Again, let me be clear...
You said: “Quite frankly, you are using these writers to attempt to prove a point (that there can be citizens by birth who are not natural-born citizens) that the writers themselves would consider absurd.”
No, the current operative interpretation of the 14th Amendment is is absurd, not the point being made about the meaning of “natural born”.
Except that the "current operative interpretation of the 14th Amendment" is the interpretation of the Amendment that has governed for the vast majority of the time since the Amendment was passed.
You are so right. I cannot understand why people cannot wrap their mind around what a natural born citizen is. It even says in the Amendment, children of aliens are exempt.