From today’s (16 March 2009) Politics1 update:
P2012. Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL) introduced legislation requiring future Presidential candidates to produce a birth certificate in order to be eligible to run in future White House races.
Rest of the quote below the fold.
Do we have anyone to deal with this first-term crackpot standing in an R+5-ish central Florida district? Posey won his first race with 53.1% against Stephen Blythe, who took 42%.
The rest of the paragraph from Politics1:
Conservative conspiracy theorists have accused President Obama of being foreign-born and constitutionally ineligible. Obama last year produced a certified copy of his birth certificate from the Hawaii Department of Health, but critics argued that it was a fake or possibly altered. Hawaii officials confirmed the original document is in state records. The US Supreme Court has already rejected several lawsuits challenging the President’s citizenship. “Congressman Posey should be focused on creating jobs and jump-starting the economy, but it seems he’s only obsessed with pandering to the right wing,” said Florida Democratic Chair Karen Thurman. “I think we are going to take the president at his word for it, just like we take every other candidate’s word for it,” replied Posey’s spokesman.
PS: Am I getting a hang of making good titles?
Our likely one and only chance was 2008 when the seat was open, and it was among our biggest recruiting railures nationwide. Too bad.
I don’t really find this funny at all. I find this story regarding Mr. Posey just plain silly. Does he honestly have nothing better to do? Why the hell did he run for Congress in the first place if this is the type of hypothetical bullshit he’s going to focus on?
Screw you, Bill Posey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t have a problem with requiring candidates to provide evidence of their eligibility for federal office.
I remember as a political science student learning that to be eligible for President, one had to be a US citizen at birth. This is accomplished by either being born on US soil or having at least one parent who is a US citizen at the time of the birth. This was put into the Constitution to make Alexander Hamilton ineligible. Hamilton was a naturalized citizen having been born in Bermuda of non-US parents. In the case of Obama, he was automatically a US citizen at birth because his mother was a US citizen, and it doesn’t matter where he was born. I am not aware of other interpretations of this constitutional provision, but if someone knows of some, I would appreciate the reference.