Hillary to Spitzer: You're Hurting Me

Is anyone really shocked at the speculation out tonight that it was Hillary Clinton that told Eliot Spitzer to kill his plan for drivers licenses for illegal aliens? What he was saying then was:

"I am not willing to fight to the bitter end on something that will not ultimately be implemented, and we also have an enormous agenda on other issues of great importance to New York State that was being stymied by the constant and almost singular focus on this issue," he told the paper.

But an Albany reporter named Fred Dicker has another dimension to add when he talked with Chris Matthews on Hardball:

FRED DICKER: Yeah, we believe she did. We were told -- I was told -- at a very high level in New York politics that Mrs. Clinton's campaign or some of her top people signalled to Governor Spitzer's people that he had damaged her. They were wondering what the heck he was up to, why did he bring it to the floor now, and made it clear that the governor was hurting her and he ought to back down if he wanted to help her, which he says he wants to do.

MATTHEWS: Is anybody in his office saying that, or are you getting that from a third party? Is anybody in Spitzer's office saying that the governor got the word from Hillary to cut it?

DICKER: In his camp, but not his office. But at the highest levels.

I will be the first to admit that there is no hard evidence as of yet, but the timing is good enough for me. It may not have been the only reason, Spitzer had plenty of others, but I am quite sure that no one in the Hillary campaign was begging for Spitzer to keep up the good work.

We also have a new third rail for Democratic politics. Along with denouncing the war and supporting abortion, a Democratic politician, must never, ever, embarrass Hillary Clinton.