It got lost in the shuffle on Tuesday night as most of us were focused on Mitt Romney’s big Florida win and Newt Gingrich’s graceless and weird non-concession speech, but conservative personality Joseph Farah said something on Sean Hannity’s “Fox News” program that is a reminder of just how crazy contemporary politics can get. Farah was on a panel with Bob Beckel and Gretchen Hamel when the question of possible Republican vice presidential candidates came up:
“[Sen. Marco] Rubio’s not eligible,” Farah said.
“What do you mean?” host Sean Hannity asked.
“You’re going to lose 10% of the Republican vote because he is not a natural born citizen. We’ve been through this with Obama now for four years,” Farah explained.
“I don’t believe that. I don’t think that’s going to work,” Hannity said.
Hannity is, of course, right. This bizarre attack on Rubio won’t work because Rubio was born in Miami and therefore is a natural born citizen of the United States and ten percent of Republican voters aren’t nuts. But this exchange illustrates just how deep-seated the virus of conspiracy mongering is in our political culture. After eight years of crackpot lies about George W. Bush and 9/11 that was followed by three plus years of Obama birth certificate lunacy, we have now arrived at a point where “birtherism” is a bipartisan form of insanity.
Farah ought to know. He’s spent much of the last few years promoting myths about Barack Obama not being an American citizen though there was never any rational reason to doubt he was born in Hawaii. Even after the Obama birth certificate was produced, Farah stuck to his wacko guns and predictably claimed it was a forgery.
But though Farah is a conservative of a sort, his “birtherism” is bipartisan as he is now backing the notion that both Rubio and fellow Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal are not eligible for the presidency or vice presidency.
As far as Rubio and Jindal are concerned, Farah knows there is no way he can cast doubt on their birth on American soil. So what he has done now is to promote the fraudulent claim that in order to be a natural born citizen as required by the Constitution, not only must the individual be born in the United States but the parents must also be American citizens at the time of the birth. Rubio’s parents were Cuban immigrants who became citizens a few years after their child was born. The same was true for Jindal. But this makes no sense as U.S. citizenship has always been automatic in the case of any child born in the country. Nor has the law ever been interpreted as referring to anyone’s citizenship but the child’s.
After years of ranting about Obama’s eligibility, I suppose it was only natural for the universe of conspiracy theorists to want to latch onto a new absurdity. But anyone who thinks this will prevent Rubio from being nominated or elected to the vice presidency needs to emerge from their survivalist bunkers and get some fresh air.
Farah’s attempt to cast doubt on Rubio ought to be a warning to responsible media figures to be wary of inviting him or any other birther onto their shows. Along with the 9/11 truthers, the birthers need to be quarantined and confined to the fever swamps of political insanity, where they belong.
Joseph Farah is of Middle Eastern descent. Does he consider himself "natural-born"? I wish conservatives would stop playing with people like Farah and Jerome Corsi. They are either delusional or con artists.
Can you show me the law with links to sources that prove that Obama and Rubio are natural born sitizens?
Do you want proof that there's no Santa Claus as well?
“Bipartisan Birtherism”??
All the Birtherism is coming from the Republican party, this guy is just another Republican promoting his wackiness, I don’t see any birtherism coming from the left.
Stop with the false equivalences, this is getting ridiculous now.
Birthers aren't just Republicans…some of the most accomplished leaders in the cause are Democrats. n nIf fact, it was a Democrat who first sued John McCain on exactly the same grounds Obama is presently being sued in Georgia. n nex animo nbatazoid
And by "Democrats" you're referring to that special brand known as "Fox News Democrats"
Buck, n nTobin is referring to supposedly-Republican leaning Joseph Farah accusing Republican politicians – in other words, people he would be thought to agree with politically – of not being "natural-born" citizens. nA person can be Republican and/or conservative and still be guided by reason.
I reject birthirism, but it is worthwhile to at least understand the argument Farrah is making. I think the problem he has is with the word "natural". His argument is: The constitution could have simply said a "born citizen" or a "citizen from birth" or something to that effect. But it adds the word "natural". What does "natural" mean? It must mean some deeper kind of citizen, which in turn means that a person's parents also had to be citizens. I don't think that argument is crazy, but it is clearly wrong, because (a) it has never been intrepreted that way–we even have a prior president who had one Irish, non-citizen parent and (b) it is pretty clear that the phrase "natural born citizen" is just the way they say "your are born a citizen, rather than having become one after you were born". There are plenty of phrases like this in legal documents ("null and void"–either would work, but the phrase uses both). That is just the way it is said. n n
WRONG, the problem we have is that Obama is not a natural born citizen as intended by the founders in article 2 section 1 of the Constitution. Being born IN this country, does not make you a natural born citizen. To be a natural born citizen you must have full allegiance to the US at birth and you get that by having 2 citizen parents and the allegiance is confered through them. Obama was born to a father whose allegiance was to the British Crown and according to the British Nationaly Act of 1948, which Obama's father was governed under at the time of Obama's birth says:__Part II__Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies. __Citizenship by birth or descent. __5.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person born after the commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by descent if his father is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies at the time of the birth.
"To be a natural born citizen you must have full allegiance to the US at birth and you get that by having 2 citizen parents and the allegiance is conferred through them." n nWhich was the obvious intent of the language as written,which makes the point as tof why none of those commented on are eligible to President..
You are quite, quite wrong when you say: (a) it has never been interpreted that way–we even have a prior president who had one Irish, non-citizen parent. n nEvery president from George Washington to George Bush have followed the two citizen-parent rule. It is part of our history you are now trying to blatantly rewrite. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. n nAnd your little word ploy with Chester Arthur won't work either, as you well know. n nex animo nbatazoid
Ok lets pick and choose what laws we do like, and change the meaning of the ones we don't understand, or don't like. The next time you get pulled over by the police why don't you just explain what the law should be.
Since the Left like to say that it's the 14th amendment which grants Obama natural born citizenship, I'm going to prove that wrong! n14th amendment citizenship clause: n"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." n nFirst of all, who wrote the citizenship caluse of the 14th amendment? John Bingham wrote the 14th amendment, but Senators Jacob Howard & Lyman Trumbull co-authored and added in the citizenship clause, as an amendment to the bill, when it came over to the Senate.
Ok lets makeup the law as we go along.
In this case, Farah's claim is not fraudulent but frivolous. It's based on a wacko reading of a point of law
If a person is not "natural-born", is he or she "unnaturally-born"? Would a person delivered via C-section be considered "unnaturally-born"?
Oh that's so funny, let's make jokes about a national security issue! We've been invaded by a foreign enemy and you're making jokes, PATHETIC!
Oh come on, take two minutes to learn what a natural born citizen is then make a commit. We all know Obama is not a natural born citizen, and Obama knows he is not a natural born citizen. Its not some big secret.
Funny, all these people defending Obama, yet Obama has never once referred to himself as a natural born citizen. Nobody except the media has ever called this guy an NBC. Even going by Sen Res 511, WHICH OBAMA CO-AUTHORED, stated that McCain was an NBC because he was birthed of "citizen parents". Wake up you fools, this guy in the WH is intentionally destroying this nation because he has no allegiance to this nation! There was a reason the founders specified an NBC, we're seeing why first hand.
THIS PROVES THAT TO BE A NATURALIZED CITIZEN YOU MUST RENOUNCE ALLEGIANCE TO ALL FOREIGN POWERS. nSo, do you really think that they meant immigrants coming over required full allegiance but that they didn't require the same full allegiance of people being born here to immigrants? n nThat's absurd! ALL citizens (naturalized and natural born) require full allegiance) If you were not born to two citizen parents or were not naturalized, you are not a citizen! n
Apparently people have failed both grammar AND history class. Our nation is full of illiterate FLUNKIES!!! Come on editors, you should know how to perform grammatical substitution (something we all should have learned by age 13).__Exactly how does simply being "born in Florida" make one a Natural Born Citizen??? Has anyone here actually READ the Constitution in the last 5 years? Or ever??? Go back and read Amendment XIV AND Article II, Section 1 …very carefully. Use grammar substitution between the two clauses . Then you will see just how asinine this argument of "being born in the U.S. is the same as being a Natural Born Citizen" really is. __Then again, I wouldn't expect anyone posting this ridiculous notion to be using grammar, especially when it doesn't fit one’s agenda.
This is not birtherism. Where Obama or Rubio or Jindal was born or their citizenship status is not at issue. n n"Natural born" is different from "native born". At the time the Constitution was ratified, "natural born citizen" was recognized in international law as meaning that one's parents were citizens at the time of one's birth. The concern was that the President not have any claims of dual citizenship. In 2008, when Theodore Olsen and Lawrence Tribe reported to the Senate on John McCain's Constitutional eligibility (he as born in the Canal Zone), they based their affirmative decision on the fact that both his parents were citizens. n nBy that standard, Obama, Jindal, and Rubio are ineligible, and a lot of us will not vote for any of them. n nThe Wikipedia article on this is well done.
Me, too!
You guys are making this way too complicated. Per the Constitution Article 2 and the Supreme Court Minor v Happersett, to be eligible for the presidency one must be a natural born citizen which is one born on US soil to US citizen parents. Neither Obama, Rubio or Jindal qualify.
Were Rubio's parents both legal citizens when he was born, or not?
Um, looks like this Mr. Tobin character needs to go back to high school and pay attention this time in American history class. I learned what a natural born citizen was in the mid-90's when I was in high school. I highly doubt the definition has all of a sudden become "vague". It has always meant a child born on U.S. soil to 2 U.S. citizens. Instead of attacking Joe Farah, why doesn't Tobin present one shred of evidence to support his position. I'll tell you why, he can't. Every single document in existence from the 18th and 19th century that alludes to NBC refers to it as a child born on U.S. soil to 2 U.S. citizens. Common sense would tell the normal person that there must be a reason the framers of the Constitution mentioned 2 different citizenship statuses in Article 2. I am astonished and frankly embarrassed that there are this many people that simply do not care that the man sitting in the WH is not eligible to be there. Well, I hope you're happy, we have a legitimate enemy of the Constitution intentionally overwhelming the system until the point where it's soon going to collapse. Obama is the fruit of not heeding the wisdom of our founding fathers.
I'm not at all an Obama supporter, but I get the impression that many of the people who question his elligiblity for the Presidency do so because they believe he lived an "un-American" life and has "un-American" beliefs. Maybe they also believe that Rubio and Jindal are "un-American". nTo eliminate any uncertainty about who is elligible to be President, I propose the office be limited to WASPs who can trace their ancestry to colonial America.
Not really, but I will say that his non-existent allegiance to the United States is product of him not being a natural born citizen. The definition of NBC has always been a child born on U.S. soil to 2 U.S. citizens. Every USSC court decision that mentions the term defines it as such, every newspaper article from the 18th and 19th century defines it as such, heck Sen Res 511 which Obama co-authored declared that McCain was a NBC because he was birthed of "citizen parents". Rubio, Obama, and Jindal are not natural born citizens. The only way that you are going to be able to get around that is by amending the Constitution to state that native born citizens are qualified for POTUS. I'm not sure why some people cannot grasp it, my guess is that they think it's unfair, tough, the founders were brilliant. We're seeing first hand why today.
I frequently disagree with Joseph Farah, but in this case he has a valid point, and Mr. Tobin needs to do some homework. Tobin's claim that "U.S. citizenship has always been automatic in the case of any child born in the country" is incorrect. n nThe only theoretically conceivable constitutional justification for this disastrous anchor baby policy is the 14th Amendment. But the authors of the 14th Amendment made it very clear that the amendment would *not* grant automatic citizenship to babies born to foreign citizens on American soil. For example, Senator Jacob Howard said, n n"Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States." (Congressional debates on the 14th Amendment, 1866) n nNotice that Sen. Howard specified that babies born to "foreigners" and "aliens" on American soil would *not* be American citizens. n nI have absolutely nothing against Marco Rubio. I like him a whole lot. But if we have respect for the Constitution, we must acknowledge that he is not a "natural born citizen" and therefore is not eligible to be vice president.