I'm not a Democrat, but ...

[elemess]

... this is why it's so hard for me to vote Republican.There is supposed to be a separation of Church and State in this country, and the people who control the Republican Party would rather have it otherwise. They have no respect for the values on which this country was founded; they have no respect for anyone who isn't one of them

Comments

[galbinus_caeli]

There is a candidate who was raised Muslim? Who was that?

Let's see, we know that Obama was raised Christian, that has certainly been beaten to death. Sarah Palin's religious life is practically all on video tape, that witchdoctor doesn't really sound Muslim. Biden was raised in Scranton, not too many Muslims there. And he has sure talked about his religious upbringing. Must be McCain! I haven't really heard anything about how he was brought up. And he was born outside the United States! McCain is the secret Muslim!

[elemess]

Everybody knows Panama is overrun with Muslims. That's why Reagan had to oust Noriega. Or maybe "Muslim" was a typo for "Mormon" and he was talking about Guy Smiley Mitt Romney.

[lemon_says]

McCain was born outside the US?

[galbinus_caeli]

Yeah, McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone on a US Navy base. (Yes, he is a "natural born citizen" both father and mother were citizens.)

[lemon_says]

Ahhh, but being a Navy base makes it "American soil." Gotcha.

[galbinus_caeli]

Yeah, but that doesn't matter. He could have been born on the moon to a jellyfish so long as his other parent was an American citizen and he would still be (technically) eligible for the presidency.

[lemon_says]

I could have sworn you had to be born on American soil to run? Huh. I wonder why I remembered it that way.

[galbinus_caeli]

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.

[lemon_says]

Yeah, I looked it up to see if the wording was what made me remember it that way. Been a while since I learned that.

[elemess]

It's the interpretation of "natural born citizen" that allows McCain to run. Both his parents were American citizens, he was born in an American administrated area, and his father was deployed in an official capacity. Some Supreme Court decision way back when made that call.

[galbinus_caeli]

Gotcha.

My high school boyfriend's parents were living in Argentina when he was born, so at 8.5 months she flew to Arizona so he'd be born here. Otherwise he'd have been expected to join the Argentinian army when he was 18.