Ask the question!

Before everybody gets all bent out of shape over Marco Rubio becoming vice president, I wish somebody would ask him if he thinks he is constitutionally eligible to be president? His answer would say a lot about him one way or the other.

It seems to me the media and those Republicans touting Rubio for higher office are trying to make citizenship the only criterion for eligibility. Rubio was born in the USA; so he is a citizen. Ditto Bobby Jindal. If they are deemed eligible irrespective of their parents how long will it be before naturalized American citizens are eligible?

Finally, it does not take a genius to know what is going on behind the scenes with Rubio/Jindal eligibility.

By Jennifer Harper
The Washington Times
Sunday, August 21, 2011

RUBIO GOES REAGAN

Yes, Sen. Marco Rubio still gets billed as a potential vice presidential candidate in 2012, and there are those who pine for him to run for president one day. And while the Florida Republican may not be acting presidential at the moment, he appears to be at least acting vice-presidential. Mr. Rubio journeys to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. on Tuesday, the keynote speaker for the Reagan Forum, a public-affairs event that has in recent months featured Sen. Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts and Steve Forbes, among others.

“His remarks will focus on the role of government in America. This will be the second in a series of three major speeches by Rubio this year,” says spokesman Alex Burgos. “The first was his maiden Senate floor speech in June, and the third will be delivered in the fall and focus on the role of America in the world.”

That’s some serious speechifying. The Reagan Library notes that the Rubio-centric forum, which includes a buffet dinner, is sold out. And for Gipper fans, this just in: the official Ronald Reagan statue at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is due to be installed around Nov. 1, prominently located across from Terminal A.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/21/inside-the-beltway-581859280/

 

I think he is eligible. However, I also think John McCain, Barack Obama, and Bobby Jindall are eligible to be President. I think there are two categories of citizens--natural born and naturalized. You have to be one or another.

 

Everyone raised and educated in the United States knows this. This is the equivelent of asking Rubio to clarify whether he has the right to vote.

I never have understood those who would cede to foreign powers veto authority over who could be an American President.

 

The enclosed article contains a lot of legal, and bureaucratic, smoke and mirrors. One thing is clear. The answer to my question in the OP:

“. . . how long will it be before naturalized American citizens are eligible?”

is “Not long.”

Hussein’s eligibility aside, the issue of presidential eligibility does not appear to be on many radar screens. The most troubling aspect of the public’s obvious indifference is those who feed on every campaign; i.e., the experts, the pollsters, the journalists, the advertising dollars raked in by TV. They will work for any candidate willing to pay them irrespective of where that candidate’s loyalties lie. The kind of socialist traitor who became president in recent decades is a clear indication that any candidate can become president.

More to the point, there is no reason to assume that a naturalized American citizen will be more loyal to this country than an American-born citizen. If fact, a naturalized American has more reason to tear down this country than does an American driven by a sick political agenda. The naturalized American might very well be loyal to his native land; whereas, the sick American’s only loyalty is to a perverted worldview.

FEC Allows Presidential Campaign for Foreign-Born Man
By Alex Knott
Roll Call Staff
Sept. 2, 2011, 2:12 p.m.

The Federal Election Commission ruled Friday that a Guyana-born American citizen could file papers and raise money to run for president of the United States. But the agency also told the prospective candidate, Abdul Hassan, that his campaign may not receive federal matching funds because he was not born in America.

The FEC’s unanimous vote allows Hassan — who born in the South American country in 1974 — to be a candidate, solicit funds and requires him to file disclosure reports for a presidential bid. However, the agency’s decision stopped short of addressing the constitutional issue of whether someone born outside the United States can be president.

Instead, the agency told Hassan he may not receive any presidential primary matching funds by quoting the Constitution, stating “[n]o Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.”

Hassan’s request appeared to put the FEC in the rare role of deciding a large constitutional issue that has only a few intersections with campaign finance law. The two commonly held constitutional requirements to run for president are that the candidate be 35 years of age or older and be a “natural born citizen.”

But FEC commissioners said repeatedly that their decision to define Hassan as a candidate had nothing to do with his birth country. They said that current federal election law allows for someone to be a candidate, regardless of whether they can legally hold the office they seek and that the FEC is not charged with deciding presidential criteria including one’s natural-born citizenship.

“This does not mean that he can go and say ‘look the FEC has said that I am a candidate, give me money, I’m official,’” said Republican Commissioner Donald McGahn. “That is not what we do here; we don’t certify you as a candidate. That’s what the states do.”

During Thursday’s meeting, commissioners said they had trepidation about voting for Hassan’s candidacy because of how it might be perceived.

“By saying that it is okay — it does give the impression that we don’t see a problem,” said Democratic Commissioner Steven Walther. “I think that we really need to be cognizant of how this could be misconstrued.”

The FEC’s decision to allow Hassan to go through the initial steps to run for president took place outside of its normal publicly attended open meetings and instead was approved by a tally vote as commissioners tried to reach a consensus.

One of the final sections added to approved opinion states: “Notwithstanding this conclusion, the Commission expresses no opinion on Mr. Hassan’s potential liability arising out of his proposed activities under any other Federal or State law, including any laws concerning fraudulent misrepresentation. Any such issues are outside the Commission’s jurisdiction.”

“For us this is really all about what we are empowered to decide and what we are not empowered to decide,” said Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. “Nobody is saying that it is fine and nobody is saying it’s okay for this guy to be going out and raising funds.’”

Shortly after Hassan made the request, the FEC signaled that it would decide the technicalities of filing requirements while leaving the broader issue of who can run for president to the judicial branch. In an email to Hassan on July 18, the FEC stated that he understood “that although the Commission can respond to the questions asked in [his] advisory opinion, the Commission cannot make any determination as to whether [Hassan] can, as a naturalized citizen, serve as President.”

The issue was made more contentious by comments and Internet postings by citizens, Tea Party advocates and “birthers,” who continue to press long-refuted claims that President Barack Obama was not born in America. About a dozen of these individuals wrote letters to the FEC stating that Hassan should not be allowed to run for president.

In the face of this opposition, Hassan said before the vote that he believed that the FEC was making the decision in good faith based on the facts. But he added that it would be hard for commissioners not to be “influenced by the political sensitivity of the issue.”

Hassan told Roll Call that his candidacy is not a stunt but rather an effort by a “political junkie” with various legislative interests. “I follow politics closely, but I have never held elected office,” he said. “I would admit that I am not well-known, and I would admit that my chances of winning are not as good as other candidates. That’s obvious.”

AlexKnott@rollcall.com | @tweetalexknott

http://www.rollcall.com/news/fec_al..._for_foreign_born_man-208435-1.html?pos=hbtxt

 

So Flanders- have you asked Rubio your question?

 

To SFJEFF: Not yet. Nor has anyone else as far as I know.

 

Seriously- if you are concerned, why are you just posing the question here, rather than sending the question to Rubio's office?

 

It looks like Senator Rubio answered the question nobody asked. I think Rubio is pretty good, but I’m glad he took himself out.

I have no use for the US Senate. There is obviously something wrong with an institution that harbors the likes of Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, Richard Lugar, et al., for decades. Personally, I consider the Senate a nest of UN-loving traitors. Let’s all pray Rubio will work to turn it around.

By Sunlen Miller
Oct 5, 2011 5:50pm
Sen. Marco Rubio: “I am not going to be the VP nominee”

Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL., has been coy in the past about the prospect of being the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee. But today he was far more definitive than he has been stating that he is not going to be the 2012 Republican Vice Presidential nominee.

When asked at the Washington Ideas Forum at the Newseum in Washington DC, Rubio repeated twice for emphasis, “I am not going to be the Vice Presidential nominee. I am not going to be the Vice Presidential nominee.”

GO TO THE LINK FOR VIDEO

Asked during the forum if he would turn down an offer if the Republican presidential nominee asks him to, Rubio responded, “Yea, I believe so,” adding again, “the answer is gonna be no.”

Described as a rising star in the Republican Party, Rubio’s name has been tossed around as a possible Vice Presidential candidate since his rise on the nation stage when he elected to the Senate in 2010.

As he has in the past when asked, today Rubio spoke about the seriousness with which he takes his job as a U.S. Senator, held up as his reason why he is not considering the Vice Presidential position.

“I’m not focused on that,” he said. “I don’t crave it. I wanted to be a United States Senator. I didn’t run for the Senate as an opportunity to have a launching pad for some other job. I think one of the things that I lament is that people somehow come to the conclusion that United States Senator is not enough. Listen, the United States Senate is still an important, I think very important institution.”

Rubio said that a Senator can never get big things done in the Senate if they are “focused on it as a some sort of a launch pad for something else.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/i-am-not-going-to-be-the-vp-nominee/