Mark Levin Addresses Ted Cruz Eligibility Issue posed by Ridgewood, NJ Man at Book Signing

The Ridgewood Blog ^ | August 27, 2013 | PJBlogger

[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/)

[xzins]

Citizenship depends on some nation existing. Otherwise, you’re just alive on the face of the earth, and the whole concept of “nation” is irrelevant.

So, given the rise of something called a nation, there is only the question of what is its governing authority and the power they exert on people.

Moses said to Pharaoh: “Let my people go.” Pharaoh didn’t dispute that by saying, “No they’re Egyptians.” Instead, his interest was in the slaves’ and their work quotas.

[WhiskeyX]

So, now you think you are a naturall born pigeon and holder of the status of a dual species posessing the natural born right to be considered as and behave like a pigeon on a chessboard.

[WhiskeyX]

Citizenship as the word origin indicates existed before there was such an entity known as a nation. The association with cities was carried forward from the days when it signified membership in a class of people who who possessed certain rights and were subject to certain obligations as a consequence of being a member of that class of people associated with the city. This class of membership in a society of humans was a higher level of association superimposed on the previously existing family, band, clan, tribal, and confederation relationships. The word, “citizen”, is also being used improperly by confusing and/or conflating the various definitions for the word that belong to similar and different usages dependent upon the context of related terms. For example, Some persons born in the United States jurisdictions are not born with or as a person with the rights of a U.S. Citizen, yet they are to be considered as citizens of the United States in common parlance despite actually holding a status as nationals and not citizens of the United States. Negligent usage of the terminology in these debates serves to mislead and deceive readers who may be unfamiliar with and/or uninformed about the existence and consequences in these differences in word definitions and word usages.

[Servant of the Cross]

The flak is the heaviest when you are over the target.

You're not saying that you resemble the statement ... are you?

[WhiskeyX]

So, are we to understand you do indeed intend to maintain the falsehood and lie that Thomas Jefferson was an actual citizen of France with all of the rights and obligations which entail from such citizenship similarly incumbent upon another person who was born in Metropolitan France with French parents and had never left France?

[WhiskeyX]

No, it simply appearedd that you had such an intimate familiarity and fascination with the subject matter, you must have been talking about yourself and your Master you included in your intimate portrait photograph together.

[xzins]

We would be talking about city-states, the precursors of nations, iirc. Good info, whiskey. Thanks.

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

“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?”

My answer is.....(drum roll, please)

We know that the framers of the Consitution were familiar with Vattel’s work and that Vattel defined natural born citizen as born in the country to citizen parentS. Two who were intimately familiar with the term were Supreme Court Justices John Marshall and Henry Brockholst Livingston.

Now, how many individuals from that generation can you quote to the effect that we must NOT confine ourselves to Vattel’s treatise (written in French) to provide meaning to the “natural born citizen” clause?

“Thus, if a child is born on foreign soil to an American mother and is thus an American citizen at birth, his eligibility to someday serve as our president should not be made to depend upon whether the government of that foreign country chooses or to extend citizenship to the child or chooses not to extend citizenship to the child.”

To paraphrase Master Oogway, “Should not, should, doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is.”

“If that American child is then raised and educated in the United States, that child owes nothing (no taxes, no allegiance, no loyalty, no nothing) to that foreign government.”

While I agree with you on the taxes, I’m not sure how you get comfortable making statements about what children learn behind closed doors in any home in the US.

[Kenny Bunk]

Obama's own legal team agrees that the Twentieth Amendment, Section Three gives Congress the duty of enforcing the eligibility requirements and have said so in court.

... and who pray tell, is to tell us what a "natural born Citizen" is? Of course The SCOTUS is empowered to enforce absolutely nothing. Its constitutional task is to take appeals and decide them by interpreting the Constitution.

Suppose a candidate's eligibility were challenged by Congress and they declared him ineligible. How would that candidate appeal that decision? Yes only Congress can enforce the rules of the 20th Amendment, but only The SCOTUS can interpret the meaning of the Constitution and its Amendments, when properly asked.

In order to decide which of us is correct, The SCOTUS would have to accept an appeal, or let stand the verdict of a lower court. In the specific instance of defining "natural born Citizen" in regard to the candidates now under discussion, they have done neither.

[WhiskeyX]

Not necessariy. Nations became generally superimposed upon city states as the span of control of the sovereigns expanded across multiple city states to combined into one sovereign state. Before the advent of the cityies and city states, however, a tribal confederation of a nomad society could be said to have comprised a nation, if and when the society could claim some more or less well defined boundaries to their place of occupation.

In other wrods, the so-called legal definitions for the word, “nation”, are ill defined and comprise a multitude of alternative definitions dependent upon the context of time, place, and usage. Consequently, resort must be made to using additional words and concepts to reeine and narrow the intended meaning of the usage/s.

[Tau Food]

So, we have two individuals from the founding generation that we know were "intimately familiar with Vattel's work and that Vattel defined natural born citizen as born in the country to citizen parents." I recognize that only a very small percentage of that generation had probably heard of Vattel, but can't we find more than two? Remember, we're searching for an "original understanding" here, an understanding that was shared by the "ordinary citizens in the founding generation." And, the evidence is that we can only find two people who were familiar with Vattel's definition? Please, there must be more than that. Isn't there?

BTW, did either of those two claim that we must confine ourselves to Vattel's treatise (either English or French version) to provide meaning to the "natural born citizen" clause?

*********************************************

To paraphrase Master Oogway, “Should not, should, doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is.”

Good for you. Yes, indeed, what does exist does matter.

So, I guess the fact that we have a sitting president who does not conform to what you claim would have been Vattel's definition of "natural born citizen" is what is. "Should not, should, doesn't matter. What matters is that it is." So much for Vattel. What does Oogway's wisdom do but short-circuit this matter and unfairly prejudice your claim that we should adopt a standard that doesn't conform to what currently is?

*********************************************

While I agree with you on the taxes, I’m not sure how you get comfortable making statements about what children learn behind closed doors in any home in the US.

Beyond taxes, we're talking about national allegiance and loyalty. My point is that allegiance and loyalty emanate from the individual and not from some foreign government. If someone wishes to question Ted Cruz's national allegiance or loyalty to the Untied States, then they should make that case to voters and their electors. He's an American citizen and I know of nothing that he's done to suggest that he feels that he owes Canada any taxes, any allegiance, any loyalty, or anything at all.

[DiogenesLamp]

I can't believe the vapid arguments that you anti Cruz people will come up with to try to undermine his potential candidacy.

But clearly using your logic, only God has the power to determine if Cruz is eligible. So why are you trying to play God?

Both these statements identify you as someone not reasonable enough to take seriously. They are ad hominem, rationalized and strawman.

And you accuse me of vapidity?

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

“So, we have two individuals...”

So, off the top of my head I named two individuals. Do you really expect me to go back and name them all? By the way, I’m still waiting on your response to my question about naming people who did NOT.

“...did either of those two claim that we must confine...”

I don’t know about you, but if there’s a definition of a word or term, don’t you have to “confine” your interpretation to that definition? It used to be that way back in the day, but, if you live in the world of liberalspeak where we live now, there is no specific definition to any word or term. Words just mean what you want them to mean at the time you use them. It doesn’t really matter what the definition of “is” is.

“So, I guess the fact that we have a sitting president who does not conform to what you claim would have been Vattel’s definition of “natural born citizen” is what is.”

Yes, and you see the results. Doesn’t mean that we can’t try to change it.

” He’s an American citizen and I know of nothing that he’s done to suggest that he feels that he owes Canada any taxes, any allegiance, any loyalty, or anything at all.”

Well, as long as you “feel” that he “feels” that that way, I guess that’s all that really matters.

[Rides3]

“””if a child is born on foreign soil to an American mother and is thus an American citizen at birth, his eligibility to someday serve as our president should not be made to depend upon whether the government of that foreign country chooses or to extend citizenship to the child or chooses not to extend citizenship to the child. I believe that how the government of that foreign country chooses to view the child is irrelevant.

Any loyalties that the child feels emanate from the child and not from the foreign government. If that American child is then raised and educated in the United States, that child owes nothing (no taxes, no allegiance, no loyalty, no nothing) to that foreign government. He didn’t ask for any gratuitous offer of citizenship by the government of that foreign country and he owes nothing for it.”””

****************************************************

Nice sentiments, but we all know citizenship doesn’t work that way in reality. Just two examples...

1) The War of 1812 was precipitated by England’s refusal to recognize the right of British citizens to renounce their citizenship and to be American citizens only. Based on that, the English impressed American citizens into the Royal Navy on the grounds they still owed allegiance to the King.

2) The IRS is currently targeting “accidental Americans” who live abroad for taxes and penalties: “The IRS is making a worldwide push to squeeze money from Americans living abroad and from anyone who holds dual citizenship, whether they know it or not. It doesn’t matter if the “duals” want US status, have never set foot on US soil, or never conducted business with an American.”

Much more on that second example, here (http://mises.org/daily/5666), but you get the drift.

Citizens do in fact owe legal obligations to the countries of which they are citizens, regardless of how that citizenship came to be.

[Tau Food]

I'm satisfied that your responses have demonstrated as much as mine that looking to an eighteenth century Swiss philosopher (Vattel) to define natural born citizen is more a matter of choice than compulsion. For me, it takes more than a showing that some of society's elite had either French or English versions of Vattel's book in their libraries to bind Americans (then or now) to Vattel's "special little meaning" for the NBC clause.

I encourage everyone to develop his own views and to present as effectively as he can his NBC pitch to the voters/electors, the folks who select our presidents. It's obviously an important issue.

Good luck. ;-)

[DiogenesLamp]

Dane said clearly that Thomas Jefferson had been naturalized and made a French citizen. That was Dane’s opinion, and his reading of the laws.

And that you keep asserting his opinion is correct even though it has been PROVEN WRONG is what makes of you a liar.

Dane is WRONG. Get it through your F****** head! Stop repeating the LIE that Dane is correct.

There’s no denying that, because it’s in black and white.

There is no denying that Dane said something which is incorrect. However, YOU ARE DENYING IT!

Unless, of course, you’re an idiot birther.

If you’re an idiot birther, it’s a “lie,” and anyone who points it out is a “liar.”

No Jeff, you aren't a liar because you believe us to be idiots, you are a liar because you keep repeating things which have been proven untrue and you KNOW they have been proven to be untrue. BUT YOU KEEP REPEATING THEM ANYWAY.

Nathan Dane alleges Thomas Jefferson is a naturalized citizen of France. Nathan Dane is FACTUALLY WRONG. So are you.

[P-Marlowe]

And you accuse me of vapidity?

No, it is your arguments that are vapid.

Your appeal to Natural Law without reference to any Natural Law right being a God given right is vapid. If Citizenship is a God given right. then all men are endowed with Natural Born Citizen rights.

Your contention that it is not a privilege granted by the soverign nations completely undermines any argument that any body of human beings has the authority to determine whether or not someone is entitled to that privilege.

[CityCenter]

It’s unfortunate when our side will not except the results on an election and we turn into the equivalent of the Truthers on the left. That’s not to say there is no corruption among politicians and elections, but that is a different debate.

I do enjoy reading through these threads because I leanrn a lot. And I appreciate those here who take the time to research and intelligently rebut the quackery that is birtherism.

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

“I’m satisfied that your responses...”

I’m glad you’re satisfied. That’s been on my bucket list for quite a while now.

Tuesday garbage long elephant, errant. :~)

(That means “Good luck to you, too.” in liberalspeak because that’s what I want those words to mean. The smiley face means “smiley face”.)

[Uncle Sham]

"In order to decide which of us is correct, The SCOTUS would have to accept an appeal, or let stand the verdict of a lower court. In the specific instance of defining "natural born Citizen" in regard to the candidates now under discussion, they have done neither. "

Minor versus Happersett is already precedent - Born on soil to Two citizen parents. This either is or is not the condition of the President Elect.