Posted by
Orville on Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:17:07 PM
It seems that The New York Times is questioning whether John McCain is qualified to be President due to the fact that he was born in the Panama Canal Zone. Let's put this notion to bed quickly and for good.
Article II of the Constitution, which covers the Executive branch, spells out the qualifications for President. Section 1 states, in part, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President..."
Now, John McCain may be old, but he's not that old. The relevant phrase is "natural born citizen". Note that the Constitution does not require someone who wants to be President to have been born in the United States. But does he meet the standard for a natural born citizen? This is defined by law. Title 8 of the U.S. Code, Section 1401, defines who is a citizen of the United States at birth. The third item in that list confers citizenship on "a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person". Captain McCain's parents meet the stated requirements. Therefore, he is a natural born citizen and is eligible for the office of President.
For those who still doubt that McCain is natural born (typically that would mean liberals, for whom facts mean nothing), I would ask, do you at least concede that he is a citizen today? He probably would not have endured five and a half years as a POW were he not a citizen. So if he is a citizen today, but not natural born, when was he naturalized?
This is just one in a long line of poor, if not idiotic, pieces of journalism by the Gray Lady. No wonder circulation is down.