Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Republican foreign invaders

A recent reminder of the distrust of Barack Obama based, supposedly solely, on the belief that he's a secret foreign agent, and, if he's not, at least his father was, prompts me to think of all the Republicans whose credentials to be natural-born citizens of These United States are shaky.

Ted Cruz was born in Canada, where he lived until he was 3, and his father was then still a citizen of Cuba, which he had left as a refugee. Asked in an interview whether this personal history affected his eligibility to run for President, Cruz explained that his mother was a native-born US citizen, so that made it all right. OK, then.

John McCain was born in the Panama then-Canal-Zone, where his father was serving in the Navy.

George Romney, Mitt's father, who also ran for President*, was born in Mexico, where his grandparents had fled as expatriates because they believed in polygamy.

Barry Goldwater was born in a territory, not in one of the United States. Does that count?

Pat Buchanan was also not born in a state; he's one of the few politicians who was actually a native of D.C.

Any more?

To any serious reader, none of this means anything. So if Republicans will be serious, so will I.

*I find it strange to consider it advisable to identify George this way. I'm old enough that I still think of Mitt as George's son, rather than of George as Mitt's father.

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