MILLER: EXCLUSIVE: Trump on Romney's birther comment

Washington Times ^ | August 26, 2012 | Emily Miller

[Seizethecarp]

Mitt Romney said on Friday in his native state of Michigan that, "No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised." The Republican presidential candidate insisted afterwards that it was just a joke. That didn't stop Obama campaign manager Jim Messina from immediately used the comment in a fundraising appeal, calling it "a new low for Mitt Romney."

"That wasn't a low at all," the real estate mogul told me in a sit-down interview on Sunday in Sarasota. "The low was when they accused Gov. Romney of essentially murder, when they called him a felon. Those are the lows. What he said is not a low at all."

Mr. Trump said that more will come out about the legitimacy of Mr. Obama's birth in the weeks and months leading up to the election. The Constitution says that only native-born Americans can be president. Mr. Trump cited polls showing that, "A tremendous amount of people believe there is certainly a validity to it."

[New Jersey Realist]

The Constitution says that only native-born Americans can be president. This is incorrect. The Constitution in fact provides that a person must be a natural born citizen in order to be eligible to serve as President.

It is not incorrect because precedent has been set that states there is no difference between natural and native.

“The term citizen, was used in the constitution as a word, the meaning of which was already established and well understood. And the constitution itself contains a direct recognition of the subsisting common law principle, in the section which defines the qualification of the President… The only standard which then existed, of a natural born citizen, was the rule of the common law, and no different standard has been adopted since. Suppose a person should be elected President who was native born, but of alien parents, could there be any reasonable doubt that he was eligible under the constitution? I think not. ” Lynch vs. Clarke (NY 1844)

[Caipirabob]

Mitt Romney said on Friday in his native state of Michigan that, "No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised."

Any more calls for his tax forms from the commies?

Didn't think so.

[NurdlyPeon]

I believe he had bigger fish to fry. If he started off that way, the press would have had a field day with him on the birther issue, this way, he could get out the more important information in his movie.

Insightful comment. Thank you.

[Peet]

For a man that supposed to usher in a new age of government transparency he sure seems to be very opaque.

[krogers58]

I was born the same year as Obama, and lived in CT. The first five digits of my SS # are the same as his. I didn’t apply for a SS # at birth, but did so when I was 14, so as to be able to work. That would probably make his number as having been applied for, in roughly the same time frame, give or take a year or two. Mine was applied for in 1975.

[little jeremiah]

Placemark.