That would really piss off a lot of Muricans. That the guy with the foreign name, has more of a right to be President, than the Murican hero. How sweet would that be?

Obama was born in the Territory of Hawaii before it became a state. Isn't that the same problem? Just askin'.

one expert says 'yea' the other says 'nay' it goes to court, no judge is going to rule against McCain. If necessary the congress would pass an immediate bill rectifying the situation.

Repubs would fight to defend their guy, dems would fight to keep McCain the nominee.

A non-issue.

This reminds me of the argument that Saddam was involved with 9/11. If you have to go to that much effort to make your argument, it's a pretty thin reed. If the case that McCain was ineligible had any validity, the argument would be easier to make.

Besides the "military father on duty" argument, the Canal Zone was U.S. Territory at the time; it wasn't just a lease, like Guantanamo. It's as if he had been born in Guam, or Puerto Rico. Or, like Goldwater, in Arizona before 1912.

Did he have to be "naturalized"? No? Then he's "natural-born". QED

The old fart's gonna lose anyway. Moot patoot. Then he and Botox Barbie can fade into the Arizona sunset in preparation for their inevitable trip to hell.

Actually, Obama was born in 1961, Hawaii became a state in 1959.

...was born in 1961. Hawaii became a state in 1959. Nice try though!

Different issue. The territory McCain was born in never became a state. I don't know the details but I'd bet when a place becomes a state its residents become naturalized. Could be wrong but either way, seperate issue. And a non-issue in either case.

Besides, Hawaii was US territory, even prior to 1959. "Natural-born citizen" doesn't mean "born in a State", it means, "citizen at time of birth", i.e., like I said above, not needing "naturalization". Persons born in US territories are US citizens.

All persons born... in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States

Note: "in the United States". Not "in a State", but in the U.S. as a whole; that would include territories.

Note: "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof", not "or..."

I was thinking about that for a while now. he has no chance anyway. I say let the election go through. bring this up if he wins. :0

It could be much worse than mccain from the gop. Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. :)

Why do I get the feeling that the GOP, probably getting the feeling that McCain may not be able to win, is going to float this kind of stuff in a lead-up to an ultimate switcheroo this November. I have felt for quite some time that, if necessary, either a more palatable nominee is going to be hoisted into place at the last minute, and/or a "national emergency" is going to be trumped up to keep Bush in place.

Or maybe I'm just losing it. Yeah, that's it. I'm losing it.

You mean, the same "Arizona law professor Gabriel Chin" who is a Democratic Party activist, a donor to at least two Democratic Congressional campaigns and the Democrat Governor of Arizona? That guy?

Okay, now I get it.

I agree with JeffM23: a natural-born citizen is someone who is a citizen at birth. That's my interpretation of what it means.

If democrats choose to make an issue of McCain's citizenship, it'll make us (I am a democrat) look like a bunch of whiners! It may help tip the election in favor of McCain, at which point the citizenship issue could go to the federal courts. Does anyone really believe that the Supreme Court would declare that John McCain is not eligible to be president?

Situation reminds me of when the current President Bush chose fellow Texan Dick Cheney to be his running mate. Since the president and vice president cannot be from the same state, they simply pretended that Cheney still lived in Wyoming. Academics clucked and everyone got over it. Same with McCain.

Let's beat McCain on his lack-of-merit rather than playing stupid, childish, pedantic Rovian games like this, OK?

The law is absolutely clear on this matter, there is no doubt whatsoever that McCain is a "natural born citizen" and stooping to this level is shameful. Fuck yourself, Kilgore.

I suppose the non-binding is one thing, but if the congress asserts he can, then he can. After all, Alexander Hamilton, born elsewhere (barbados i think) was exempted by ceongressional decree.

Even if McCain is technically foreign born according to the constitution, said document is now "just a goddam piece of paper" thanks to Bush and his ass licking accomplices in the democratic party. Lets not forget that folks.

While a natural born citizen has never been ruled on, Congress in it's early history declared it to be a person born of two citizens.

While some technical argument could be made that someone born of two citizens in non-US controlled territory was not natural born, or that someone born of one citizen is not natural born, even these are very weak arguments.

Much someone born on US controlled territory to two US citizens.

Obama has more of an issue in this regard than McCain, more is in maybe 1/10 of one percent rather than 1/100 of one percent.

Since you insulted me and all, I should probably note, since it apparently escaped you, that this post was hardly a political strategy memo on how to beat McCain. It was a light, Friday-afternoon "ironic news" sort of thing. Sorry it so unaccountably angered you. I don't say that sort of thing to people who have actually wronged me, but it takes all kinds.

All presidents before Martin van Buren were born in colonies of Great Britain, not in states of the United States. Just sayin'.

"This issue has been kicking around constitutional circles for a while, and Chin's opinion is decidedly a minority view."

___________

So then, why the fuck is this even news?

Waste of bandwidth.