Posted on 09/19/2011 7:52:54 AM PDT by Windflier
JUPITER ISLAND, Fla. – The Republican presidential candidates appearing in last Monday's tea-party debate in Tampa made plenty of news when it came to issues such as Social Security, job creation and Big Brother mandates, but one subject that was not brought up during the event was the constitutional eligibility of Barack Obama.
Yet once the debate was over, some were willing to address the matter.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told WND, "My understanding is that issue was solved. If there's evidence to the contrary [showing Obama is not eligible], they should bring it forth."
The Constitution requires a president to be a "natural-born citizen," which many legal analysts believe means being the child of two U.S. citizen parents at the time of birth.
When that was pointed out to Santorum, he responded, "I don't think that's what the Constitution requires, and he (President Obama) was born in the country, so it doesn't matter."
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
As I understand the case, US v Won Kim Ark only addressed “Citizen”. It was aslo a state case, if I remember correctly.However a precedent was set by the SCOTUS in Minor v. Happersett.
The US Supreme Court’s precedent defining a natural born citizen as one born in the US to parents who were citizens via the case of Minor v. Happersett. That case had two issues, citizenship and voting rights. The citizenship issue was determined by the SCOTUS directly construing the “natural born Citizen” clause from Article 2, Section 1. This is the only US Supreme Court case to have directly construed the clause. As such, it remains as good law and precedent which means Obama occupies the White House in direct contradiction to standing US law.
Reference:http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/
The Won Kim Ark case was a United States Supreme Court case, not a state case. There was a state case in 2009 that said Obama was a natural born citizen based on the Won Kim Ark case and this one was appealed maybe and still came out the same way. Sooo, as far as law stuff, if you are born here and are not the kid of a diplomat or a enemy soldier invading us, then you are a natural born citizen person.
Agree, if for no other reason, but that he is so out of touch with public sentiment, that he thought that was a reasonable response. Such a man should not be in the business of representing his fellows in Washington.
The constitution, when first drafted, said native born in the states were eligible. They changed it to NBC before finishing it.
In Washington's day, Kings and Queens from different countries married and made deals so that their offspring could rule in foreign lands. NBC was perfectly worded to end that kind of foreign influence and incestuous politics. This phrase in the constitution was genius.
We now have a man in office who rightfully has called Kenya his home country. This is recorded on video, in Kenya, while he was violating US law campaigning in a foreign country. Clearly, the constitution is being violated. And we also have Americas first Historian documenting that it is a citizen born of citizens. Obama was not.
Thanks. I'll make sure to cluck like a chicken the next time I place an order of huevos rancheros with a waiter who doesn't speak English.
It's now a legitimate sanctioned political strategy, as NBC is commonly interpreted.
Deuteronomy 17:15
be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.
I regard this as a brave and correct statement by Santorum.
You left off the first sentence of Santorum's response to the reporter's question:
Sen. Rick Santorum told WND, "My understanding is that issue was solved."
I'm sorry, but that is disappointing in the extreme to me, because nothing could be further from the truth. It makes the balance of his statement look more like a defense of Obama's eligibility than anything else.
It's a defense born of sheer ignorance of the issue. A statement like that sharpens the focus on a politician like nothing else. The man's credibility as a public servant is now in the trash, as far as I'm concerned.
I believe that Santorum was speaking the truth as he understands it, which is where my disappointment in him lies. He just showed how uninformed he is on this one issue, and what a poor understanding he has of our Founding Charter.
Massive, catastrophic fail.
“Sooo, as far as law stuff, if you are born here and are not the kid of a diplomat or a enemy soldier invading us, then you are a natural born citizen person.”
Sooo, Hugo Chavez could visit the US for some cancer treatment and while recovering he manages to impregnate a US prostitute and as long as that child was born on US soil, thrity five years later Hugo’s son could run for POTUS???
Minor v. Happersett says that you must have 2 citizen parents. Being born in the country is just a part of the requirement.
Is that right? I've never followed Santorum closely, but I've seen lots of kudos being thrown his way over the years by posters on this forum. I always had the impression that he was well respected around these parts. Too bad he's another phony.
The Framers were genius when they used natural. Natural and Kind have the same meaning. By using natural they placed NBC into a Kind.
This Kind must have citizen parents.
You're kidding. The following exchange doesn't cause you at least some degree of disappointment?
"The Constitution requires a president to be a "natural-born citizen," which many legal analysts believe means being the child of two U.S. citizen parents at the time of birth.
When that was pointed out to Santorum, he responded, "I don't think that's what the Constitution requires, and he (President Obama) was born in the country, so it doesn't matter."
Personally, I find his statement to be very worrisome - even alarming. If our congress people are so clueless and uneducated about our Constitution, we're literally standing on thin air.
Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (at BO's "inauguration") referred to BO's father as "an immigrant" which was a lie--he was on a student visa; he never became a citizen.
And my 58 year old friends understanding is that both parents should be Americans. That is what she learned in school years ago.
It's a generational thing. You'd have to be at least 50 years old to remember having been taught the definition of "natural born citizen" as it relates to Article II requirements for the Presidency.
“so I don’t have an opinion on that. I’ve seen only some of the stories, but I have not studied all of the evidence weighing both sides in terms of his eligibility.”
Un.freaking.real......
What the hell do these wanna-be rulers do with their time? He's only had three years to get up to speed on this issue. What the hell has he been doing?
Crikey!
Or sheer, unadulterated, boneheaded, ignorance.
Great quote. Tell Pastor Rick Warren.
I’ll bet Santorum was well paid or given an offer he couldn’t refuse to make that statement. What a fraud.
So no one has ever pointed out that Obama Sr was just passing through? ( I don't have TV)
You'd have to be at least 50 years old to remember having been taught the definition of "natural born citizen"
I knew that things have changed but my freshman year of HS we had civics class. They don't do that anymore? I never thought to ask my kids.
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