Will Beto O'Rourke do better or worse than Wendy Davis?

No, it makes no difference, and if you're asking this, then you don't understand the controversy at all. To become President, you must be a "natural born citizen" of the United States. Most legal scholars interpret a "natural born citizen" be be someone who is born a citizen - meaning someone who never had to be naturalized.

People are born citizens in two different ways. First, they can be born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction. This is the British common law doctrine of "jus soli" that became federal law with the ratification of the 14th Amendment. The second way they can be born citizens is by some statutory scheme. One of those is passage of citizenship from parent to child, but this isn't automatic. There are conditions and limitations on it.

Obama was born in Hawaii, so he was a citizen under the 14th Amendment and never had to be naturalized. However, let's suppose the birthers were right and Obama was actually born in Kenya. He would have to gain citizenship through his parents. Of course, Obama's father wasn't a US citizen, so he couldn't get it through him. He'd have to get it through his mother, but there's a problem with that. For her to pass on her citizenship to him, she would have to have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which were after her 14th birthday. She was only 18 when he was born, which means he couldn't acquire citizenship through her. Therefore, he wouldn't have been a natural born citizen (or any kind of citizen) and would have been ineligible for the Presidency.

For Cruz, there was no controversy about where he was born or the status of his parents. He was born in Canada, so he couldn't be a natural born citizen through the 14th Amendment. Like Obama's father, Cruz's father wasn't a US citizen, so he had to gain his citizenship through his mother. However, she met the residency standard at the time of Cruz's birth that Obama's mother didn't meet at the time of Obama's birth. Accordingly, Cruz is a natural born citizen.

 

Fox News didn't support the birther issue.

 

https://www.mediamatters.org/resear...ow-fox-news-promoted-trumps-birtherism/213152

 

MediaMatters? Really? Btw, I see nothing from Fox News supported the birther issue. They let a guest talk about it. That's hardly support.

 

Why is it a damned shame? Personal attacks and identity politics are just part of the game, right?

No, we were talking about identity politics and inconsistency in the media (and at least right now, by you).

 

Direct quotes from the FoxNews hosts don't matter? Are you expecting a FoxNews Press Release?

 

What are these quotes? Ones that said "why doesn't Obama just show the birth certificate and end all of this now"? That is what you consider support? There wasn't one host on Fox News that ever endorsed it. The fact that you dredge up a site that is about on the level of Infowars to prove Fox News was part of the birther movement shows desperation on your part. You do know who really started the birther movement, right? As Prodigal said a few posts up it was Obama himself.

 

Well, to be totally correct, it was HRC who brought up the issue first. Then it got some legs when all the stuff was found where Obama had claimed to be kenyan-born.

While we are at it, I don't think Trump ever said Obama was not born in the US. The gist of what he did say was that it was fishy that there was so little doc coming forth to prove it. I remember specifically him saying, "If I am running for POTUS, you will be able to talk to my 2nd grade teacher."

 

Over 80% of the replies point out Beto is a furry

 

I thought he had enough self awareness to just go away by now.

 

His douchebaggy self-absorption far outweighs his self-awareness.

 

Now threatening to run for Governor

 

He would lose South Texas. Not a chance.

 

But I thought he was born to be POTUS?

 

I think he completely shot his wad in his goofy presidential race.

question re Wendy: is she going to stand tall for keeping the filibuster as the Dem Senate tries to repeal it? I mean, she made her career on the basis of filibustering anti abortion legislation in Texas.

 

Ha!

Texas Governor's race:

Beto O'Rourke vs. Matthew McConaughey.

 

Best 3rd Party candidate to join this race?

(1) Kinky Friedman
(2) Beto's dog
(3) McConaughey's bongo drum​

 

Hey, this State has seen Ann Richards vs. Clayton Williams, the Fergusons, Pappy O'Daniel, and other colorful characters running for Governor (and sometimes winning).

 

Please pass the biscuits

 

This is such a hilarious historical event. His band went around promoting a product and promoting himself for Governor. Bob Wills (the King according to Waylon Jennings...) called his band the Light Crust Doughboys, then later the Texas Playboys. He was the promotional band for some flour milling company that made "Light Crust Dough" flour. Today, a band going around promoting a product would be ridiculed by music industry insiders and the press at large. Think KISS and their action figures and "Army" membership.

Wills made some really great music, despite being a "sell out" to some corporation.

This didn't seem to be a problem with most people until recent years. Perhaps a result of prosperity.

Maybe Beto can get his punk band back together, don a dress, and go on tour promoting himself as governor (and maybe some press-on nails or something...).

 

Now here's a great musician who appears to be onboard.

 

A colorfull name, don't know about the character-Don't forget James Hogg and daughter Ima.

 

That is a great story - radio was very powerful back in the day

Another great one is Ma Ferguson, the 29th and 32nd Governor of Texas and first woman governor of Texas. Sort of a 1920s Texas version of Hillary.

Democrats' behavior has not really changed that much from those days -- just the medium

After her husband's impeachment and conviction, Ma Ferguson ran in the primary for the Democratic nomination for governor and was successful, openly supported by her husband, whom she said she would consult for advice. She was elected to office in the 1924 general election. She said, voters would get "two for the price of one" and "Me for Ma, and I Ain't Got a Durned Thing Against Pa"​

Ma and Pa

 

and her sister Ura Hogg

 

Urban Myth.

The Light Crust Doughboys represented Burrus Mills. This was not that unusual in the day. Adolf Hofner's band was called "The Pearl Wranglers" as they were sponsored by Pearl Beer.

 

Claytie Williams stands tall in that bunch----the only guy who could lose to Ann Richards; sort of like Hillary was the only Democrat who could lose to Trump
I recall some of my Aggie buddies crowing about how we were finally getting a real Old Army type as governor and how he could not lose. ,
And Ma Ferguson was nothing like Hillary, who was poison on her own account. Ma was just a puppet for her crooked husband and had no ideas of her own or any agenda of her own.

 

Ura kidding me

 

The Fergusons were populists, and pro-local control when it came to alcohol, instead of being prohibitionists. They had a reputation for corruption and accepting bribes--the main knock on them. After losing to him in 1930, Ma Ferguson unseated Governor Sterling for her 2nd term in office. It was Ma Ferguson (populist, small town, sort-of middle class, ok with alcohol) vs Ross Sterling (extremely rich, anti-alcohol, Houston guy; Sterling was not just any oilman, but one of the founders of Humble Oil--which later combined with Rockefeller's Standard Oil of New Jersey to become Exxon). After leaving office the 2nd time, she tried for a 3rd time to enter the Governor's mansion, and lost to none other than the country music star--pass the biscuits Pappy O'Daniel.

Miriam Ferguson | American politician

And if you think The University has internal squabbles now... check out Pa Ferguson's meddling. He did not like UT:
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2465&context=ethj

The above article also states that, in a newspaper he published, Pa Ferguson occasionally sank to that old favorite of so many demagogues worldwide--slur the Jews. Ferguson got so bad, that (according to the above article) even the KKK rebuked and ridiculed him for his over-the-top anti-Semitism. He published an article entitled The Cloven Foot of the Dallas Jew, in which he slammed Stanley Marcus (Neiman Marcus store), Alex Sanger (another department store owner), and other Jews. Ferguson was pissed that they wouldn't advertise in his newspaper (hmmmmm, I wonder why... ).

This is the sort of character we used to have for a Governor.

 

Don’t worry - there are plenty of jew-hating Dems vying for the office.

 

It's fun and easy to poke at the guy, but if Beto ran for Governor, the GOP had better run somebody good, or Beto would be likely to win. He would get massive $$$$ from out of state.