Trump has raised the Birther issue with respect to Ted Cruz, his political rival. I doubt this will have any traction. I don't think Birthers objected to Obama in the first instance because they questioned his eligibility; rather, I think they questioned his eligibility because they opposed him on other grounds.
So even if the legal technicalities are similar, I doubt Birthers will raise the same issue with respect to Cruz unless they have ideological objections to Cruz. Birthism is the consequence of opposing certain candidates, and not the cause. It's a perceived way of derailing an unacceptable candidate.
Steve, I hope you've been practicing singing "Oh Canada"; once our Manchurian Candidate becomes president, expect him to fly the maple-leaf-spangled banner!
ReplyDeleteJohn McCain was an interesting case. He wasn't a citizen at the time of his birth. But, later on, he was retroactively made a natural born citizen and never went through the naturalization process.
ReplyDeleteI think that's because the kids of servicemen born overseas present a special case.
DeleteOther interesting cases are Mitt Romney's father George Romney who was born in Mexico but later in life ran for president, and Barry Goldwater who was born in the Arizona Territory, before Arizona was admitted to the US.
Delete