SUPER FUCKING TUESDAY!!!1!

Maybe the reason he argued that he was really born in Vermont is because he was really born in Vermont. If he was born in Vermont, and the evidence backed him up, it wouldn't make sense to argue that his mother was an American citizen. The exact same thing that happened with Obama. I don't remember him arguing that his mother was an American citizen either.

Natural born simply means one has American citizenship at birth either because of where they were born or because of who their parents are. That is it.

Huh. I must've given that by accident while scrolling down on my phone, cuz I agree with you.

It's fixed, though.

I do have a question, though. While I'm not bad with the American political system in general I don't get one thing: Obviously, the GOP as a whole ('the establishment') doesn't like Trump at all. So how is it possible he can still run on their platform? Can anybody just say guys, I'm a Republicrat and now gimme your delegates if I get enough suckers to vote for me? How does this work?

Or did they just underestimate him and support him for funsies because they thought he wouldn't stand a chance anyway?

Tulsi Gabbard huh?

This. I believe the Republican leadership thought they could exploit Trump to get out the vote but had no idea how disaffected their base had become and never in a million elections thought he'd get beyond the first couple primaries. Probably they sort of assumed Jeb Bush was going to breeze into the nomination.

You can ask the same question about Sanders. He is not a registered Democrat, and yet.... Evidently the parties and/or states have rules about ballot access that are not connected to party membership. Since it is something controlled on the state level, digging in to the specifics would probably take a lot of time, only to come up with the answer we already know, which is that membership is irrelevant.

No. they thought Trump was a joke.

They thought he would implode over stupidity of stuff coming out of his mouth. The rest of your post is correct. They thought Bush would just breeze into the nomination.

But even the other Republican the GOP hates, Cruz, made the same mistake. He thought Trump would implode.

But foreign-born babies do not get citizenship at birth. The parents have to fill out paperwork, provide documentation, and go through an approval process. The same applies to foreign children who are adopted by US parents. Cruz was born in Canada, and legally it doesn't really matter if he is his mother's biological child or whether his parents adopted him.

Foreign children adopted by US parents don't apply to this situation. Children born to US parents on foreign soil are US citizens, the question becomes is if they are citizens of the country they are born in if both parents are US citizens (say, on a US base in Germany -- in fact, see John McCain, born in Panama -- even though US bases on foreign soil is technically US soil).

Recap: One US parent, born on US soil: US citizen. Eligible for President.
One US parent, born on foreign soil: Dual US/foreign nation citizen. Eligible for President.
Two US parents, born on foreign soil: US citizen. Questionable citizenship of nation of birth. Eligible for President.
Zero US parents, born on US soil: Dual US/foreign nation citizen. Eligible for President.
Zero US parents, born on foreign soil: Foreign citizen. Not eligible, even if adopted by US parents.

Except the do if either parent is a US citizen.

Legally, adoption is the same as being foreign born to a US parent. Not eligible. We're not selecting for DNA, we're selecting for where the child was born and raised, and by whom, and whether they might have loyalties to a foreign country. The requirements for becoming President are more stringent than any other office. Being a citizen is not enough. They have to be a citizen with no foreign claims, ties, or loyalties. They have to be indisputably one of us.

In Ted's case, has he even proven he's a US citizen? For children born abroad, becoming a citizen requires paperwork, whether they were adopted or born to a US citizen.

It seems to me, not being a lawyer, that the paperwork is to confirm the child was born a citizen...not to apply for the child to be a citizen.

Yes. The paperwork is to notify the government that the baby is alive since a foreign government is not going to ship birth certificates to America. That's the job of the AMERICAN parent(s) to do.

The application for a consular report of birth abroad (pdf). It is seven pages long. If accepted by the consulate or other authority it establishes that a person is a foreign born citizen of the US.

Natural born citizens don't have to file any paperwork. They just get a birth certificate and they're good to go.

There isn't any paperwork when a baby is born in the US? Seriously? You just walk in to the hospital, poop out a kid, they just give you a birth certificate and a Social Security Number, and you walk out? I don't have any kids, so I honestly don't know...but I figured there was something.

Uh, that's what they did for us.

Birth Certificate was one form. I think getting a Social Security Number was just a box you check on the form to get a Birth Certificate.

Damn. I figured you would have to fill out something. I had to fill out paperwork to get a melanoma removed.

Either way, I noticed this in the .pdf that @gturner posted.

"PURPOSE: The primary purpose for soliciting the information is to establish citizenship, identity, and entitlement to issuance of a Counsular Report of Birth and to properly administer and enforce the laws pertaining thereto."

So it's establishing the citizenship...not requesting or applying for it.

Yep. That's it. Even works for Mexicans. You don't have to contact a consulate or embassy. You don't have to fill out a seven page form. You don't have to provide reams of documentation about every aspect of your claim. There is no investigation. Once approved, the foreign born US baby can travel from their birth country to the United States without a green card or visa.

Natural born babies never have any foreign allegiance to renounce.

Put another way, under your reading of the clause, Ted Cruise could be running for President while holding a job as Prime Minister of Canada, even if he'd never set foot in the United States in his life and denounced it every chance he got. Yet the Constitution clearly puts tighter restrictions on being President than on serving in the House and Senate, where one must reside in the state of the United States that they represent.

But don't worry. If Cruz were to somehow become the nominee every liberal on this board would suddenly become very staunch advocates of my position on eligibility.

Plenty of damn paperwork. Not to mention giving the information for the birth certificate.

Well it can't be both. Seems someone is lying.

Hospital paperwork. Should have been a little more detailed on that.

Maybe for insurance, but not for registering anything.

Documentation of birth at home. Just have someone who was there sign off on it.

That looks suspiciously like paperwork.

Mainly showing that the mother was indeed pregnant (to prevent stealing a baby), photo ID's, and proof of residency (such as a rent receipt). If the baby was born in the hospital residency doesn't matter. Since the baby was born in the US, they don't have to go to any lengths to detect citizenship fraud because the baby is a natural born citizen. Babies born abroad are another matter.

Sounds like some lengths to me.

Not really. Parent's name, baby's name, time and date, some identifying information for records (like baby footprints) and have someone sign it.

Even requires a Notary.

...photo id, proof of residence...