Can McCain’s Nomination Break Gitmo?
Over the weekend, my son pointed out that we now had a candidate from the first and the last states (DE and AK). With Obama being born in HI we have 3 out of 4 that are from small, niche states. McCain isn’t from some small obscure state, he’s from Arizona, right? Well, sorta.
McCain was born in the Panama Canal zone. The Constitution states that in order to be eligible to be President, the person must be “a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution…” So, if McCain is eligible to be President after being born in a US territory, then couldn’t one reasonably state that the whole argument used to deny the application of the Constitution in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (where the US has a lease on land from a former Cuban Government) is utter bullshit.
Perhaps there are technicalities involved here, I don’t know, but it would seem as if McCain would have to reverse the position of the Bush administration if he wanted to claim eligibility to hold the office of President.
Hi LG,
First question. What is a candidate form?
Second. Give your son a cookie. Well done.
FTH
D’oh. Fixed. I wish I could blame it on liquor.
Arizona was the last mainland state admitted to the Union, on Valentines Day, 1912.
Leaving the 1st, 48th, 49th, and 50th states all represented in the final four…..
Fascinating question. Reasonable argument. Bright kid.
LG for Supreme Court!
Kudos to your son for seeing clearly a bit of logic no one else seems to have noticed. Must be that excellent LG life guidance!
As far as “breaking” the place, the whole concept of its existence is abhorrent to both the letter and the spirit of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution – it’s already broken. What’s been going on there almost certainly constitute crimes against humanity, and just as likely, war crimes.
Now that I think about McCain in this context, and his plan to continue indefinitely – ok – I see a certain symmetry here too.
That is an excellent question and some of the scaling back of the Executive’s claims for handling the prisoners at Gitmo have been based on the fact that Gitmo is for all intents and purposes a military base under complete US control.
Hawaii was the last state admitted to the US –Alaska was the second to last state. Your overall point is actually pretty interesting.
I would think it is more of a political consideratin than a legal one, though. It WOULD be hypocritical for McCain to allow GITMO to continue for the reason you mention. Of course, he’s a Republican so that won’t really matter.
And this entire discussion will be moot under President Obama.
my how elections have changed, growing up i can remeber how admirable people were of the canidates, and how every parent “used” to say of their young child to others: he or she is going to grow up to be president……………..
also remember going to the voting booths with my parents, and when old enough, myself, and/or friends……………..now, however the ” buzz words” are: i’m so sick of it all; the wars get worse, the cost of war is outragous; the comments made of the other cannidates are so outragous, more “talk about the “opponent”, not about the state of the union, the issues of the people of the US, or of current, past, or future events, that need to be acted apon.
and comments as: theres not much “good” to expect when the next president is elected, whos’ going to lose their job now, and be replaced, next ? how much is everything going to go up, except our paychecks, and benifits, how much “more” is our childerns’ education, our housing, and all else going to go up………..??????????????????????
well, here i go; sounding like “my” parents, and my friends parents,
“when i was “young” (younger), i anyway, were “workers”, we wanted to “work”, we wanted to “learn” where we worked, at that time, we( our age group) “had” the stigma, these kids dont want to “work”, well we did, and even today the stigma is the same: “these “”””kids””””” dont want to “work”. well yes they do, yes they want to be trained, yes they want to and expect to be trained, promoted, ” properly”, correctley, and yes, they want to “earn good money, have a future, a family, live their dreams, etc………..not just to be taken advantage of, or hired so they can be the “point of the excuse” of mistakes, or the replacement of someones’ hire earnings…………
like wise the elderly are being “forced” yes forced, to live way below their means, disregarded for their past acommplishments, given the run around when needing questions asked about benifits, care,,,,,,,,,,
young adults are “trying” to make their way, wondering how to handle the present, while after receiving a very expensive education, on “curent practicies, trends, are employed,go to work at companies to be “taught” established, tried, true, and unknown to them, “the companies way” of doing things…………………………….
well, when the election is over, we well have the new present president, we will experience change, some excitedly, some, not even paying attention, and some expereincing lots of change……….. and over haul……………………….
hopefully, our all our troops will come home, yes home to the United States of America, to their families, their friends, their country, and hopefully their homes, if they havent been forclosed………….
as i & many others were “taught” in public schools:is that government is, of the people, by the people, for the people……………………………..
with freedom of religion, (as long as that religion does not oppress, deny, injure the rights, liberties, health, wealth,education and saftey of “all the people”……………..or of the laws of the United States of America…………..
regardless of “whom” my be elected as president at this election; its not one of which you “hear” to often any more from parents, and/or grandparents saying of their childern, or grandchildren; that they are gonna grow up to be president………………….
this has been a long “road” for many, threw the years, and threw the ages of the country, and its people………………… old ‘GLORY ‘ with all its meaning to all in this country, is still flying…………. flying ……….for all, what a wonderfull gift to “give” to a child when born in this country, and a sad,one of the last appreciations to one, to present to the next of kin of a citizen of this country……………………………………..