Last updated on June 3rd, 2012 at 08:22 am
Holy birthers, things are getting ugly. With The Donald out there stirring the crazy with his birther brew, Mitt Romney finds himself in a bit of a pickle. Oh, not about whether he can stand next to Trump and take his money — no decision there! — but if he were to go Palin, some of his choices might be off the table.
As Mitt Romney tries to pick his VP candidate, conservatives find themselves torn to bits over the browner options. Apparently in birther minds, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Florida Senator Marco Rubio may not be legally eligible to be Vice Presidents, because while they were born in the US, their parents were not citizens at the time.
Burning questions from the minds running that big GOP tent.
The good news for conservatives is that while alleged news anchor Bret Baier of Fox News has been unable to be sure about the President’s eligibility in spite of proof positive of his birth certificate and his mother being in the country while she gave birth to him, he was able to reach a definite conclusion about conservatives being targeted by birthers.
Here’s Bret just a week ago wringing his hands over Arizona Republican Secretary of State Ken Bennett’s inability to determine the President’s eligibility (due to Bennett’s inability to read, not due to a problem with the facts) courtesy of Media Matters:
Media Matters reported:
Baier stated: “Bennett says he is not, quote ‘a birther’ but wants to clear up the issue for concerned Arizonans.” But Baier failed to “clear up the issue” for Fox’s viewers by stating outright that President Obama was, in fact, born in Hawaii, as indicated by his birth certificate and a contemporaneous newspaper announcement of his birth.
That isn’t Bret’s first go around with playing POTUS birther-adjacent. This is his third go this year.
But things are different when it’s a conservative at issue. Heck, he doesn’t even need to see the birth certificate now. All he needs to know is that the mother was here when she gave birth. Done!
Weeks before Baier was so unable to clarify things regarding the President’s eligibility, the Fox News host wrote (parentheses my additions except for last one):
Bottom line… this is obviously getting a lot of attention… so, we think we should do a full piece on the show about it.. and maybe have a panel of constitutional scholars… and legal experts to discuss this (no doubt to come to the conclusion that Fox needs them to come to). There is obviously a lot of confusion… uncertainty and misinformation out there about this topic.
And as I wrote in the blog… there is vigorous legal debate about the term… so we need to talk about it… and we’ll continue to report all sides.Here’s the deal…Many legal analysts and scholars agree with this take– and until the Supreme Court weighs in… this is how the law is interpreted:The Constitution requires that the president be a “natural born citizen,” but does not define the term. That job is left to federal law, in 8 U.S. Code, Section 1401.
All the law requires is that the mother be an American citizen who has lived in the U.S. for five years or more, at least two of those years after the age of 14. If the mother fits those criteria, the child is a U.S. citizen at birth, regardless of the father’s nationality.The brouhaha over President Obama’s birth certificate — has revealed a widespread ignorance of some of the basics of American citizenship. (Ignorance Bret has perpetuated when it suited his agenda.)
The Constitution, of course, requires that a president be a “natural born citizen,” but the Founding Fathers did not define the term, and it appears few people know what it means…
Until the Supreme Court weighs in on this issue (and there are no plans that we know of that that will happen)… — to your emails… Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Bobby Jindal are both eligible to run and become Vice President or President.
h/t NOLA
Baier was able to come to a definitive decision on this pressing matter, though he still can’t seem to come to same conclusion re the President while on air. He just can’t say the words. Even Bennett apologized for embarrassing his state with his birther business. But not Baier.
It is no doubt due in part to Baier and his cohorts that (according to a Public Policy Polling survey) one third of Republicans in states like Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio do not believe the President was born here.
Oh, rest easy conservatives, your precious Rubio and Jindal are safe. “Journalist” Bret Baier has seen to that.
Isn’t it interesting how the birthers never target John McCain or for that matter, Mitt Romney (born oh so close to that Canadian border and to Mormons who grew up in a commune in Mexico!). It’s just the non-white Republicans.
I’m sure it’s not the skin color. Right?
The good news is that the Romney camp says they are going “anti-Palin”. The bad news is that they haven’t clarified what that means. Do they mean they are going to vet the person, or do they mean they are not going to pick a cardboard cutout Uncle Tom to create fake appeal to one of the Lost Contingencies?
Or do they just mean they are going to pick someone who knows what they read? You can bet when they do that Fox News will present a “fair and balanced” ad for them by a still-has-his-job Romney campaign Fox and Friends producer.
Image: The Obama File
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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