Q. Is Panamanian born John McCain a "Natural Born Citizen" of the United States?
***A MAJOR DEVELOPMENT on this story has come to light, (See below)
Article II, Section I of The Constitution says:
"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."Since John McCain was not born in a State of the Union, does that mean he is legally ineligible to hold the Office of President of the United States?
Was the Panama Canal Zone a State at the time of John McCain's birth?
Is John McCain a Naturalized Citizen, a US National, or a Natural Born Citizen?
Here is a link to help you understand the differences and how it relates to the law.
Source: Wikipedia
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***UPDATE: This issue just hit the Drudge Report
[NYT: MCCAIN'S BIRTHPLACE IN CANAL ZONE RAISES ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS...]
with a link to an article posted in the International Herald Tribune by Carl Hulse.
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***UPDATE: The above story hits the New York Times and Drudge links to it.Link to the NYT story >> (note: wait few seconds for the ad to disappear)
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***UPDATE: The story catches fire as MSNBC >> , The Wall Street Journal >> and CBS News >> pick it up.__________________________________________
***UPDATE: Is McCain Natural Born? Story goes Global >> as News Wires pick up the story.
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*** MAJOR DEVELOPMENT:*************NewsBusters' EXCLUSIVE!
John McCain, widely reported to have been born in the Panama Canal Zone in the Coco Solo Naval Hospital, COULD NOT have been born in Coco Solo Hospital and probably wasn't born in the Canal Zone at all.
The Coco Solo Hospital was not even built until after 1941 and the nearest hospital to the base was in Panama Proper (in Colon, Republic of Panama), NOT the US Administered Canal Zone and NOT on a US military base.
According to Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Executive Order 8981 - NAVY HOSPITAL AREA, COCO SOLO, CANAL ZONE " Dated *1941* (remember McCain was born in 1936) The executive order lays out the boundaries for the land that the hospital would eventually be built on.
Apparently we were lied to.
Now the Big question is; Where was John McCain REALLY born and why weren't we told the truth? Could it be that John McCain's birth certificate says he was born in the Republic of Panama?
To date the McCain campaign has issued no response addressing the Coco Solo Hospital discrepancy.
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***UPDATE: At least two suits have been filed seeking an answer from the US Supreme Court to the "Natural Born Citizen" controversy surrounding John McCain's Presidential bid.
More here >>__________________________________________
***UPDATE: NewsBusters' EXCLUSIVE!US Navy documentation has surfaced that refutes John McCains supposition that he was born in a US Military Hospital on the Coco Solo Military Base in the US administered Panama Canal Zone in 1936. Documents show that No Hospitals existed in the Canal Zone prior to 1941!
Building the Navy's Bases in World War II
History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps
1940-1946
Volume II
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON
1947
Chapter 18 -- Bases in South America and the Caribbean Area, Including Bermuda
Page 15 --
"By the end of 1940, work had begun on a new supply depot at Balboa, and on the Farfan Radio Station on the west bank, together with the enlargement of the two inland radio stations at Gatun and Summit. Two net depots were started in December, one at each end of the Canal, and during the same month a third contract was awarded for 1,400 housing units, 1,100 at Coco Solo and the remainder on the west bank at Balboa. The following summer two naval hospitals, one at Coco Solo and the other at Balboa, were begun."
Page 20 --
"Hospitals
"To care for the large increases in personnel which accompanied the expansion of the naval establishment, a new 200-bed naval hospital was built on a 40-acre tract of high land, on the north side of the new Trans-Isthmian Highway, about 3 miles from the Coco Solo air station. This facility consisted of a four-story structure, with additional buildings for quarters, laundry, garage, and sewage plant, all of reinforced concrete. It was commissioned in September 1942, and later enlarged by the addition of two temporary wards of frame construction, to provide 500 beds."
(emphasis added)
Therefore it has now been shown that John McCain was NOT born in the Panama Canal Zone at all, NOR was he born on a US military base or in a US hospital. Therefore there is no way John McCain can claim birth on US soil and therefore he cannot claim natural birth in the US. He was therefore born abroad on Panamanian soil and does not meet constitutional requirements of eligibility to hold the Office of President of the United States.
In order to avoid a constitutional crisis, the members of congress should immediately hold hearings on the subject of John McCain's birth place. John McCain's mother, Roberta McCain (who is still alive and of sound mind), can be called to testify as to where her son John was born and name the hospital and the doctor who delivered him. Since the nearest hospital to the Coco Solo base was the Hospital in Colon, Panama RP (outside of the Canal Zone), it is likely that documentation (McCain's birth records) will indicate he was born in Colon, Panama on sovereign Panamanian territory.
We need to sort this out now BEFORE the election, or the outcome of the election could be in doubt for months if it has to be argued before the Supreme Court. We don't need that kind of crisis during wartime in this country. We need to answer this question NOW!
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***UPDATE: Twenty years ago, Jill A. Pryor (then Senior Editor for the Yale Law Journal) examined the "natural born" issue and wrote a comprehensive white paper on the subject with extensive notes and citations. Anyone interested in understanding the finer points of the "natural law" issue as it relates to John McCain's presidential bid, should start by reading her recent news article on the subject, and then download her 1988 white paper report.
(Note: Ms. Pryor also uncoverd the fact that the statute that gives citizenship to children born in the Canal Zone or Panama to American parents, was not signed into law until the year AFTER John McCain's birth.)McCain bid revives 'natural' question >>Source: Daily Report'The Natural-Born Citizen Clause and Presidential Eligibility: Resolving Two Hundred Years of Uncertainty', 97 Yale L.J. 881 (1988) >> (PDF)Source: Yale Law Journal
__________________________________________***UPDATE: PROOF!
John McCain's birth certificate has been posted on the internet! And, it says that John McCain was NOT born in the Panama Canal Zone; the US military base at Coco Solo; or the Military hospital at Coco Solo (which did not even exist yet) and he was NOT born on US Soil! He was born in Colon, Republic of Panama, which is OUTSIDE the former US controlled Canal Zone and is, unquestionably, sovereign Panamanian territory; and he, therefore, cannot be a Natural Born US Citizen and fails to qualify for the office of President under Article II of the US Constitution that requires Natural Born Citizenship.
The Story appears here >> on the Dallas News site and includes a detailed image of John McCain's Birth Certificate.
Since this evidence has now come to light, and by virtue of the fact that a law suit is now pending before the court alleging that John McCain is not eligible for the office of the President by virtue of his lack of Natural Born status, there is now a definite likelihood that the court will bar John McCain from being seated as President if elected.
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