Radio Talk Show Host Mark Levin Continues to Comment on interaction he had at Bookends over “natural-born Citizen.”

Radio Talk Show Host Mark Levin Continues to Comment on interaction he had at Bookends over “natural-born Citizen.”

Hey PJ:

New radio commentary from Mr. Levin from the first hour of his nationwide show on Thursday, August 29th seems to show that the interaction he had with the Ridgewood man at Bookends is still sticking in his craw. Note at least one detail he provides for the first time during his August 29th broadcast (by employing the technique of a simulated colloquy) corresponds with a detail provided by a witness and publicized previously by you in this article (“After cursing at the challenger, Mark replied: “I never said he was a natural-born Citizen.”, upon which his challenger said: “But you must be a natural-born Citizen to be President!”. Mark then said: “No you don’t!”, and the challenger said “Yes, you do. Read the Constitution.”). This seem to show that he is once again alluding to events that occurred on Sunday, August 18th at Bookends in Ridgewood.

Anyway, here’s what Mark Levin said on his radio program on Thursday, August 29th. FYI, a segment about a critic of Levin’s new book precedes the segment about Cruz’s eligibility (it’s relevant, trust me):

Partial Transcript of the Mark Levin Show aired live on Thursday, August 29, 2013

(prepared using the podcast recording of the show provided free of charge at https://www.marklevinshow.com)

[start at 13:30 of the podcast recording]

Mark Levin: [Discussing a critic of his latest book “The Liberty Amendments, Restoring the American Republic”] It’s hilarious! [chuckles] But it’s really kinda … thin stuff. Silly stuff. I’m thinkin’, this guy used to run Pepperdine? And he’s at the Hoover Institute? David Davenport? That’s scary! And I may or may not address this later. I think I will. And, uh…the person who I will have on, his name is Rob Nadelson. Senior fellow in Constitutional Jurispri … prudence at the Independence Institute, the Montana Policy Institute, he’s a former law school professor, and he’s a scholar. And there are others. We had Randy Barnett on here. Georgetown University Law School. Professor. Great guy. Brilliant! I don’t always agree with him, but I don’t always agree with anybody. And he was on here last week. And what do the opponents have? Scare tactics, generalities, superficiality? I mean, folks … they can support the status quo. They can pretend that we’ll elect sixty conservatives to the senate, over and over and over again, to reverse course. They can pretend that all we need is a Republican president, to keep nominating Republicans to the Supreme Court. We’ve been doing that, by the way, for a long time! Somehow they progress, they evolve. But we’re in this position today, where the Constitution is really abused. It’s been disassembled. And some of us want to bring it back together. And then he says I must be the utopian. I must be the czar coming up with these amendments. Ladies and gentlemen, he clearly didn’t read the book! What do I say in the first chapter? These are just my reform proposals. My amendment proposals. Obviously, I’m not king of some state convention! The delegates to the state convention, they’ll make up their own minds, based on what the state legislature suggest that they do! I’m laying them out as what I consider possibilities that actually might help us! But I have no way of imposing them! So how am I a czar? This is what I mean. This guy used to head Pepperdine, and now he’s at the Hoover Institute! It’s stupid! You want to address this issue, I warn all you liberal crackpots, all the pseudo-conservatives, all the guys with degrees and the … and the funny hats at graduation and all the rest, I want to warn you all! You better be prepared. Because some of us has actually really, really dug in to this, and we know far more than you’ll ever know. So when you come up with your scare tactics, and your silly arguments, and you … and you throw your myths around, some of us do know what the framers said! Some of us actually know what the founding fathers said. Some of us actually know what occurred before the nation actually became a nation. What conventions were. How they were conducted. Who sent delagates. How they were selected. How they voted. We know! And you don’t. It’s obvious. With your silly … articles. But we’re ready! I’m ready. I can’t wait! But they don’t matter, ladies and gentlemen, you matter! It’s important that you’re convinced! Which is why I wrote “The Liberty Amendments”. And not one of these people so far, has proposed a serious alternative for restoring the republic. Not one! Because they have none. Not one of them has proposed a serious alternative based on what our framers said, and wrote! Not one! [Bumper music begins playing softly] They defend the status quo! And they pretend the status quo, is what the framers would support! Out of one side of their mouth, and out of the other side of their mouth, they condemn what Washington is doing. They don’t make sense! It’s time to give it up! It’s time to embrace what the framers said. Alright, more when I return! [Bumper music grows louder]

[Cut to different bumper music at 17:50 of the podcast recording (new segment)]

Announcer: This is America’s Constitutional Convention! The Mark Levin Show! Call in now. (877) 381-3811.

Mark Levin: Alright, we got a full board, I’ll get to the callers in a second. I want to throw this issue out there. Ready for this one? Uh, oh, here it comes! Do you know Ted Cruz, Mr. Producer? You’ve heard of that name? Senator from Texas? He’s an American Citizen. A naturalized American Citizen. He can run for President of the United States. Oh, it’s true! It’s true! Here’s the Cato Institute, of all places, libertarian think tank, Ilya Shapiro. “As we head into a potential government shutdown over the funding of Obamacare, the iconoclastic junior senator from Texas continues to stride across the national stage. And with his presidential aspirations as big as everything in his home state”, writes this writer, “by now many know what has never been a secret. Ted Cruz was born in Canada.” [Shouting] Oh my God! [Speaking at normal volume] “But does that mean that Cruz’s presidential ambitions are gummed up with marble [sic] syrup, or stuck in snowdrifts altogether different from those plaguing the Iowa Caucuses? Are the birthers now hoist on their own petards, having been unable to find any proof that Obama was born outside the Uni …” Uh, oh! “…by forcing their comrade in boots to disqualify himself by releasing his Alberta birth certificate? No, actually it’s not even that complicated. You just have to look up the right law. It boils down to whether … wh … ba … whether Cruz is a natural-born Citizen” … quote, unquote … “of the United States. The only class of people constitutionally eligible for the Presidency. You see, the founding fathers didn’t want their newly independent nation to be taken over by foreigners on the sly. So what’s a natural-born Citizen?” Well, may I add this? It’s not in the column. Seems like every jerk with access to Google has decided what a natural-born Citizen is. And they insist that everybody agree with them! “… but the Constitution doesn’t say. But the framers’ understanding, combined with statutes enacted by the first Congress, indicate that the phrase means both birth abroad to American parents, in a manner regulated by federal law, and birth within the nation’s territory, regardless of parental citizenship. The Supreme Court has confirmed that definition on multiple occasions and in various contexts.” [Shouting] Oh my God! [Speaking at normal volume] It’s true! [Shouting] Wait a minute! We have a meeting scheduled in my mother’s basement to go over this, eh … eh … we’re gonna, we’re gonna post a lotta comments on the Mark Levin eh … eh social sites! [Speaking at normal volume] Let me continue. “There’s no ideological debate here. Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe and former Solicitor General Ted Olson, who were on opposite sides in Bush v. Gore, among other cases, coauthored a memorandum on March 2008 detailing the above legal explanation in the context of John McCain’s eligibility. Recall that McCain, lately one of Cruz’s chief antagonists, was born to U.S. citizen parents serving on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone. In other words, anyone who is a citizen at birth, as opposed to someone who becomes a citizen later, that is, naturalizes, or who isn’t a citizen at all, is what we’re talking about. So the one remaining question is whether Ted Cruz was a citizen at birth. And that’s an easy one. The Nationality Act of 1940 outlines which children became nationals and citizens in the United States at birth. In addition to those who were born in the United States, or born outside the country to parents who were both citizens, or, interestingly, found in the United States without parents and no proof of birth elsewhere…” That would be people from Mars, I think… “…citizenship goes to babies born to one American parent who has spent a certain number of years here. That single parent requirement has been amended several times, but under the law in effect between 1952 and 1986 – Cruz was born in 1970 – someone must have a citizen parent who resided in the United States for at least ten years, including five after the age of fourteen, in order to be considered a natural-born Citizen. Cruz’s mother, Eleanor Darragh, was born in Delaware, …” Is Delaware part of America? I think so. “… lived most of her life in the United States, and gave birth to little Rafael Edward Cruz in her thirties. So why all the brouhaha about where Obama was born, given there’s no dispute that his mother, Ann Dunham, was a citizen?” Oh lord, I go down this … this road, all the kooks will be shooting at me. And he says “It may be politically advantageous for Ted Cruz to renounce his Canadian citizenship before making a run for the White House, but his eligibility for that office shouldn’t be in doubt. Remember George Romney? Born in Mexico. Remember Barry Goldwater? Born in the Arizona Territory. Cruz is certainly not the hypothetical foreigner who John Jay and George Washington were concerned might usurp the role of Commander-in-Chief.” Here’s the practical problem, … uh, in addition to all this. Do you think any court in the land … any court, because, you have to adjudicate this, right? Do you think any court in the land is gonna say “You know what? You were born of an American citizen mother in Canada, therefore you’re disqualified”? There’s really no historical basis for this. And actually, I could have added to this piece, you look at the 1790 Naturalization Act, which had some very terrible things in it, by the way, Cruz would qualify under the 1790 Naturalization Act! And there were a lot of …. founding fathers involved in that Act … the act of the first Congress. So can we cut it out? No. No, pe … people do not want to cut it out, they’re gonna keep it up, there gonna show up here and there, waving some crap in front of my face or somebody else’s, [Shouts] “Don’t you read the Constitution?” Yes. [Shouts] “It says natural-born Citizen!” Yes. [Shouts] “Well look at that.” I did read it. It says natural-born Citizen. He’s born of an American mother. [Shouts] “Yeah, well it doesn’t mean that.” Well, what does it mean? “Hey look! Haven’t you read the book by Cuckoo Clock over here, and uh, eh …” Please. Save it for somebody else. As a matter of fact, bother Hannity. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. No, Mr. Call Screener, no calls on this either. I’m just not interested. This bores me, the whole topic. I’m just raising it, to address it, knock it down, done with it, hopefully never to be spoken again on the Mark Levin Show. Let’s take some calls, shall we? Kerry – Houston, Texas. The great KTRH country, home of my buddy Michael Berry. Go!

[end at 25:58 of the podcast recording]