Can McCain run for President? Born in Panama!

[panader0]

Doesn't U.S. law state you must be born here?

[bertha katzenengel]

1. was he born in a military hospital?

if so, that probably constitutes "born in U.S." - but i don't know for sure.

edit: besides, he already has run for president. this would've been settled long ago.

[benddem]

2. He was most likely

born on a US Military Base. We tried that with Goldwater. He was born in AZ before it was a state. It didn't budge anyone.

[derby378]

3. If you're born to American parents, you're an American citizen

Doesn't matter where you were born, it's who you were born to.

[MADem]

10. Not entirely true, citizenship is not always automatic unless the

parent (one or both) is serving on official duty as a representative of the US government. Otherwise, it is incumbent upon the parents to swiftly go to the nearest embassy or consulate and fill out a "Report of US citizen born abroad" form.

If you are on vacation in a foreign land, have a kid, and do not do that, your kid is not a US citizen.

[tinrobot]

4. Back then, Panama Canal was in the US...

I assume that's where he was born...

Disregarding that, you simply have to be a natural born a citizen, which he was because his parents were citizens. His dad was an admiral, right?

[Todd B]

5. He was born in the Panama Canal Zone

Since it was a US Territory back then, I would assume that it was technically part of the United States.

Just a guess, though. I'm not an expert at these things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone

[Jara sang]

6. The Panama Canal Zone was U.S. soil.

[MADem]

7. He was born on American soil in Panama

His daddy was on official duty in the USN when he was born, in a US military hospital in the Panama Canal Zone.

There's an exception when you are on official duty in such a capacity.

[papau]

8. If parents are US, he is US, If parents not US only by being born on

(or in?) US kills the need to "immigrate" to the US.

Pres requires you not be an immigrated type.

[tx_dem41]

9. From Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution....

"No 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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

He was a Citizen of the U.S. His father, in the military, was posted in Panama (U.S. Canal Zone at that!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

[MADem]

11. Actually, the natural born is the thing that takes sway now

The citizen of the US business was to solve the problem at the outset, when so many people were not born in what was the US at the time the Constitution was adopted.

But in the case of McCain, the point is moot. He was born on US soil--a military hospital in Panama. It's the same as an embassy, which is also considered to be US soil.

[onehandle]

12. Yes. He's a Right-Wing Goosestepping Corporate Thug.

That's all it really takes to capture the GOP nomination.

[chaumont58]

13. He's third generation US Navy

His father was a three star admiral, and so was his grandfather.

[beyurslf]

14. You have to be a naturally born US citizen. You can be born anywhere

as long as one of your parents was a citizen when you were born.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. Yes, Panama was a U. S. territory back then. Additionally, his parents...

...are U. S. citizens and he is third-generation Navy.