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Mark Levin Addresses Ted Cruz Eligibility Issue posed by Ridgewood, NJ Man at Book Signing
The Ridgewood Blog ^ | August 27, 2013 | PJBlogger

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/)


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Society
KEYWORDS: birthcertificate; birthers; citizenship; congress; cruz; cruzmissle; electionfraud; eligibility; fraud; govtabuse; jr4cruz; levin; libertyamendments; marklevin; mediabias; naturalborncitizen; randsconcerntrolls; talkradio; teaparty; tedcruz; texas
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To: nesnah
All three questions could be asked in reverse as well. That’s why this is such an important discussion.

It is an important question, but as the law currently stands today, he's eligible, you may argue that the law is unconstitutional from an original intent perspective, but that does not mean he is not eligible.

That can all change with one lawsuit ruled upon by the US Supreme court or one law passed by Congress and signed by Zero.
21 posted on 08/27/2013 11:36:54 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: SoConPubbie

Congress and Zero cannot amend the Constitution by themselves.


22 posted on 08/27/2013 11:38:02 AM PDT by nesnah
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To: nesnah

If his mother had returned and he had been born in the US tyhere might be an argument since the presidence has been set by Obama born in the US with a foreign father ...

but Ted has 2 strikes against him...more than even Obama has...

meanwhile any illegal alien anchor baby born in the US with 2 illegal alien parents not under the jurisdiction of..can be president of the United states, a country he/she has no alleigence to but a proven disrespect instead ???


23 posted on 08/27/2013 11:38:13 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: nesnah
There is no court decision anywhere since George Washington was President, no precedent anywhere that makes these birther opinions law.

No where. Just gobbledy gook on the internet and from birther mouths. Levin is right, they're nuts.

Cruz was given the birth certificate without needing naturalization. he is a US citizen from birth. He IS a natural born citizen until some idiot birther wins a court case against him.

Good luck with that.......

24 posted on 08/27/2013 11:39:16 AM PDT by Lakeshark (KILL THE BILL! CALL. FAX. WRITE)
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To: SoConPubbie; Tennessee Nana; one guy in new jersey
"Show me in the US Constitution where your opinion/position/knowledge is codified that it takes 2 parents that are US Citizens for a newborn to be "Natural Born". "

The Constitution wasn't written as a dictionary, save for Article III, Section III. You must look "elsewhere" to find their intent.

"Lacking that, please provide the relevant US Law(s) passed by Congress and signed by a US President that codifies your understanding/opinion/knowledge that it takes 2 parents that are US Citizens for a newborn to be "Natural Born". "

Congress does not have the Constitutional authority to define a "natural born Citizen." They only have the power of naturalization.

"Lacking that, please point us to the relevant US Supreme Court decision/ruling that proves that it takes 2 parents that are US Citizens for a newborn to be "Natural Born"."

No SCOTUS case has ever been heard, and decided, regrading the "natural born Citizen" requirement for the office of Commander in Chief.

25 posted on 08/27/2013 11:39:23 AM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
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To: Triple; BJ1
In the US we impose a very limited restriction on citizens that may have divided loyalty - They just can’t be President.

Do not confuse the issues of your understanding of original intent and the current eligibility of Ted Cruz to be POTUS.

They are two completely separate issues.

There are no US Laws or US Supreme Court rulings that support your position and it is not clearly defined in the US Constitution.

This is your opinion, and as of today, it is not a legally defined term that has been codified into US law.
26 posted on 08/27/2013 11:40:06 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: SoConPubbie

“It is an important question, but as the law currently stands today, he’s eligible....”


Huh? There is NO law that defines NBC. You made that point in your 3 questions post.

The reason we’re discussing it here is because nobody knows for sure what NBC really is, but many have strong opinions one way or another.


27 posted on 08/27/2013 11:40:30 AM PDT by nesnah
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To: SoConPubbie

Original intent does not have to have been ruled on by the supreme court to exist.

The original intent was very plainly placed in the constitution - No divided loyalties for those holding the office of President.

Do you claim that there was some other original intent?


28 posted on 08/27/2013 11:41:24 AM PDT by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery)
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To: nesnah

Why would they have to amend the constitution?

There is no reason they could not pass a law that fits within the broad terms of “Natural Born” and then the US Supreme Court could weigh in.


29 posted on 08/27/2013 11:41:43 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: SoConPubbie; Tennessee Nana

Quite correct, SoConPubbie - the Constitution does not define what “natural born citizen” means, nothing in U.S. Code that deals with citizenship differentiates citizenship at birth from “natural born” citizenship in any fashion, and the only relevant case law says that citizen at birth is the same as “natural born”.

Where the Obama case is different is that his mother’s status at the time of his birth may not have automatically granted him citizenship if he was not born inside the United States (there has been some argument over exactly what the law was at the time, and I have not seen the end result of that argument).

McCain, of course, was born to two citizen parents, so even though it was outside the country, he was a citizen at birth and by the reasons above, a natural-born citizen.

Cruz’s case is the most like the proposed Obama case (assuming birth outside the US), but there can be no dispute that he is a citizen by birth because his mother’s status clearly passes the test (residing in the US for a minimum of 10 years and minimum 5 after age 14) that was in place at the time, so Cruz is also a natural-born citizen.


30 posted on 08/27/2013 11:42:52 AM PDT by kevkrom (It's not "immigration reform", it's an "amnesty bill". Take back the language!)
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To: SoConPubbie

Why would they have to amend the constitution?

There is no reason they could not pass a law that fits within the broad terms of “Natural Born” and then the US Supreme Court could weigh in.


Using that logic, the Congress and POTUS could pass a law redefining what an “arm” is and take away all the guns.

Geezus.......


31 posted on 08/27/2013 11:44:46 AM PDT by nesnah
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To: Triple
Original intent does not have to have been ruled on by the supreme court to exist.

The original intent was very plainly placed in the constitution - No divided loyalties for those holding the office of President.

Do you claim that there was some other original intent?


Let us be clear in this discussion, Original Intent does not and cannot imply legality.

Stating that a person cannot be President if both parents were not citizens at time of birth is not legally correct, it maybe correct from an original intent perspective, but there are no laws, clearly stated, that support that contention, either from the US Constition, Laws passed by Congress, or rulings by the Supreme Court.

Depending on which founders/early leaders you are referencing, you can come up with more than one version of original intent on this issue.

Trying to state that this issue is settled and implying that legally that a person cannot be President without two US Citizens as parents is neither correct, and for purposes of an honest discussion, needs to cease.
32 posted on 08/27/2013 11:45:23 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: one guy in new jersey; Jim Robinson; xzins; onyx; Lakeshark; Windflier; Servant of the Cross; ...

I will continue to propose that ANYONE who uses this forum to propagate the stupid idea that Ted Cruz is not a Natural Born Citizen according to the constitution be banned from this forum.

There is no truer Natural Born American than Ted Cruz in the Government today. Anyone using this forum as a means of tearing down this man or insulting the rest of the forum with stupid vapid arguments about whether or not Ted Cruz is “eligible” should be treated as a DU or MSM plant and be shown the door.

There is always a point at which one must draw a line in the sand. This is that point.


33 posted on 08/27/2013 11:45:51 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds)
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To: one guy in new jersey
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.

Yes, now the anti-Cruz leftists can take the birther baton from the anti-Obama birthers and continue with the race. The transition should be smooth because a lot of historical research has already been completed and neatly organized for this new crop of birthers.

In the end, the voters and their electors will once again decide the issue and Cruz will "lose" only those voters he could never have gotten anyway.

34 posted on 08/27/2013 11:46:25 AM PDT by Tau Food (Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.)
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To: Triple

Agree with you. The crux of the issue — the requirement for the President to be a natural-born citizen — is that he (or she) have no allegiance to any other country. Neither parent being at the time of birth a citizen of another country, not born in another country, not self-identifying as a foreign student to slip into an ivy-league school, and also not accepting any honorary or dual citizenship of another country.

As much as I appreciate and respect Ted Cruz, I do not believe he meets the requirement. However, I will vote for him if the alternative is any Democrat.... for the good of the country.


35 posted on 08/27/2013 11:47:09 AM PDT by mason-dixon (As Mason said to Dixon, you have to draw the line somewhere.)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Thank you.

If Ted Cruz runs, I will fall over myself running to the voting booth so I can cast my ballot for him.


36 posted on 08/27/2013 11:49:21 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon (Support Christian white males----the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization.)
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To: one guy in new jersey

Two issues here: where you are born and to whom; and the issue of loyalty vs citizenship.

Let’s address the latter first, because that really hangs people up. Citizenship can be conferred automatically. We must never interpret the constitution to mean that no one with a dual citizenship is eligible. Tomorrow Jamaica could make a candidate a citizen and poof, his candidacy is over. Dual citizenship is thus meaningless as a disqualifier.

Hopefully it would be difficult in these technological times to hide that a candidate spent 5-10 years outside our country, voting, involved in his host country’s government. Even as an American citizen, one hopes that his loyalty would be questioned and he would not be chosen as a serious candidate. That would be an example of divided loyalty. Yes, president Obama is borderline on that account, and much of his past has been obscured.

Back to the first point: where you are born and to whom. In 1961, and possibly today (?), the law of the land was that an American woman giving birth outside the country had to have lived 5 years after the age of 15 in the USA to be able to confer her citizenship onto her baby. This is what birthers are all about.

We have never seen an actual, non-forged proof that Barack Obama was born in the USA.

When she was a 17 year old girl “in trouble,” in 1961 with a baby of a different race, she could easily have gone where her Seattle school chums in such positions went. They popped over the border into Canada to the unwed mother homes run by either the Salvation Army or the Catholic Church. Usually they gave the babies up for adoption. She was not old enough to confer citizenship.

She may have changed her mind about giving up her mixed race baby, because within a month of his birth, she was alone with a little baby she didn’t know how to care for, enrolled in the university in Seattle. (She was never seen pregnant in Hawaii. She never ever lived with Barack Obama Senior.).

These are the two different questions raised by foreign birth or loyalty.

Ted Cruz was born outside the country to a woman eligible to confer citizenship. As was John McCain. No one knows where Barack Obama was born, and that is all birthers want to know.


37 posted on 08/27/2013 11:53:03 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: P-Marlowe
I will continue to propose that ANYONE who uses this forum to propagate the stupid idea that Ted Cruz is not a Natural Born Citizen according to the constitution be banned from this forum.

Personally, I think Ted Cruz would pass muster with the Founding Fathers with flying colors. His heart and mind are unquestioningly aligned with, and welded to this country and its Founding Ideals.

My view is that the Framers inserted the NBC clause to guard against those with divided loyalties from ever assuming the office of President. That was a wise thing to do on their part, but it was only a stop gap measure, meant to filter out those least likely to bear such an innate loyalty to America.

They couldn't know that one day, a person like Barack Obama, who shows little evidence of the desired loyalty to this country and its ideals, would one day lay claim to eligibility to the office through a tenuous connection of birth - or that a man such as Ted Cruz, who, though being born outside this country to just one American citizen parent, would be so superior in loyalty and love for this country.

Put them both before the Framers with resumes in hand, and there's no doubt that one would pass, and the other would fail their test.

All that said, there can be no doubt that there is a case to be made regarding Ted Cruz' technical eligibility to hold that office. Instead of firing cannons at those who bring up those points, I think it would be better to do your best to convince them through reason and logic.

38 posted on 08/27/2013 12:00:22 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: one guy in new jersey

Freerepublis Thread about “Concern Trolls”;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2594943/posts


39 posted on 08/27/2013 12:02:02 PM PDT by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: Tau Food; P-Marlowe; JRandomFreeper; xzins; onyx; Jim Robinson; Servant of the Cross
Yes, now the anti-Cruz leftists can take the birther baton from the anti-Obama birthers and continue with the race. The transition should be smooth because a lot of historical research has already been completed and neatly organized for this new crop of birthers.

One thing to understand is the MSM has telegraphed its intent to use this issue against Cruz. 12 stories in 2 days by the Washington Post is a clear sign they think they can cause a deep division, perhaps enough to prevent him from running, or winning if he runs. I don't believe this is an issue that can be allowed by conservatives to take one of our best candidates out. It's one (among many) of the battles we will have to help Cruz fight if he runs and if so, when he wins the nomination.

The power of the MSM/democrat complex is looming on this one, it's clear they mean to use it. The amount of people who are drawn in by this nonsense, many of whom I have some respect for in other areas is disturbing.

40 posted on 08/27/2013 12:04:05 PM PDT by Lakeshark (KILL THE BILL! CALL. FAX. WRITE)
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