Wasn’t (isn’t) it pretty common knowledge that McCain’s dad and grandad were both admirals in the US Navy? Did JSM really NEED to post his BC at all? He readily stated he was born in the Panama Canal Zone when his father was stationed there. The Big0 has no such “common knowledge” at all.
Well, it really doesn’t matter whether McCain needed to or not (i.e., show his birth certificate to the public), since the key issue here is if a candidate is *legally required* to show his birth certificate.
I mean... in “politics” a candidate can do anything that they want, if they think it will benefit them. Or, that candidate can refuse to do something politically, if he thinks he doesn’t want to. The only consideration he will have — is that it may or may not affect him politically (i.e., he may win or he may lose, just on that decision of his).
So, it’s a political decision as to whether the candidate wants to do that or not. In McCain’s situation, I guess he thought that it was politically smart for him to release his birth certificate to one reporter (who wrote about it) and then to a few Congressmen. That’s what he thought would be beneficial to his campaign and to get the issue out from under him and possibly fouling up the race for him.
Obama, likewise, didn’t think it was worth it, politically speaking, to show his birth certificate to the public — either. But, in Obama’s case, he didn’t even show it to a reporter or to some Congressmen.
That’s why we need a state law that makes it *legally mandatory* for a candidate to show his birth certificate or else he cannot be on the ballot in that state. Then it would not be a “political issue” any longer, but a *legally mandated* issue. That’s what we need.