Marco is absolutely great as a senator. He should replace Mitch McConnell as leader ASAP.
But it HAS TO BE SAID. Regardless of what any pundit or GOP promoter like Dick Morris thinks, Marco is NOT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN and should not be considered as VP material.
Marco was absolutely and provably a NATIVE BORN citizen, born in Miami in 1971....his parents, however, did not take the step of naturalization until 1974.
Marco, I think, knows this and that is one reason why he is so coy about higher office. Marco believes in the Constitution and our country’s established practices. And he knows that a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS A PERSON BORN IN THE USA OF TWO CITIZEN PARENTS.
http://www.birthers.org/USC/Vattel.html
It is not Rubio’s fault that his parents were tardy but what is, is.
If someone wants to start a movement to amend the Constitution, that’s fine and dandy. But the Constitution and the debates surrounding its enactment should be the authority, NOT politics or popularity.
Marco Rubio would be great as a leader, and hopefully one day he will be. However because he is a junior Senator the time is not yet
Not eligible is not eligible and nothing can change that short of a constitutional amendment. But he should take over Reid’s job once the Republican’s win back the Senate.
Well said and well reasoned. I agree entirely.. and admire Rubio immensely.
Wrong. ONLY two categories of citizens: Natural born and naturalized. Native born IS natural born.
BTW, I get a kick out of the Birth Bozos. See, for years they were hunting down Obama's birth certificate while it was a flat out fact that his father was a citizen of Kenya. So how often did we hear this NEW argument about native born not being natural born if one parent a foreigner at birth? Hardly ever. At the same time they were desperately hunting down Obama's birth certificate which would be completely unnecessary if their fictitious citizenship rule applied in real life.
Consider United State vs Rhodes (1866):
All persons born in the allegiance of the king are natural born subjects, and all persons born in the allegiance of the United States are natural born citizens. Birth and allegiance go together. Such is the rule of the common law, and it is the common law of this country, as well [**18] as of England. There are two exceptions, and only two, to the universality of its application. The children of ambassadors are in theory born in the allegiance of the powers the ambassadors represent, and slaves, in legal contemplation, are property, and not persons. 2 Kent, Comm. 1; Calvin’s Case, 7 Coke, 1; 1 Bl. Comm. 366; Lynch v. Clarke, 1 Sand. Ch. 583.
Rubio's parents were not ambassadors nor is the slavery exception operative.
SHANKS V. DUPONT, 28 U.S. 242, 245 (1830) makes a distinction only between "adopted citizens" and "natural born citizens" rather than an third class. Clearly Rubio is not an "adopted citizen" because he was a citizen by birth rather than naturalized.
There are yet other court precedents suggesting Vattel is not operative.
I agree, his path should be to senate majority leader. I don’t want to wait until he’s had a decent amount of experience in the senate to replace McConnell, however. I want McConnell gone by January, 2013.