurance and health care costs to ‘pay for’ illegal immigrants’ ER visits.
2. People have read enough articles about illegal immigrants committing violent crimes against American citizens. They’re saying enough with their violence.
3. People think that not enforcing the border is how the next group of terrorists will get into the country.
4. They simply want our government and our law enforcement officials to do their job. They don’t care why they aren’t enforcing the borders; they’re simply demanding that they start immediately.

Conventional wisdom has it that Republicans will slip into permanent minority party status if they fail to woo Hispanics, which critics suggest means softening the party’s traditional hard-line stance on immigration. That could very well happen in three decades, as demographic trends continue to slip away from the GOP.
But Democrats have more to lose in the short term over the immigration issue. After all, the vast majority of blacks (76 percent) and whites (86 percent) oppose issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, an October CNN/Opinion Research poll found.
And when a recent Gallup Poll asked Americans what the “top priorities” of the president and Congress should be, combating illegal immigration was topped only by dealing with the war in Iraq.
The real problem for Democrats, however, is that the very voters they need to win back are most concerned over immigration.

That last paragraph constitutes a ‘bridge-too-far’ scenario for Democrats. The only time that Democrats were seen as tough on crime since the Chicago riots was when Bill Clinton passed the Brady Bill and the 100,000 cops on the street program. Those things are distant memories to voters now.

The voters that worried about gun violence then worry about toothless borders now. As I’ve said before, immigration is a potentially explosive issue because you can’t triangulate on it. That’s what got Hillary in such deep trouble. Yesterday, Hillary was evasive again:

In the wide-ranging interview exactly a year before the election, Clinton continued to hold back from offering full-fledged support for a plan offering illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, saying it’s a question that doesn’t allow a candidate to answer simply by “raising their hand.”

“It depends upon what state they’re in, it depends upon what [governors] think the risks are,” Clinton said. “The governor of New York has a lot of immigrants, many of whom we know are not their legally; [he] has to worry about security. A governor of another state where that’s not a problem doesn’t.

“This issue has been so politicized,” Clinton continued, “and I understand that, because you can score points, you can score all kinds of political, demagogic points.”

Hillary’s evasiveness is getting her in trouble with most voters. As Leo points out here, finessing this issue isn’t smart politically; 77 percent of voters oppose giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.

It’s really pretty simple. Either you’re for maintaining America’s sovereignty or you aren’t.

Even Chris Matthews has figured that out. I’d doubt if Hillary will learn that lesson, too.

Technorati Tags: Hillary, Illegal Immigration, Law Enforcement, Crime, Health Care, Education, Tax Increases, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. Damn right !! People are fed up with the REPUBLICANS who had complete power (Congress and the Whjite House) for 6 years and failed to do anything about it. Now Americans want the Democrats in because there may be SOME chance however small that they can take care of this problem.

   Comment by john ryan — November 7, 2007 @ 11:03 am

2. Too bad the Democrats have failed to capitalize on this anti-illegal-immigrant sentiment.

   Comment by Michael Ejercito — November 7, 2007 @ 8:57 pm

3. Not quite john ryan, people are fed up with gutless, wimps disguised as leaders.

   Republicans who pissed away 6 years of opportunity and democrats who have pissed away the last year kissing George Soros’s ass and coddling leftwing morons.

   Comment by T. A. Gray — November 7, 2007 @ 10:13 pm

4. I agree with john ryan that the country wants the Democrats in control, but not for the same reason. The Democrats are such wimps and have so wide-ranging interests, they won’t accomplish much. But that’s infinitely better than letting the republicans continue marching toward Armageddon.

   Funny, I also agree with T.A. Gray that the republicans “pissed away 6 years of opportunity and democrats who have pissed away the last year” but they were not kissing anyone’s ass. Well, maybe Bush’s, giving in on every issue, from funding the war, to S-CHIP and everything in between. At least their record already surpasses the republican-controlled 109th, which left them with an enormous budgetary mess, having only passed 2 of 11 bills. At least the Democrats will be able to stop the republican slime of being a “do-nothing Congress” cold by pointing out the fact that they’ve passed 3 of 9 bills, and three more that either Bush vetoed or republicans obstructed in Congress, and there’s more than a year left in their term.

   Comment by Rocky — November 7, 2007 @ 11:05 pm

5. Wrong Rocky, people want change period. This congress is just as do nothing as the Republican group before it and folks are getting tired of the politics as usual crowd. We are also sick of seeing Congress pandering to the far left. Both parties have “pissed away” their time in charge and Americans are sick of it. We need folks who’ll do something, like listen to the people who elected them and not their precious special interest groups.

   Comment by TD — November 8, 2007 @ 8:52 am

6. Memo to Mattel, Hasbro, et al:
   Hey guys, maybe if you made your toys in THIS country, you wouldnt have to pull all the crap from China and Mexico off the shelves.

   Not related directly to the topic, but sort of is, when you think about how wonderful we were told free trade would be, by many of the same crowd were talking about here.

   And isnt it funny how after a million and a half toys were recalled from China, there wasnt a peep from Washiungton, but let a mere 155,000 from Mexico get pulled, and the Bush administration swings into action!

   Comment by T. A. Gray — November 8, 2007 @ 10:21 am

7. Well, TA, what do you expect from an administration cabal that puts a former corporate lobbyist (Nancy Nord) in charge of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, and then on-the-make republicans cut the CPSC’s budget (this was done way, way before the Democrats took back Congress) to the point that we have only one — that’s right, a single person — inspecting and testing ALL of the shipments of toys from all over the world.

   Every day, the misdeeds of the republicans come to light, and to get back on point, Gary Gross’ claims that the Democrats have “law and order” problems is just plain silly. The Democrats have been left with such an incredible mess, from dealing with budgets that weren’t passed by the 109th, to problems that have been years in the making, like toy safety, that repairing the damage and getting the country back on the right correct track is going to take a monumental effort.

   TD, I don’t know what planet you’re on, but Congress has done nothing but pander to the right. I’d like to see evidence of your left-pandering claims, as I can’t think of even a single instance of Congress pandering to the left in the past 10 years. Again, I agree that the 109th and the earlier republican-controlled Congresses were do-nothing; as I point out in my earlier post, the 110th has already done more in less than the first half of their term than the 109th did in 2 years. A miracle, given the slander, lies and deception coming out of the WH and the minority in Congress.

   Indeed, we need a Congress that will do something. Vote Democratic!

   Comment by Rocky — November 8, 2007 @ 11:37 am

8. You miss the point entirely, of course. But I expected a much from moveon.org member.

   It not about another stupid unneeded uch.

   I was thinking more along the lines of protecting our borders, sovereignty, and culture and using our own work force for a change.

   BTW, we tried voting Democratic.
   What the hell planet, or pharmacuetical, are YOU on!

   Comment by T. A. Gray — November 8, 2007 @ 12:09 pm

9. Correction to my second paragraph:

   “Its not about another stupid unneeded bueaucracy trying to over regulate every thing we touch.”

   Comment by T. A. Gray — November 9, 2007 @ 12:37 am

10. This is it in a nutshell. The Republicans sold their souls to the devil and accomplished only a thriving economy and massive spending with an out-of-control budget. The donkeys in control, though, haven’t even passed a budget (and the one they want makes the Republican budgets look like peanuts).

    Conservatives want fiscal responsibility and consequently control of their own lives. Liberals (i.e., the donkeys in control of Congress, and people like Rocky) simply want control of everyone’s lives because we, the people, don’t have enough sense to know what’s in our own best interest as individuals or as a nation.

    In other words, conservatives want everyone to make their own happiness. Jackasses want everyone to be equally miserable.

    Comment by Carlos — November 10, 2007 @ 7:47 am