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Is John McCain Ineligible to Be President?
Newsmax ^ | Monday, July 16, 2007 4:26 PM | By: Lowell Ponte

Posted on 01/31/2008 9:55:48 AM PST by Perdogg

Pundits are now writing obituaries for Sen. John McCain's sinking campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

I hereby join them with a fundamental question: Does the Arizona senator fulfill our Constitution's eligibility requirements to be president?

Like several other prominent American politicians, John McCain was not born in the United States.

Article II of the Constitution specifies that "no person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Because of this, California's Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, born in Austria in 1947, is ineligible to be president. He moved to the United States in 1968 and became a U.S. citizen in 1983.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: mccain; unnecessaryexcerpt
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To: svcw

“Thats were my dad was stationed in WWII.”

My grandfather was stationed there as well. They probably knew each other. Besides guard duty, he was assigned to sit on a barge beside a smoke pot waiting for an air-raid siren. Later they sent him to Okinawa and eventually mainland Japan.

Cheers :)


101 posted on 01/31/2008 2:14:51 PM PST by FreeInWV
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To: xrp
He’s eligible. This has been settled.

Oh?

102 posted on 01/31/2008 2:19:08 PM PST by nygoose
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To: FreeInWV

My dad was an MP.
My dad was sent home after he was shot by a sniper and lost an arm.


103 posted on 01/31/2008 2:21:46 PM PST by svcw (The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.)
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To: Perdogg

This type article is pure bs. US Military or Foreign Service personnel serving overseas whose children are born during that overseas assignment are natural born citizens.

There’s plenty to go after McCain about, but this is offensive.


104 posted on 01/31/2008 2:22:11 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: Perdogg
How dumb is this query?

If you are born an American citizen, you can be born outside the United States, like McCain and Obama. If you were not born an American citizen, like Ahnold, you are ineligible to be President.

105 posted on 01/31/2008 2:24:07 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: RC2

It took him five years when everyone else graduated in four years. He also graduated at the bottom of his class.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Just facts please.
He graduated from Episcopal HS Alexandria VA 1954
He graduated from USNA 1958
He was 5th from the bottom of his class.

I am no fan of McCain in his present endeavor.


106 posted on 01/31/2008 2:43:36 PM PST by xrmusn
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To: svcw

Yep, they probably knew each other. I don’t think my grandfather was an MP. I just remembered that he told an interesting story about guarding a warehouse.


107 posted on 01/31/2008 3:02:29 PM PST by FreeInWV
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To: Perdogg
NewsMax is flat wrong!

Been here before, and it has already been settled. The same trash was talked when Gerorge Romney ran in 1967.

It is notable that while Romney was born in Mexico, he was still considered to be a viable and legal candidate to run for office. His Mormon father and his three wives fled to Mexico in 1886 but none of them ever relinquished their citizenship. While the Constitution does provide that a president must be a natural born citizen, the first Congress of the United States in 1790 passed legislation stating that "The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States." Romney and his family fled Mexico in 1912 prior to the Mexican revolution.

108 posted on 01/31/2008 4:42:16 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Perdogg
As a Florida resident I had this pre-recorded message from John McCain left on my home answering machine January 29, 2008, primary voting day:

"... I promise to lead our nation and our party as a Ronald Reagan conservative. I'll lower your taxes, veto wasteful government spending, and ensure our party returns to the smaller government principles on which it began. I'll secure our border first before pursuing any other immigration reform. I'll appoint conservative judges like Justices Alito and Roberts. I will protect the sanctity of life and have a 24 year record to prove it. This is my commitment to you. As you go to the polls today consider our greatest challenge as a nation is to defeat a relentless enemy of radical Islamic extremists. My life experience has prepared me better than any other candidate to defeat this enemy. We can and will win this war. Again, this is John McCain and I humbly ask you to vote for me today. (Paid for by John McCain 2008.)

Would that all of that were true, but somehow I doubt it.

109 posted on 01/31/2008 6:27:31 PM PST by Beowulf
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To: bobjam
Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina. I did some research, and it appears that every US President was born in one of the 13 colonies or in a state that was a state at the time of his birth.

I stand corrected. He's most often identified with TN and KY, but was born in SC, which was unquestionably a state.

You are correct, the Constitution makes an exemption for people who were born before 1776.

To be technical about it, 1788 -- the relevant date is the adoption of the Constitution, not the Declaration. But Jackson is in in either case. He was born in South Carolina in 1767, so he was definitely eligible under black-letter law.

110 posted on 01/31/2008 8:32:31 PM PST by ReignOfError (`)
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To: goldstategop
Does that make John McCain a natural born citizen? If his parents are American citizens, I don't think there's any question about his citizenship status. But whether natural born means born on American soil is something for the courts to decide.

McCain was born a US citizen -- i.e., he did not need to be naturalized -- and if he's elected, I'd bet a crisp Ben Franklin that the federal courts won't rush to overturn the voters' decision. You might find a district or even a circuit court to weigh in on the side of invalidating an election, but SCOTUS would be waiting with the smackdown.

111 posted on 01/31/2008 8:40:32 PM PST by ReignOfError (`)
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To: bigfootbob
Sometimes I wonder...which is the dumber “news” site: World Net Daily or Newsmax?

That's close to being an imponderable. It's like asking which is worse, a poke in the eye or a blow to the throat?

112 posted on 01/31/2008 8:50:16 PM PST by ReignOfError (`)
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To: Perdogg

Well there is that one little detail of insanity. Although I have been told there is a fine line between insanity and genius, unfortunately for McCain they don’t make medication strong enough to eject him to the other side.


113 posted on 01/31/2008 8:54:11 PM PST by Xenophon450 (I guess I'll never know, some things under the sun can never be understood...)
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To: squidly

You don’t even have to be military.

As long as your mother was a US citizen at the time of your birth, then you’re a natural born US citizen no matter where you were born.

There are only 2 categories. You’re either a natural born citizen or you’re a naturalized citizen.


114 posted on 01/31/2008 8:56:01 PM PST by Truthsearcher
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To: Verginius Rufus

That’s right...it was 1788 and not 1776. All that is moot now (unless Robert Byrd runs).


115 posted on 02/01/2008 4:26:47 AM PST by bobjam
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To: Yaelle
Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii, which was a state already, so he was born in the US. Even if he had been born in Hawaii before 1959, when it was a territory, he still would have been born a citizen.

Of course Hawaii is not physically connected to the rest of the United States, but maybe Huckabee will propose building a 4-lane interstate to connect it to California, in order to help the economy.

116 posted on 02/01/2008 6:08:45 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: eastsider

Ditto, what a stupid article.


117 posted on 02/01/2008 6:09:55 AM PST by Lurking in Kansas (Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.)
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To: Perdogg

They brought up this same crap in 1964 when Barry Goldwater was running. Goldwater was born in the Arizona Territory in 1909 - three years before it became a state.


118 posted on 02/01/2008 6:32:53 AM PST by reg45
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To: Gator101

I totally agree Gator..........I can think of at least 2 reasons why he shoudn’t be eligible for POTUS.......he’s nuts and he’s a Demonrat! :)


119 posted on 02/01/2008 6:38:37 AM PST by Dawgreg (Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.)
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To: Perdogg
If Jimmy Carter hadn't cut back on the navy, John S. McCain might be just another Admiral (like his father and grandfather). We wouldn't be concerned about his voting record.

So! It's all Jimmy Carter's fault.

120 posted on 02/01/2008 6:46:53 AM PST by reg45
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