Posted on 01/23/2009 5:36:07 PM PST by CalifScreaming
Eight Arizona legislators have introduced SB 1158, to require presidential candidates at the general election to submit “documents that prove that the candidate is a natural born citizen.” Since “natural born citizen” is not defined in the bill, nor in the U.S. Constitution, one wonders which documents John McCain would have been required to produce in 2008, if this bill had been law. He was born either in Panama or in the Canal Zone.
The bill also requires presidential candidates to submit documents that prove they meet the residency requirement. The Constitution requires presidents to have lived in the United States for the preceding 14 years. Finally, the bill requires presidential candidates to prove their age. The bill applies to independent presidential candidates, and to the presidential nominees of qualified parties. For party nominees, the bill requires the “national political party committee” to be responsible for obtaining the documents from its presidential candidate. The bill also applies to candidates for vice-president.
The bill’s lead sponsors are Senator Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) and Representative Judy Burges (R-Skull Valley). The other sponsors are Senators Pamela Gorman (R-Anthem), Ron Gould (R-Lake Havasu City), Chuck Gray (R-Mesa), Jack Harper (R-Surprise), Thayer Verschoor (R-Gilbert), and Representative Carl Seel (R-Phoenix).
(Excerpt) Read more at ballot-access.org ...
I believe that this falls into the better late than never category.
I thought everyone outside of a few of us right wing nuts believed that obama was perfectly eligible for POTUS. Why this now?
Do they perhaps know something that we don’t?
I agree, this is a good idea.
In this age, when everyone actually has documentation papers, and with the number of immigrants in the country, they should be required to prove eligibility.
Are you talking about HR511 or whatever it was, signed by Obama and company?
That’s was just a show. I don’t think Congress can’t change the Constitution like that, or make it retroactive. If they could do that, the majority in Congress could qualify or disqualify any candidates they wanted every election.
Not that it’s at all necessary, but I think they would have to create an amendment to define what natural born citizen is.
If you look at the history of all the presidents, except Chester Arthur who became president after an assassination, they were all born in America, to citizen parents (naturalized or natural born themselves), or grandfathered in as it was allowed for in the Constitution.
If we’re going to push for legislation, we have to make sure that natural born isn’t defined to allow anything other than born in America to citizen parents.
“I don’t think Congress can’t change the Constitution like that,”
Did I say that? sheesh
should be more like: Congress can’t change the Constitution like that.
You said — “How’s OK attempt coming?”
We have to wait for the opening of the legislative session before anything happens...
Session convenes February 2, 2009 and closes May 29, 2009.
Well, that’s good news that another state has been added to Oklahoma doing that very thing...
Perhaps because John McCain's birth certificate says he was born in Colon, Republic of Panama, which was not part of the Canal Zone.
It is a good move but the bill will have to define natural born citizen in a manner that will be able to stand up to a court challenge.
And the documents required will have to be very specific and there are no documents that state that a person is a Natural Born Citizen.
You said — “It’s a start.”
Definitely so. I’m glad to see it there, in Arizona. Right now Oklahoma (where the other state bill is at) is frozen up... LOL..., and besides that, the legislature hasn’t opened its session yet.
This is what causes legislation to be put forth — when the people see a problem and know that a loophole has to be closed up. Then they can act on it through their legislators. I’m glad to see it being done this way.
A lot of this stuff going on with the courts is going absolutely nowhere, because of this loophole in the process of vetting a Presidential Candidate. And that’s why I’m calling it (i.e., the way a number of posters are acting now, with court cases having been turned down) — “Obama Derangement Syndrome”...
This move by the Arizona legislature is a whole lot more productive. Even if something like this doesn’t get through the first time, there’s a “move” going on here and it will continue until it’s completed.
You said — “Wow some American politcians with guts. How about a lawsuit in Arizona for some proof too. Looks like the judge in the Texas court wimped out. Maybe AZ has some patriots like Sheriff Joe in AZ.”
The same thing is going on in Oklahoma (although Oklahoma is still frozen and iced up right now...). The bill has been put forth, but the legislative session has not opened yet.
This is the process that should be fostered and encouraged and not the “Obama Derangement Syndrome” that some other posters seem to have...
This is definitely positive and will make a difference...
You said — “All done after the facts. Not passed, if it ever will be, in time to rescue the country from the coming disater.”
That coming disaster and the election of Obama is, more than likely, the judgment of God upon this nation for its sins and abandoning God. The larger majority of the voting public got what they wanted, and that’s “judgment is coming”... compliments Obama...
You said — “Intro of these laws to prove eligibility is perfect ambush for BO if he attempts to run for re election in 2012. All you need is one state to have this requirement and BO will be in a bind in 2012 if he is hiding his birth origin, unless he intends to bypass the state and give it up.”
I’ve been saying that all along, instead of engaging in the mentality of “Obama Derangement Syndrome” of the ‘birthers” or Certifigate crowd...
This definitely is a whole lot more productive, and can accomplish a lot more than being “deranged”... :-)
And will hopefully preclude a second 0 term.
You were saying — “They are attempting a constitutional amendment regarding vetting presidential candidates.”
That’s a much more difficult process to go through. It would require 2/3 of the Congress to approve it, first, before it could even be sent out to the states to ratify. And then it would take 3/4 of the states to ratify it. Furthermore, most of these amendments are given about a 7 year span of time for approval, and it could take all 7 years to get there, if at all.
In addition to taking 2/3 of the Congress to approve such an Amendment to the Constitution, Congress, itself, would be the one to put forth the “wording” of such an Amendment. I don’t see Congress working against its own “boy” Obama...
On the other hand, what you see here, in this thread, is very much easier to do and only requires a *state* to do it, and not the Democrat Congress and not 2/3 of them and not 3/4 of all the states in the United States.
I would go the route of these individual states, because it’s possible to get it done in maybe one or two sessions of the legislatures of those states...
You said — “It will pass and Obamarama will be grandfathered in.”
Only in one respect, in the sense that the law cannot go into the past and redo an election that has already happened. But, there is another election coming. And if the law gets passed before another election, it’s not grandfathered in....
You said — “It’s a little late to rush in and close the gate!!”
It’s the “system” of vetting the President to be sure he’s qualified under the Constitution that is the problem. You’re looking at it from only one viewpoint — just this one President. It’s not this one President. There was another President who was not qualified in the past. So, it’s happened before. It’s about time to close up the loophole before it starts happening all the time with future candidates.
And furthermore, there is *another election* that will come up in less than four years.... There’s still time to catch this horse... LOL...
You said — “Why do they bother? It’s not like there was anything to that certifiGate scandal. The only people who followed that were tinfoil hat conpsiracists. /s”
No, more like “Obama Derangement Syndrome” for thinking that the law and the courts could correct a loophole in the system in which no one had to “prove” his qualifications in the past. That’s the “tinfoil conspiracists” in that they can’t face up to the “reality” of the system and the “loophole” that was/is there...
This — on the other hand, faces up to “reality’ and corrects the system.
No.
You said — “I thought everyone outside of a few of us right wing nuts believed that obama was perfectly eligible for POTUS. Why this now?”
Basically to *correct* the “glaring problem” that the “Obama Derangement Syndrome” people don’t seem to recognize in their “Alice-in-Wonderland” approach.
They don’t recognize that the vetting system for the President has never *required* specific documentation from a candidate.
So, stepping out of the “Obama Derangement Syndrome” — is what produces actions that can solve problems..., what you see in this thread, from the states of Arizona and Oklahoma...
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