Birthers Say Jindal, Santorum, Rubio, and Cruz May Be Ineligible To Be POTUS
Jack Cashill, best known perhaps for his thesis that William Ayers may be the true author of Dreams From My Father, published an article last week on World Nut Daily, that examines what the definition of “Natural Born Citizen” really is. And it’s one that may or may not apply to Jindal, Santorum, Rubio, or Cruz, in the mind of Jack Cashill:
TPM: You kick the column off writing that the question has been raised as to whether Rubio, Cruz, Jindal and even Santorum are “natural born citizens” and thus eligible to be president. So we all know by now that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. But I’m curious as to who’s been raising that question about these other guys, Rubio, Jindal, Santorum.
Cashill: This subject’s been raised for years. Especially in very strict constitutional tea party circles it’s a very lively topic. And as I expected from my article yesterday, there were many people who attacked me for being unduly lenient in my description of who’s eligible and who’s not. It is an undercurrent. It’s not enough to turn an election, but it’s enough to cost like 1 percent of a potential electorate. That’s not to say they’d vote for the Democrat, these people typically are very conservative, but that they would just sit home and pout basically.
What do you think that says that there’s this undercurrent, that 1 percent that’s actually going after conservative candidates?
Well they’re not going after conservative candidates. They went after Obama, too. They’re basically, in an admirable way, they’re people who believe the Constitution is sacred and inviolate. They will take that road even though it means the potential loss of one of their better candidates.
You write that the term “natural born citizen” is “often misunderstood or deliberately twisted.” How so? Can you give me a specific example of that?
When the challenge was made against Barack Obama, people said “how dare you question he’s a natural born citizen because he was born in Hawaii.” Even if he was born in Hawaii, that does not make him a natural born citizen. It’s a very strict term. I won’t say very strict — there’s a real meaning to the term, it’s not that it’s perfectly defined but the understanding is well understood. The understanding is that you be born of American parents with unquestioned loyalty to the United States. So for instance, had Obama been born [somewhere] other than Hawaii he would not have been eligible to run for President. Even though his mother was an American, just like Ted Cruz’s mother was American, the difference is that according to the law you’d have to be an American citizen for five years after the age of 14. She simply wasn’t old enough to confer that status on Obama. If his mother had been a non-American citizen and his father had been a Kenyan, and neither had any allegiance to the United States, which in fact neither of them really did, he would not have been eligible no matter where he was born.
So the question comes up about Bobby Jindal’s parents. Both of them were in the United States on student visas. To me the real question is does the candidate have any divided allegiance. So if Jindal’s parents remained steadfastly identifying as Indians and he steadfastly identified as an Indian, even though he was born in the United States and was a citizen, he would not be eligible. Legitimately, he would not be eligible to be President. But given the fact that he changed his name after a character in “The Brady Bunch” — as American as it gets — I don’t think there’s any question in any of those candidates that there’s any dual allegiance. That’s what the law was designed to prevent, was people with dual allegiance. Especially in the early Republic when you had people who were from England or from France and who really reported back to the motherland first. Even if they were born here they might be children of a diplomat or something like that. The fact that you are a citizen doesn’t make you a natural born citizen.
More: Birthers Say These 4 GOP Candidates May Be Ineligible to Be President