McCains elegibility?
Posted 32 weeks 4 days ago byIs John McCain really eligible to be president? The Constitution states one of the qualifications for president is to be born in the United States. The only foreign soil which is considered actually part of the United States is one of our embassies. McCain was NOT born in an embassy, he was born in a military hospital in the Canal Zone. Therefore, he is NOT ELIGIBLE to even RUN for president, much less actually BE president.
Is the league of old white men trying to cover this up? Do they really think they are above the Constitution? Do they think we are so stupid we won't raise a fuss over this?
Thoughts
qualified?
Submitted on March 2nd, 2008 by sunshine308eyffhl.. before you state FACTS.. look up the info.. look up section 1401 as listed below .. certainly McCain would qualify.. but what really behooves me here.. and I am not even a Republican.. is that a man who put his life on the line for our country, as did his father should be treated with such disrespect by someone like you.. what have you done for your country??
The men and women who give their lives to keep us free and free from those who would do us harm physically or by demagougery, deserve our respect and honor.. what is wrong with our country when people think like you.. and the pastor "Wright" ..Obama's pastor who would honor a man like Farrakahn.. there is something very wrong with our value system. I also think that dual citizenship may not be a good thing for our president to have.. what does it say about that persons devotion???
No Dual Citizens, Please
Submitted on March 2nd, 2008 by Chuck_JohnsonI don't have a problem, per se, with us changing the rules around to allow people who've been in the country their whole lives to run for President, but I do have a problem with dual citizens.
Schwarzenegger is still a citizen of Austria, after all.
Definition of natural-born citizen, eligible to be President
Submitted on March 1st, 2008 by Donna Augustehttp://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_c...
To be a Senator or Representative, you must be a citizen of the United States. To be President, not only must you be a citizen, but you must also be natural-born. Aside from participation in government, citizenship is an honor bestowed upon people by the citizenry of the United States when a non-citizen passes the required tests and submits to an oath.
Natural-born citizen
Who is a natural-born citizen? Who, in other words, is a citizen at birth, such that that person can be a President someday?
The 14th Amendment defines citizenship this way: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps.
Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"
Anyone born inside the United States
Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.
Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.
What the heck is a citizen???
Submitted on March 1st, 2008 by mxyzptlk"The Constitution states one of the qualifications for president is to be born in the United States."
No, eyffhl, that is not what it says. If you're going to quote the Constitution, how about looking it up?
It says you have to be a natural born citizen.
I am surprised there is any question being raised here about McCain as I see the only possible definition of natural born as it applies here to mean that you were a citizen upon birth.
This is why we refer to the process of an alien becoming a citizen naturalization.
But then I read your other post stating that your children, born in a military hospital, were not American citizens upon birth. Were both parents American citizens? If your statement is accurate, then I don't see how it wouldn't also apply to McCain.
But this just seems wrong. And I'm with Joel that, in any case, we should amend the constitution to permit naturalized citizens to be president, perhaps with a more stringent residency requirement such as 20 years.
McCain is a citizen
Submitted on March 1st, 2008 by JoelI always enjoy efforts to apply a strict originalist reading of the Constitution when it makes originalists uncomfortable -- and that's certainly what's going on with the McCain citizenship question -- but ... no, I don't think this argument washes.
John McCain was a U.S. citizen born to U.S. citizens -- born abroad because his father was posted in Panama, serving the country. It seems to me that any reasonable, sane and charitable reading of the Constitution allows such persons to run for the presidency.
But perhaps this gives us a good chance to revisit the "natural born" requirement. There are talented U.S. citizens of foreign birth who might serve the country well if allowed to serve. I doubt that Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, would suddenly give our nuclear codes to Austria if he became president. The vetting process that a potential president goes through is so thorough that any chance of a Manchurian candidate is virtually nil, despite conjecture from really, really dumb corners of society.
So what, exactly, is the justification then for the natural-born requirement?