Posted on 08/27/2013 10:44:47 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
Partial Transcript of the Mark Levin Show aired live on Monday, August 19, 2013
[start at 0:26 of the podcast recording]
Hello everybody, Mark Levin here, our number 877-381-3811, 877-381-3811.
Mark Levin: Before we jump in, all I can say is, Wow! You guys, open your microphones a second. Thousands of people at both booksignings. Wasn’t that unbelievable?
Staffer: There were a lot of people there, it was great.
Mark Levin: And the people were just spectacular, weren’t they? Except for one guy in New Jersey which I’ll talk about later.
Staffer: [chuckles]
Mark Levin: This… this birther stuff is way, way out of contr…”Now Ted Cruz” … I swear I almost hit this guy… “Ted Cruz is not a citizen!” No, he’s born to an American mother, no he’s born in Canada to an American mother. So all you pregnant ladies travelling overseas: According to certain birther, uh, groups, if you have a child while you are on vacation, they’re not Americans. They’re not natural-born Americans. I just thought you’d wanna know, if you were thinking of your kid as a potential presidential candidate, uh, because they say so. They have no historical background whatsoever… None! But it’s, it’s just amazing! Absolutely stunning! But we had so many wonderful people, and let me add, all races, both genders… I don’t know the sexual preferences, that wasn’t a requirement to say hello…young people, elderly, middle age people. A particularly young crowd, yeah, we had dogs come too, everybody so well behaved, and uh, it was a pleasure. In New York, we were there about four-and-a-half hours, in New Jersey about five, five-and-a-half hours, and I wanted to be respectful to everybody, so… I just want to thank you all, and this Saturday, Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, at Barnes and Noble. I should add, if you want to see the crowd that was at New York, Mr. Producer went down the line, and this was early on, this, this line kept growing and growing throughout the day…you can go look at uh MarkLevinShow.com on our website, as well as the social sites MarkLevinShow Facebook, MarkLevinShow Twitter. Um, Christians, Coptic Christians are being wiped out in Egypt. Their churches are being burned to the ground….
[stop at 3:01 of the podcast recording]
…
[restart at 59:22 of the podcast recording]
Mark Levin: Alright, lets go to uh, Steve in New York, the great WABC, go!
Steve: Great one, it’s great to talk to you, what an honor.
Mark Levin: My honor, thank you, my friend.
Steve: Oh, I got a great story for you, I loved your uh, Hannity special, I enjoyed it very much, I listened to it three times over the weekend…
Mark Levin: Oh, thank you.
Steve: …I got my wife, I got my wife to tape for me, or TIVO it, and she watched it. And she really enjoyed it. She’s not big on politics or anything, and she gets sick of hearing me talk about it, but it was funny ‘cause she said “He is so calm, Steve.” He was, she was trying to do a little wifey/husband training? And…
Mark Levin: Uh huh.
Steve: she said “He is so calm, and he gets his point across. He didn’t raise his voice, or get upset…
Mark Levin: [chuckles]
Steve: …or anything!”
Mark Levin: [breaks out into laughter]
Steve: …and I laughed so hard. I said “How do you, uh, where do you think I learned how to yell?” [laughs] “I just listen to Mark.” And she knows you’re my hero, I go around quotin’ ya, and tellin’ everybody to listen to ya, and…
Mark Levin: Well, that’s great.
Steve: she just … to get me to calm down a little, and I said you just need to listen to Mark. [laughs]
Mark Levin: Well, thank you, uh…well listen, you know what, this is called passion, just remind her it’s passion, you know, and um…what was truly exceptional about the Hannity program, number one, the man has enormous class and decency, and number two, he was asking me questions because he wanted me to inform the public about what I’d written, and to engage the studio audience. And notice we didn’t have a bunch of left-wing bomb throwers just yelling and talking over people. There were conversations actually occurring, did you notice that?
Steve: Yes, there was no crazy, I mean a lot of times he’s got the left wingers on there, and it’s just, kind, it’s almost funny to watch, but that was so interesting and…and it didn’t get me upset, and it just, I just wanted to listen to it over and over and absorb every second of it, and every bit of information, it…it’s just brilliant, Mark, I, you know I hope when um…we’ve got President Cruz, he has the wisdom to make you his chief of staff or vice-president.
Mark Levin: No, no no no no no. And he’s got a great chief of staff, by the way. No, I…I do what I do, and uh, and he will do a great job should he be president. Thank you for your call my friend. And uh, I’m so sick of these birthers. I was going to tell you about this, uh, incident. Just a wonderful group of people, uh, we were in Bookends, Ridgewood, New Jersey, and everyone was respectful until…and it was hot outside, it got hot, hotter than uh originally forecast and it was a very long line, and you know we try to go through it quickly out of respect for everybody in line, but I also try to be respectful to everybody in line. Um…but this fella [breathes out] gets in my face and first of all he points to some obscure note on page I don’t know whatever and he said [cough] excuse me folks, and he says “You were wrong about this, you were wrong about”, and honestly I, I, I didn’t have time to read it, and I’ll go back and check it, if I’m wrong about it I’ll fix it, and that happens sometimes in these books when you’re going into the notes, you might put a word when you mean another word, or a state when you mean another state, so I’m going to check it out, I just haven’t had time. And then he goes, he says uh “And Ted Cruz is not eligible to be president. He’s not a natural-born Citizen.” And I thought to myself, you know I, this is not a subject that I have studied so thoroughly, but he’s born of a mother who is an American citizen. Doesn’t that make him a natural-born Ci… “No, but he was in Canada when he was born!” Okay, but she wasn’t Canadian, she was an American citizen! She was an American citizen. And so, the issue isn’t what the Constitution says in that regard, the issue is how do we interpret that. And the way I interpret it is, his mother’s an American citizen, so he’s an American citizen! That’s not a constitutional issue, that’s an interpretive issue… or, a statutory issue if Congress has passed some law subsequent to that to enforce that provision of the Constitution. So, the face of the Constitution isn’t terribly helpful. If he was born of non-citizens in a foreign country that would be easy, and there’s a lot of easy cases. So the guy gets in my face, and he starts pointing and pointing, and I looked at him and I pointed back, and I cursed, unfortunately, but the, because, uh you know, he was…he was a nutjob. And I thought to myself: Why do you come here and do that? Is this, is this sort of the way you…you excite yourself or something? No. So, I just want you folks to know who like Ted Cruz. I…I assume they’re going to do this to Rubio, or some of these other people too, whether you like ‘em or not for president I’m just making a point, but now this has become an entire industry. And of course [chuckles] Ted Cruz [laughs], he immediately issued today or yesterday his long form birth certificate. Now, some of this is probably coming from the left. So now they’re the birthers. But some of it’s coming from others, too. People just get obsessed, or conspiratorial, and there’s no end to it, on a matter like this, and there’s nothing I can say or point to that’s going to change their mind. But in my view there’s no doubt about it that he’s eligible for president, should he choose to run, just as I believe McCain was eligible for president, when he ran. So…that’s my opinion! You may not like it… But what particularly bothered me about this guy…he was disrespectful in his conduct to everybody else standing there. They were pleasant, talking to each other, you know…listening, watching and so forth. I’m a big boy; I’ve seen this and a thousand times worse. But he was quite obnoxious. He’s the only one…oh no there was another guy, had a prob, wha wha, he what…he had a problem, he was screaming upstairs, I don’t know what he was screamin’ about. It was kind of eventful there in New Jersey. No, there wasn’t anything like that in New York, was there boys? [Staff: No. Peaceful in ji…you know in Long Island] It was peaceful on Long Island! [chuckles] But is was peaceful in New Jersey, too. It really, really was. It was just terrific. If you could have seen that line, well, actually you can. We have the uh video, and this is just the start of the day with the line. It got longer and longer at uh… at Book Review in Long Island if you want to take a look on MarkLevinShow.com or MarkLevi…oh there is now? The…the New Jersey line? Okay. Both lines. On MarkLevinShow.com, are they both on the social sites too? Or…just the Long Island. But we’ll put the other one up later so some of you can see yourselves, too. Alright. GoldLine!
[stop at 67:00 of the podcast recording]
(further information and videos at: http://queenofliberty.com/2013/08/14/mark-levin-rolls-out-his-new-book/)
So you draw no distinction between Justice Scalia and Ruth Ginsberg? You think that the Framers of the Constitution such as James Madison are evil and wished for tyranny and are excrement?
You sound like someone who has no appreciation for our magnificent history and Constitution, for the struggle for the rule of law rather than the rule of men, and yet calls himself a patriot.
I happen to respect the Constitution and its Framers. Go peddle your hatred for the origins of America elsewhere.
... this is like playing chess with a pigeon ... ___ craps the board, knocks the pieces on the floor, and proceeds to strut around like he’s made a point.
ROTFL! If that wasn't too long to fit, I think I'd make it my tag line!
Only a native born citizen can be a natural born citizen. Most, but not all, native born citizens are natural born citizens. Any native born citizen of any age can move out of the country and denaturalize. Only the Executive Branch can denaturalize a citizen. The Executive Branch maintains a policy that a person who is not 6 months past the age of majority, currently the age of majority is 18 years old, may move back to the U.S and rescind the Oath of Renunciation. If the Oath of Renunciation is not rescinded, then natural born citizenship status is lost forever.
Some individuals who have been issued Certificate of Loss of Nationality and are older than 6 months past the age of majority have successfully sued the U.S. in U.S. Federal Court to have the Certificate of Loss of Nationality rescinded because of fraud. If the Court opines a person should have the Certificate of Loss of Nationality rescinded, the Executive Branch may concur or ignore the Court’s opinion because the Executive Branch stands on an equal footing as the Judicial Branch. The Executive Branch is the final authority on U.S citizenship status.
Of what use then, the endless speculation of those not empowered to explicitly explain ArtII, among them myself and all other FReepers not presently cashing SCOTUS paychecks?
Exegesis of the COTUS on eligibility is a worthwhile pastime for us all. However, the word that will bind us all must come from the SCOTUS, ruling on eligibility appeals that come before it by those unsatisfied with the rulings of lower courts. Many such an appeal has wended its weary way to arrive before this august bench, only to be preemptorily thrown out on some quite remarkably shabby legal pretexts and, in the frank admission of various SCOTUS Justices, just plain avoided, dodged, shirked, ignored, and otherwise turned away by either the Justices of themselves or by the bureaucracy of the court and its clerks.
Learned and dedicated FReepers knowledgeably bandy about dicta, rulings, State Department Rules, Laws, INS Regulations, etc. Marvelous. But having little to do with the real questions: "Was Barack Hussein Obama II (or Jr.) eligible to run for President?" "Is Ted Cruz a 'natural born Citizen'?" "How about that Rubio guy?" "Jindal: yes or no?"
Now, this has nothing to do with removing anyone from office. This has to do with who is eligible to run for office. If Barry was ineligible, that's one thing. The fact that he is a sitting President is another. That means that now only Congress can remove him. Since the ruling of the SCOTUS is not binding upon them in this matter, that would actually depend upon whether or not they felt like it.
Out of 300 million Americans, perhaps about 50 Million would really like the eligibility questions answered. That should be enough. SCOTUS must, must I say, clear this confusion away. Be nice if it were before the next Presidential Election, or Civil War.
OBTW, The SCOTUS failure to act is a national disgrace and actually a fitting marker for the beginning of the end of the Republic.
FWIW, and I would bet my life on this, SCOTUS will never ever take up the issue of the eligibility of an elected President on the issue of whether or not he or she is a Natural Born Citizen.
And FWIW, the Supreme Court has no Constitutional authority to make a ruling. The only body that is Constitutionally delegated to determine the eligibility of the President under any Clause in the Constitution is Congress. If they certify the election, then that is the end of the discussion.
This issue is a distraction.
You continue with your strawman arguments.
Nothing you attribut to me originates with my posts.
You cannot debat the fact6s that I state so you go to the progressive quisling candy store for somethying more to your liking.
I did not say that There is no distinction between Justice Scalia and Ruth Ginsberg. The distinction is not relevent to this question anyway. I said nothing about Madison, as you know, but you have shown that honesty is far too much to expect from you.
The only magnificent thing about our founding ultimately is that the nation was founded on Yeshua’s gospel, but even that didn’t last when your kind got the vote.
The hatred is obviously yours since you advocate turning the constitution into Charmin.
In Craig v. U.S., the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals opined no U.S. Citizen has a “right” to be named a natural born citizen. Since no U.S. Citizen has a “right” to be named or identified as NBC, SCOTUS has not and will not define the term NBC. Congress and the Executive Branch do not have the Consitutional authority to define NBC and cannot name or identify any U.S Citizen as NBC.
Citizenship rights for the native born are enumerated in the 14th Amendment. Citizenship rights for naturalized U.S. Citizens are equal to the citizenship rights of the native born; except a naturalized U.S. citizen is not a natural born U.S Citizen.
The NBC exception with respect to naturalized U.S. Citizen is the only discriminatory act SCOTUS has held to be Constitutional with respect to citizenship rights. NBC status stands upon the footing of the native born. If you’re not native born, then you are not NBC. If you are native born, then you may be NBC, but no one has a right to be classified as NBC.
The only magnificent thing about our founding ultimately is that the nation was founded on Yeshua’s gospel, but even that didn’t last when your kind got the vote. The hatred is obviously yours since you advocate turning the constitution into Charmin.
Unlike you, I think the founding of America is magnificent, and the Constitution, while imperfect as are all works of men, is an outstanding achievement. You are the one who wants "to turn the Constitution into Charmin" by claiming it says things that it in fact does not say.
I think some of the folks here are just mentally diseased. They are off on bureauctatic and technical tangents that clearly have NOTHING to do with the original intent of the Founders, and yet, they claim that only their little cult of purists can truly see the light.
They are sick miserable unhappy and totally irrelevant puppies. Bless their little hearts.....
Go away, you’re not even a good fake.
They all seem to be the same ones. They show up on every Ted Cruz thread and spam it with all this esoteric nonsense about the conditions upon which Ted Cruz is somehow not a Natural Born Citizen and then act as if it is the most pressing issue in American History.
It is a mental disorder.
Esoteric nonsense is a damned good description of what they spew. It’s arrogance combined with irrelevance.
Thank you for asking.
Justice Scalia suggests that in divining intent the focus the should be on what the term might have meant to "ordinary citizens" in the founding generation. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court (J. Scalia) wrote the following:
"The Second Amendment provides: 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.' In interpreting this text, we are guided by the principle that '[t]he Constitution was written to be understood by the voters; its words and phrases were used in their normal and ordinary as distinguished from technical meaning.' United States v. Sprague, 282 U. S. 716, 731 (1931) ; see also Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 188 (1824). Normal meaning may of course include an idiomatic meaning, but it excludes secret or technical meanings that would not have been known to ordinary citizens in the founding generation."
How many "ordinary citizens" then or now were familiar with Grotius or Vattel or the books they wrote in foreign languages? I recognize that there may have been a few of society's most elite back then who had such books somewhere in their libraries, but those aren't the kind of folks that I usually consider "ordinary citizens." "Ordinary citizens" back then or now aren't usually familiar with Vattel's theories on citizenship.
I think that if the term "natural born citizen" had in the minds of a few of the drafters some sort of special little meaning (in French or in English) and they wanted to bind Americans then or now to that special little meaning, then they were under an obligation to disclose that special little meaning in the text of the Constitution for "ordinary citizens" in the founding generation. I also think that, absent such a disclosure, "citizen at birth" seems to me a very normal, more natural, common-sense NBC construction for ordinary citizens (like me), then or now. If some now want to impose on the rest of us their special little meaning, then they should amend the Constitution and add the appropriate language.
The term Birther was to link people who thought Obama was born outside the country to 911 Truthers. Morons. Idiots. Insane. ...
People have told me that they are "birthers." Sure, many of them have discredited "birtherism" by their conduct, but the term isn't necessarily a pejorative as yet.
But, listen, give me an alternative term to describe them and I'll be happy to use it. I have no desire to offend you. ;-)
No, what I said was that I believe that natural born citizen = citizen at birth. As regards your concerns about "dual citizen at birth" or "triple citizen at birth," I said that I do not believe that we should permit foreign governments to decide for us who we can elect as our presidents. If, without my request, Canada should decide to view me as a Canadian citizen, I should not be prejudiced by that decision of the Canadian government. I have no control over how the Canadian government chooses to view me. I guess what you're saying is that if Iran were, without request, to confer Iranian citizenship on Jeb Bush, he'd be ineligible to be president because he would be "dual citizen."
Listen, if you really want to figure out a way to view Ted Cruz as ineligible, then you will find a way. But, there isn't anything about the text or history of the natural born citizen clause that compels such a conclusion.
Did this birther non-sense originate with a one of Hillary Clinton’s staffers?
Jeff Winston, love your tagline!
I agree. The constitution clearly gives Congress the authority in the naturalization/citizenship arena. I cannot see the SCOTUS simply taking up Congress’ power and making decisions about it.
I can see them ruling on some law or act of Congress.
If Congress for example extended citizenship into the womb at conception, as you suggested yesterday, I think SCOTUS would weigh in.
Justice Scalia explained his approach to interpreting the Constitution in his 1997 book - A Matter of Interpretation, Federal Courts and the Law
"It is curious that most of those who insist that the drafter’s intent gives meaning to a statute reject the drafter’s intent as the criteria for interpretation of the Constitution. I reject it for both. I will consult the writings of some men who happened to be delegates to the Constitutional Convention – Hamilton’s and Madison’s writings in The Federalist, for example. I do so, however, not because they were Framers and therefore their intent is authoritative and must be law; but rather because their writings, like those of other intelligent and informed people of the time, display how the text of the Constitution was originally understood. Thus I give equal weight to Jay’s pieces in The Federalist, and to Thomas Jefferson’s writings. Even though neither of them was a Framer. What I look for in the Constitution is precisely what I look for in a statute: the original meaning of the text, not what the original draftsmen intended.” ( 1997)
I do understand how it initially concerned the question of whether Obama was born in Hawaii or Kenya and I do understand how, when it became evident that the Kenya angle wasn't working, there was a felt need to create a requirement that both parents be citizens. So, we have the Vattel angle. Had both of Obama's parents been citizens of the U.S., we would have discovered a requirement that both parents be "citizens at birth" or that the grandparents were all citizens.
I just hate to see this stuff metastasize to the Ted Cruz candidacy, assuming there will be one. He could be a truly great president!
Ted Cruz - 2016
How many individuals from that generation can you quote to the effect that we must confine ourselves to Vattel's treatise (written in French) to provide meaning to the "natural born citizen" clause?
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