Originally Posted by
Warp9Flyer
My parents were stationed in a US military base on the island nation of Taiwan in 1960's. (both mom and dad were officers, a major and a captain) I was born a year and half later inside the on-base military hospital. My US passport has always said "Place of Birth: Taiwan" since that's where I was born.
(making me not eligible to run for US president... bummer...
)
Recently I met another guy who was in the exact same situation as me. He was born two years after me at the same US military base, same US military hospital. However, his US passport said "Place of Birth: U.S.A." !!!??? He had no idea how that happened... but that's how it always appeared. We were discussing this because it appears that John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate was also born to military parents on a US military base. Questions were raised about his eligibliity to run, due to the "natural born citizen" requirement...
Does anybody know which is correct?(my passport or his passport?) I actually still have my very first US passport, issued in 1972, a few years after my parents were re-assigned back to the continental US.
I've heard others try to claim that being born outside the USA doesn't make you qualified to run for President on the basis that the office is restricted to "natural born citizens." We'll never know 100% until it is contested in a court of law, but in my view I don't see how anyone could interpret anything about the elegibility clause to imply that the birth had to take place on American soil. It says simply "natural born citizen," as opposed to an naturalised citizen, i.e., someone who acquires citizenship at birth as opposed to someone who acquires it later in life. What makes you think that neither you nor McCain do not meet the criteria of "natural born citizens"?