Posted on 12/01/2008 8:32:59 AM PST by NonZeroSum
I’m pretty sure that I’ve never mentioned the birth certificate issue up until this point, even in the heat of the campaign.
I have to confess that I have no idea what to make of the fact that, despite all of the lawsuits (most of which were thrown out due to lack of standing, which in turn makes one wonder, if a US citizen has no standing to challenge whether or not a presidential candidate is eligible to be president, who does?), the Obama campaign could easily put this to rest by simply unsealing the birth certificate, which (coincidentally with his trip to Hawaii to see his dying grandmother) became explicitly unavailable to the public by order of the (Republican) governor’s office. Instead, it has spent thousands in legal fees fighting efforts to force it to present a valid original certificate of birth.
But let’s ignore that for now. Let’s be purely hypothetical. Suppose, just for the sake of discussion, it does turn out in fact that Senator Obama has been less than forthright about his past (something that would be hardly unprecedented) and turns out to not be constitutionally eligible for the office, due to (say) having been born in Kenya to ineligible parents. I think that, assuming that we actually follow the Constitution (sadly, a novel concept these days), and he thereby does not become the next president, there will be (among other things) massive race riots. But here’s the interesting question: who becomes the next president in his stead...?
Read the rest at Transterrestrial Musings.
If no one else got any electoral votes, they'd have no choice. They are restricted to picking from people who actually get electoral votes.
However I suspect there *will* be at least one other Dem that gets one or more electoral votes, "just in case". Then the House can pick her.
We don't have a parliamentary system. He doesn't need their support to continue in office, unless you mean they would impeach and remove him. Fat chance a Dem congress would do that.
If he is ruled ineligible after being sworn in, it becomes more complicated. Again, lawfully, he was never President, because his ineligibility would make his election void ab initio, meaning it was void from the beginning, as opposed to voidable due to some later reason (like incapacity). Since he was never President, we had no President when Bush leaves office, and the Constitution does not cover that scenario. Many would clamor for Biden to become President, and he would have a stronger argument, but only because he was sworn in as VP, and the President is gone. Technically, again, it should be declared that the winner was McCain, but Biden serving as VP will make it harder for simple minds to understand why he doesn't just take over. But the VP takes office because the Presidential candidate has won, and if the Presidential candidate didn't win, because he wasn't eligible, then the VP was never really VP.
It would be a terrible mess, because of the riots and because of the arguments that would be made in court to further distort the Constitution and render it meaningless. The Dems would come up with incredibly illogical arguments, the press would give them credence, and democrat party members would accept them wholeheartedly. What is lawful would be meaningless.
In that atmosphere, McCain and other RINOs would probably cave in and either accept Obama or Biden.
It is all academic, however, because the SC will never get involved, and because I believe that Obama was born in Hawaii. There is something on his BC that he is embarassed about, but the location of his birth is not it.
This is my view, and I hasten to add that what he's not willing to show the world is not the business of interracial parentage, it's something else, something odd, deeper than that. But my feeling is that the Justices will demand to view the vault copy in camera, the only way 0bama will concede to allow, they will as a group come forward and assure the American people that indeed, he does meet the Constitutional requirements to be president.
To be honest, if Roberts, Scalia and Thomas were to tell me this, I would trust them even though I do not get to see the document myself. I'd like to know just what the big hoo-haw is, why 0bama is so darn adamant about keeping the truth to himself, but if indeed they are allowed to see and certify, though it be private to them, I would accept their ruling.
Then, the matter only gets to the SC on appeal, and only on legal issues, not issues of fact.
So, I would not place much hope in any action by the SC. I don't think they have power to order that Obama give them his BC.
Someone who IS, at least technically, qualified.
The actual vote is on December 15 (O is not actually the President-elect yet). If SCOTUS "clarifies the procedure" before then, O is screwed.
Perhaps he got (and destroyed) evidence of the whereabouts of Stanley Ann on the day of BHO II's birth. That evidence could be letters or a passport.
Question: Did the Brits keep records of births in their hospitals in Kenya? Do they have a record of a visit by Stanley Ann or a record of the alleged father's visa?
It all boils down to "Where was the mother when Barack was born?"
Then, the matter only gets to the SC on appeal, and only on legal issues, not issues of fact.
So then why did Thomas take the issue, request the meeting of all the other Justices? (Forgive me, brain cramp right now as to that proper name for it.) Since the issue raised in the Donfrio position was the qualification of 0bama, McCain and Calero to be president under Article II, natural-born, isn't that a legal issue?
I'm not taking issue with your position at all, just trying to clarify the opinions expressed in these differing threads.
So, I would not place much hope in any action by the SC. I don't think they have power to order that Obama give them his BC.
I was only thinking of some manner of compromise to a problem that really ought not exist. I've said in a number of posts, it's high time we stop going by the "say so" method of electing people to represent us in the highest offices. If anything, having this question raised, no precedents, no actual official procedures set, we should INSIST that the states and their legislatures, the parties pre-primaries, SOMEONE needs to validate that a candidate meets the citizenship, residency, in the case of president, natural-born status required for eligibility.
John McCain would become President if Obama is DQ’d by the Supreme Court prior to the EC vote since McCain had the next most Electoral College votes (it would be as though Obama never ran).
The next stage would be The House voting on it and they’d only have McCain to chose from (and each State counts as one voting block and not each individual Rep.).
http://www.rallycongress.com/constitutional-qualification/1244
If the SC DQ’s Obama prior to the EC vote, McCain wins since it would be as though Obama never ran. Thus, McCain wins 538 - 0. The SC might also DQ the entire Democrat ticket which would mean Palin becomes the VP.
The next scenario could be The House voting for the President, except that they would only have the option to vote for McCain since he was the only other candidate to receive Electoral College votes.
http://www.rallycongress.com/constitutional-qualification/1244
Nobody has any electoral college votes yet. They only have electors PLEDGED to vote a certain way. But most of them aren't committed by law to vote for whom they are pledged for. But they are party loyalists. So the democrat electors WILL for a democrat if they can't vote for Obama. They'll vote for Hillary and that would be perfectly legal.
There is much more evidence stacked in favor of him not being a natural born citizen than there is of some possible embarrassing details.
It is time to draw that line in the sand.
He was born in Kenya. Dems don’t know and/or don’t care. Public schools don’t teach The Constitution anymore. The dumbed down public does not know about Constitutional requirements, and if they did, they would still not care.
Disqualify him, and damn the consequences. The Constitution must be honored. I vote to bring on any riots they want to try. I am ready to defend my 20 acres of the country.
Didn’t the House and Senate almost put the Bush election (W, in 2000) into the Senate? I think they have their one Rep. (Boxer?) but could net get the Senator to match.
Which Senator is going to toss a monkey wrench into Obama’s campaign at the 13th hour? I can’t think of one.
If the SC declares Obama DQ’d before the EC, McCain would win obviously since he had the next most votes. It would be as though Obama never ran.
http://www.rallycongress.com/constitutional-qualification/1244
http://countusout.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/obama-covertly-working-to-amend-the-natural-born-citizen-requirement/
It is feasible, and very believable, that an anti-American, communist girl, from an anti-American, communist family, would readily relinquish their citizenship at the first opportunity, such as marrying a foreigner.
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