John McCain: More 'Americas' in his slogan Than Obama.

The race begins as McCain releases his first official 2008 campaign ad. It looks like he is going for the faith and jingoism angle, which is probably the best he can do after having been bent to his party's will.
joedirtsays...

Classic Rove.

Take your candidates weakest point and make a video about it.

Freakin' McCain was born in Panama Zone which was never a US Territory. There will be a lawsuit over his eligibility to be President since he was not technically native born (different from naturalized).

Now, anyone who says he's not American is nuts and I think he clearly is eligible, but I think the Supreme Court will have to decide since it isn't defined in the Constitution or Amendments as to what is "native born". Yes his parents were both US citizens and he may have been born on a military base (doubtful). But that doesn't matter. Go look it up on the State Dept homepage. It's a common misconception.

Panama zone was leased by the US and never a territory. He was not born on US soil. Yes, if you are born to US parents overseas you are a citizen, but a naturalized one (ie. you have to apply). Some definitions (most) of native born require being born in the US or US territory.

dgandhisays...

>> ^MarineGunrock:
But if he was born on a U.S. base he was born on U.S. soil.


We clearly do not extend citizenship to everyone born on soil under US military control, or there are a lot of families in Iraq who have US citizen as kids.

The issue is that the constitution is not wholly clear on the issue. Some interpret "natural born citizen" to mean "within the states", some interpret it to mean "born a citizen", such as with citizen parent(s).

It will likely go to court if he wins the election, and the supreme court, as conservative as it is, would not dare to overturn his nomination.

It's an interesting lesson in legislative ambiguity, but I doubt it will have any real impact on the election.

dgandhisays...

>> ^MarineGunrock

US immigration/naturalization disagrees, as does the president(see Guantanamo). People born to citizen parents are citizens, no matter where they are. Children born to non-citizens in US bases are not citizens => bases are not US soil.

Issues of jurisdiction, and issues of naturalization do not follow the same rules. For a US citizen whose children do not plan to run for president bases are effectively US soil, but technically they are not.

Even if you were right, "US soil" is not the issue "natural born" is, the Constitution is vague, and we are going to have to deal with it.

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