The Blog

The Panama Canal Zone

10:05 AM, Feb 28, 2008 • By MICHAEL GOLDFARB
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In response to the ridiculous piece from the Times today about McCain's eligibility for the presidency, a friend writes in:

Of course, the argument is preposterous. A citizen is "natural born" in either of two ways: first, by being born of American parents; second, by being born on American soil. The former, a longstanding doctrine, is codified at 8 USC 1401.

But let's keep in mind the bottom line: Under the NYT-reported theory, children of servicemen stationed overseas would not be "natural born Citizens" and could not run for President, but the child born of an illegal immigrant who crossed the border for the sole purpose of having that child would not be so limited.

There's no doubt, it's preposterous. NRO's Bench Memos gives it a proper fisking, but the McCain camp ought to embrace this challenge if only to make sure that everyone knows that he was born in the Canal Zone. The more Americans learn about McCain's background and family history, the better he's able to frame his candidacy as being about service to the nation. And it's a nice contrast to Obama, whose candidacy seems to be about nothing so much as the transcendent power of himself.

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