Thursday, February 07, 2008

McCain was born ... where exactly? McCain's eligibility to be President is questioned.

Some were talking and ... for what it is worth, ...
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, to U.S. parents. The U.S. Constitution requires that anyone serving as President must be a "natural born Citizen."

Here's an entry from Wikipedia on the subject.

Three major candidates have sought the Presidency who were born outside the United States: Barry Goldwater (ran in 1964) was born in Arizona while it was still a U.S. territory, George Romney (ran in 1968) was born in Mexico to U.S. parents, and John McCain (ran in 2000 and runs in 2008) was born in the Panama Canal Zone to U.S. parents. Barry Goldwater's case among these three is unique in that although Arizona was not a state, it was a fully incorporated territory of the United States, making it debatable whether or not he was born "outside" the United States. The Panama Canal Zone was under United States sovereignty between 1903 and 1979.[7] None of these candidates was elected, so it has never been fully addressed whether children born to Americans overseas are "natural-born citizens" and thus eligible for the Presidency. However, McCain is currently seeking the 2008 Republican nomination for President.
It'll be interesting to see if the issue is raised in a serious way.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jus sanguinis or jus soli makes one natural born.

Anonymous said...

If the law has loop holes it has to be corrected. But that does not give anyone to break the law especially at the highest level of office. If that happens what hope is there that the country of Law stands by it. Unfortunately John Mccain has to step down