John McCain: Born In The Panama Canal Zone

9:17 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | News | 8 Comments

This seems like it may come up as an issue of interest. I don’t think it really amounts to anything, but here’s some previous writing on it.

McCain was indeed born in the Canal Zone, and Article II of the Constitution plainly states that “no person except a natural born Citizen… shall be eligible to the Office of President.”

Some might define the term “natural-born citizen” as one who was born on United States soil. But the First Congress, on March 26, 1790, approved an act that declared, “The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States.” That would seem to include McCain, whose parents were both citizens and whose father was a Navy officer stationed at the U.S. naval base in Panama at the time of John’s birth in 1936.

I don’t really remember it but apparently there was a dispute about McCain’s citizenship due to his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. Everything old is new again.

Topic: 2008 Election

Norm Coleman Astroturfs Minnesota Newspapers

9:09 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | News | Comments Off

They thought they’d never get caught. They were wrong.

Topic: 2008 Election

The 40 Most Inappropriate Children’s Book Covers

7:09 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Invest in therapy.

Topic: Humor

Sean Wilentz & TNR’s Violins

7:06 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | News | 3 Comments

A more complete takedown is here.

Harley Quinn In Dark Knight

4:58 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I just hope she says “Mister J”, but interesting considering her role in the ongoing Countdown to Final Crisis.

Topic: Michigan

Obama Vs. McCain On Iraq

4:51 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | News | 13 Comments

A battle we should embrace

Obama said McCain and Bush — a pairing the Dem candidate is likely to utter repeatedly over the next eight months, should he win the nom — took the United States into a war “that should have never been authorized and never been waged.”

“So John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq that’s cost of thousands of lives and billions of dollars,” he said.

Topic: 2008 Election

Python Eats Australian Family Dog

4:49 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments Off

Sweet Jesus.

Topic: Weird

Brand Obama

4:35 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | News | Comments Off

Why it’s working.

Topic: 2008 Election

Sean Wilentz Attacks Obama Over Racial Politics

3:03 pm EST February 27th, 2008 | News | 7 Comments

Historian Sean Wilentz has written a piece in The New Republic that is being promoted by anti-Obama/pro-Clinton sites as some sort of revelation. What it is is serial excuse-making, taking the racial politics that has sadly been played by the Clinton team and blaming it on Sen. Obama. For example, Wilentz sees nothing wrong racially with a Clinton campaign surrogate caricaturing Obama as a drug dealer. Apparently Mr. Wilentz has not turned on a television in this century or the last and understood the way in all black men have been slimed, regardless of whether or not we’ve even seen illegal drugs, let alone sell them.

But where is this coming from for Wilentz? He’s an avid Clinton supporter who has already written a piece in TNR pooh-poohing Sen. Obama’s candidacy. Here’s Wilentz rhapsodizing over Sen. Clinton:

I think Hillary is important because the election really is the culmination of what’s been a 40 year struggle for the Democrats to rediscover who they are. A 40-year struggle against what we’ll call Nixon-slash-Reaganism. And, simply put, she’s in the best position to be a president. Which is to say, she understands how American politics works. She understands the trajectory of American political history for the last 40 years because she’s lived it in a way that the others haven’t, really. She’s seen it at all levels, from Arkansas to Capitol Hill.

Wilentz similarly attacked Sen. Obama for invoking JFK’s presidency in relation to his candidacy. A few days later JFK’s brother, Ted Kennedy, and President Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, endorsed Sen. Obama as a worthy heir to JFK’s legacy.

Topic: 2008 Election