Comments on: What media bias?

By: chris

chris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:57:04 +0000

im more interested in something else… did the man that his mother married in Indonesia make her take his name and become an Indonesian citizen… things like that are quite common in that area of the world… so Obama would have done the same… which means that his last name might legally be Seotero and he’s an Indonesian citizen… if he renounced his Indonesian citizenship at age 18 to become an American again, that would make him naturalized not natural born…

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:17:23 +0000

Phelps, why would somebody forge a birth certificate with accurate information?

By: Weer'd Beard

Weer'd Beard — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:06:38 +0000

Aren’t US military bases US soil? And on top of that at the time of McCain’s birth wasn’t the Canal Zone US Soil as well?

I mean can’t somebody born in Guam or Peurto Rico become President as well?

By: Manish

Manish — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:25:43 +0000

Doing some googling.... Paratrooper is right..there is no precedent. Also, current law is that a foreign born person with one parent as a US Citizen is a US Citizen, but they have to physically enter the US for their citizenship to actually be bestowed. IIRC, at one time a foreign born child had Citizenship conferred automatically upon birth, but it lead to this situation that a US Citizen would move abroad and then have kids. Then these kids were US Citizens, even though many had no real connection to the US and had no intention of living there, but the IRS would hunt them down to pay their taxes and they were technically subject to the draft and what not.

By: ParatrooperJJ

ParatrooperJJ — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:58:54 +0000

Actually there are two federal cases working through the courts to disqualify McCain. This point has never been litigated before, so don’t be too sure that some judge won’t issue a ruling disqualifying McCain.

By: Alcibiades McZombie

Alcibiades McZombie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:53:24 +0000

Generally, if you’re born to military or diplomatic parents, you count as an American no matter where you are born. (And Manish is probably correct. I think I read that two American parents convey citizenship upon a child no matter where it is born.)

By: Manish

Manish — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:57:24 +0000

Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought that with McCain it was determined that since his parents were American Citizens, he was a natural born American regardless of whether he was born in Panama or any where else. Since it really isn’t in dispute that Obama’s mother was an American Citizen, it would also follow that Obama was a natural born American no matter where he was physically born.

By: Phelps

Phelps — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:45:38 +0000

There are still some pretty significant chain of custody issues and document discrepancies that haven’t been answered with the graphic that is being sent around. I’m pretty sure that what is being passed around is a forgery. On the other hand, I don’t think that we would see anything significantly different on the authentic document.

This really is a case of fake but accurate.

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:17:54 +0000

Maybe it’s because I’m a lawyer, but I found the McCain thing interesting and newsworthy. It was the topic of much lunchtime conversation. I guess it’s possible the things law nerds find fascinating and topical strike everybody else as stupid.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:57:18 +0000

I’m gonna disagree there, BH. the mccain thing is equally as stupid.

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:44:01 +0000

Ah, I *do* actually like Uncle. Everybody thinks the media is biased against them. And they’re all right. But once we start looking for the bias, we see it everywhere, even when it’s imaginary.

By: Weer'd Beard

Weer'd Beard — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:09:19 +0000

awww I can just feel the love from Hugger!

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:53:54 +0000

The *other* difference: Baseless allegations that a candidate is lying about his birthplace are laughable. A legal dispute as to whether a candidate’s Panama birthplace qualifies him as a “natural-born” citizen is actually somewhat interesting from a civics point of view.

Put it this way: a legal challenge to Obama’s candidacy on the basis that his birth certificate is too high quality gets tossed out of court. A legal challenge to McCain’s status as “natural born” goes to the supreme court. McCain would win that legal battle pretty easily, but it *is* weighty enough that a judge would have to write on it.

I know you folks love to crow about media bias, but seriously, you gotta stop finding it every time you look under your beds at night.

By: _Jon

_Jon — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:27:52 +0000

He can’t be the President.
He can run for it all he wants….