“Here’s why the legal argument is dubious: Nobody worried about Spiro Agnew or Chester Arthur having a non-citizen Dad when they were born.”
“Nobody worried” is not a legal argument. And Chester Arthur deliberately hid the fact that his father wasn’t a US Citizen when Chet was born during his political career, to the point of destroying records.
Please see the research done by attorney Leo Donofrio at http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/. He explains the rulings of Wong Kim Ark, Ankeny, Minor v. Happersett, etc. If not on the main page, sift through the archives.
“Birthers” seem to include anyone who questions Obama’s eligibility - his place of birth or his natural born Citizen status. The legal question relates to whether the son (or daughter) of a non-US citizen father is a natural born Citizen for constitutional purposes. Until this point is resolved, where he was born is immaterial. His birth certificate is only important in that it establishes who his father was. His producing a document showing his father as a non-US citizen may be much more damaging to him in the long run, if we can ever get a court of competent jurisdiction to rule on this matter. It would please me no end for a court to rule him ineligible while he’s in office or even after he leaves office.
Being a “citizen” at birth is not the same thing as being a natural born Citizen.
“The only way to get Obama out of office soon is the Nov 2012 elections.”
Maybe so, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time. What’s the harm in pursuing both avenues of removal?
You don’t have to point me to Leo’s blog. I’ve already chased those rabbit trails. It’s a dead end. Find a tenured law professor out of the thousands of them out there to believe these dubious claims. Find a court to consider it. But wait, they have - Ankeny considered and rejected the claims. Leo and Taitz are 0 for 89 or so by now.
“What’s the harm in pursuing both avenues of removal?”
Because the birther avenue has 0.000000000% chance of success ... and its wrong anyway.
Nice theory, but its both wrong and out of sync with what courts will say the Constitution says and requires. You cannot make the case that Obama isn’t eligible because his Dad is a non-citizen, because in fact he is, due to his birth in the USA, which makes him a citizen since birth, which makes him a natural-born citizen. The End.