skippy the bush kangaroo: birth canal

Thursday, February 28, 2008

birth canal

is john mclame even eligible for running for president? probably, but we can dream, can't we? nytimes:

mr. mccain’s likely nomination as the republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the panama canal zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on american soil can be truly natural born. to date, no american to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.

“there are powerful arguments that senator mccain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said sarah h. duggin, an associate professor of law at catholic university who has studied the issue extensively. “it is not a slam-dunk situation.”

mr. mccain was born on a military installation in the canal zone, where his mother and father, a navy officer, were stationed. his campaign advisers say they are comfortable that mr. mccain meets the requirement and note that the question was researched for his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this time around.

we doubt that anybody is seriously considering not letting mclame run. but we do think that "natural born" means no clones or test tube babies will ever be president.

Labels: constitution, mccain, prez campaign

posted by skippy at 4:36 PM |

2 Comments:

They can research and review the question internally all they want, but IT WAS NEVER DECIDED because McCain never had the nomination.

commented by

Elayne, 7:41 PM PST

They said the same thing about Goldwater because he was born in Arizona before it became a state.
It doesn't really matter unless the Democrats manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again.

commented by