The strange vogue in dumping U.S. citizenship
In 2005, a CUNY political science professor named Stanley Renshon compared citizenship without emotional attachment to “the civic equivalent of a one-night stand.”
Michele Bachmann’s fling with Switzerland lasted just 53 days – barely two of them public – before she came running back to Uncle Sam. That was right before Facebook’s co-founder Eduardo Saverin was found to have called it all off with the U.S, possibly for tax reasons.
Bachmann, who came out as Swiss to Politico on Tuesday, made headlines for deciding to split her allegiances – if only on paper – with a gay-friendly, abortion-happy Western European country. Her temporary Swissness made a farce of her fiery patriotic rhetoric, and added a cosmopolitan edge to her down-home image – an image she was counting on for her constituents to vote her back into office this coming term.
Yesterday, Bachmann declared that she had written to the Swiss government and asked them to withdraw her citizenship, which she’d acquired through her husband, Marcus. “I am and always have been 100% committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America,” she said in a statement. “I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen.”
Bachmann’s decision to become Swiss in the first place was a strange one – not because being a dual national is necessarily a bad thing (full disclosure: I have three passports, including one that is Swiss) but because it raised questions about the image Bachmann cultivated for years. She claimed to be naturalizing for her children’s sake, even though Swiss law does not require her to do so in order for them to acquire their own passports. She also put her eligibility for certain types of security clearance at risk, which isn’t a problem for members of Congress, but could pose complications if she ran for higher office.
That Bachmann reneged upon her decision so quickly also speaks to the troubled relationship Americans have with multiple citizenship. As citizenship scholar Peter Spiro has written, dual citizenship has been a contentious issue throughout U.S. history: In 1849, U.S. diplomat George Bancroft likened dual citizenship to polygamy, and Teddy Roosevelt called it “a self-evident absurdity” in 1915. As recently as 2006, Congress held hearings about the constitutionality of dual and birthright citizenship, during which a number of speakers decried it as unpatriotic.
This isn’t an attitude unique to the U.S, though. Europe’s nationalist movements of the 20th century wreaked havoc on the continent, yet in 1930, the League of Nations upheld the view at the Hague Convention that “it is in the interest of the international community to secure that all members should recognize that every person should have a nationality and should have one nationality only.”
Santorum staffer questions whether God wants women presidents
A staffer in Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign is under fire for an email suggesting a female commander-in-chief could be at odds with the Bible’s teachings.
The Des Moines Register last week reported that Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director, Jamie Johnson, sent an email over the summer asking, ‘Is it God’s highest desire, that is, his biblically expressed will … to have a woman rule the institutions of the family, the church, and the state?”
Michele Bachmann, a social conservative who campaigned heavily in Iowa, competed with Santorum over the conservative evangelical vote in the Iowa caucuses. She dropped out of the race after a dismal finish in the Iowa race.
This weekend Peter Waldron, Bachmann’s faith outreach coordinator, said the email was proof that Santorum had engaged in a “sexist strategy” to sabotage Bachmann. He demanded an apology from Santorum and called for Johnson’s firing.
The recent spat brings the issue of sexism in conservative politics to the fore again. When Bachmann ended her campaign, political observers wondered whether conservative perceptions of women and Bachmann’s own alignment with the Christian right and disavowal of feminism had been her undoing.
The Des Moines Register said that in the final weeks of her campaign Bachmann’s aides began to complain that sexism was a problem in Iowa’s religious conservative community, even as her aides deflected questions from reporters on the topic.
I was an investigative journalist in Boston in the 70′s during the White administration. So I come with a journalist’s perspective to this post.
What a stupid news story! So what if one of Santorum’s staffers has a private opinion about women leading the nation? How exactly does that tell us ANYTHING about the candidate? (No, I am not a Santorum supporter).
I can’t believe there’s not more news out there worth of Reuters. Can you find any NEWS stories. Can you explore the major issues and contrasts and feed us some NEW facts? Can you uncover something the public needs to know? I haven’t seen ONE good story come from the media uncovering ANYTHING Barak Obama is doing or has done in the dark. Somebody there look into his ties with Islam. There real news there if you get behind his relationship to CAIR. Financially follow the path to Soros. Let’s see some real news. OK?
New ad compares Bachmann to Thatcher
Rep. Michele Bachmann is out with a new ad comparing herself to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. While a photo of Thatcher and the text “America’s Iron Lady” flash over an image of Bachmann, a narrator says:
Born and raised in Iowa, only one candidate has been a consistent conservative fighter who fought Obamacare, who fought increasing our debt ceiling – even as other Republicans were cutting deals with Obama.
Bachmann, who now represents a Minnesota congressional district, has spent a lot of time touting her Iowa birthplace ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus. Perhaps most famously, she mistakenly claimed that she and actor John Wayne shared the same hometown — when in fact it was serial killer and rapist John Wayne Gacy who grew up in Bachmann’s birthplace of Waterloo.
Bachmann is to Thatcher as a jackass is to a racehorse!!!
Roemer camp pressures networks, pollsters in search of “Roementum”
Former Louisiana governor and Republican presidential hopeful Buddy Roemer is turning up the heat on his opponents: polling companies and national television networks. Roemer, who was in Congress longer than Michele Bachmann and was a governor for as long as Mitt Romney, has yet to be invited to a single Republican debate. That’s because the national television networks determine who gets invited to their debates based on a shifting set of polling criteria, and they have yet to set their criteria low enough to include him.
Roemer, who has staked his entire candidacy on New Hampshire, has two last chances in the New Hampshire debates slated for next Saturday and Sunday, sponsored by ABC and NBC respectively.
“It’s usually the big guys in New York or DC who make the decisions,” says Carlos Sierra, Roemer’s spokesman. “It’s going to be disappointing if we don’t get into the last two debates.”
At the rate things are going, it looks like Roemer could very well be watching the debates on television again. Sierra says both NBC and ABC have set the minimum polling threshold at 5 percent either nationally or in New Hampshire — though it’s unclear which surveys they’ll consider (ABC and NBC News spokespeople didn’t immediately return calls).
Roemer’s campaign claimed “Roementum” when a Public Policy Polling survey released yesterday put him at 3 percent in the state, tied with Rick Perry and Rick Santorum (the margin of error was ±3.4 percent). That came on the heels of a Suffolk University poll giving him 2 percent in the state in mid-December, essentially tied with Santorum and Perry and just behind Michele Bachmann.
One of Roemer’s biggest problems is that he can’t get included in many polls. The recent CNN/Time poll ignored him, and even PPP didn’t include Roemer in its mid-December survey. Roemer has been calling polling agencies to complain; so far only PPP has been receptive to his pleas.
Bachmann’s former Iowa chair denies taking money from Paul
Michele Bachmann didn’t want this to be the dominant story about her campaign less than a week out from the Iowa caucuses. After Iowa State Sen. Kent Sorenson, Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman, resigned and switched his allegiance to Ron Paul, Bachmann accused Sorenson of selling out for money. She told reporters:
I had a conversation with Kent Sorenson, and in the direct conversation that I had with him, he told me that he was offered money, he was offered a lot of money by the Ron Paul campaign to go and associate with the Ron Paul campaign. No one else knows about that conversation other than Kent Sorenson and myself.
Sorenson responded in an interview with CNN:
That conversation never happened. As much respect as I have for Michele, the fact of the matter is it just didn’t happen and I think it’s unfortunate they’re resorting to these type of tactics.
Sorenson went on to explain that he chose Paul because he considers the Texas Congressman a “top tier candidate” who could beat Mitt Romney. Watch:
Credit: CNN Newsroom
He did not take money from Ron Paul. The check did have Ron Paul’s signature on it, and bear the name of Ron Paul as the payer. However, Paul insists he does not know who forged his name again.
Perry attacks more conservative rivals, ignores Romney
Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s latest ads don’t even bother attacking Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney. With polls showing him in fifth place among Republicans in Iowa and seventh in New Hampshire, Perry’s aim is now to emerge as one of the top two conservative options to Romney.
To get there, he needs to knock off some of the other candidates polling immediately in front of him — which is why his latest TV ad in Iowa attacks Rep. Ron Paul, Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, but doesn’t mention Romney.
“The fox guarding the hen house is like asking a congressman to fix Washington,” the ad’s narrator says. “Bad idea. Their years in Congress left us with debt and bailouts.”
Here’s the video, via RPerry2012/YouTube:
With Santorum seeing a boost in Iowa polls — a CNN/Time magazine poll yesterday found him in third place in Iowa, with 16 percent — Perry is doubling down on the former Pennsylvania congressman. In a new Iowa radio ad, which takes the format of a TV game show, Perry highlights Santorum’s record of supporting earmarked federal monies for his constituents:
“Who personally demanded more than $1 billion of earmarks in his 16 years in Congress?” a narrator asks. “Jay, from Ames?”
“Rick Santorum?” answers the fictitious Jay.
“Right,” the narrator says. “Santorum grabbed for a billion in earmarks, until voters kicked him out of office in a landslide.”
Watch a video version of the radio ad, courtesy of RPerry2012/YouTube:
from Political Theater:
Ron Paul says Michele Bachmann “hates Muslims”
Ron Paul was on The Tonight Show last night, where Jay Leno asked him to say a little something about the other Republican candidates for president. Mitt Romney, according to Paul, is "a nice guy." Newt Gingrich should "run for Speaker of the House again," and Jon Huntsman is "a good diplomat" and " a thoughtful person."
And Michele Bachmann? Well, "she doesn't like Muslims," Paul said. "She hates Muslims. She wants to go get 'em." Rick Santorum, too, has a preoccupation with "gay people and Muslims."
Here's the clip:
Best of the debate: Ron Paul v. Michele Bachmann
Presidential debates allow voters to hear how candidates differ, and there are few policy differences as great as that between Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Michele Bachmann on Iran. Take this exchange from last night:
Bachmann:
“Without a shadow of a doubt, Iran will take a nuclear weapon, they will use it to wipe our ally Israel off the face of the map and they’ve stated they will use it against the United States of America.”
For what it’s worth, Politifact has looked into Bachmann’s claim and rated it “false.”
Paul responded:
“I think this wild goal to have another war in the name of defense is the dangerous thing, the danger is really us overreacting.”
I don`t think that we should have a war with iran because the U.S. does not have that kind of money just to spend on having a war with iran. What we need to do is that, we need to allow Israel to handle it for them selves more than we should help them. We need jobs and protect kids from going into bad schools where there`s drug smugglin into class. And america needs to shut off all the beer factorys and stop selling beer in stores too as well. And america needs to stop going against Same-sex marriage too as well. And america needs to aband straight marriage and only allow same-sex marriage. Nobody is really following the Bible anymore, so please keep on allowing gay marriage more please
“I am a serious candidate,” Michele Bachmann says
Bachmann answers questions in front of her bus before the start of her 99 county tour of Iowa in Sioux City, Iowa, December 16, 2011. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes
SIOUX CITY – Michele Bachmann wants some respect, especially from Newt Gingrich.
For two days in a row the sole woman in the Republican presidential campaign has demanded that she be respected as a serious candidate for president.
She has aimed most of her anger at Gingrich, the current front-runner, who said during Thursday’s debate that Bachmann didn’t have all her facts straight in her attacks on him.
“I am not a student of his. I am a serious candidate for the presidency and I think it is important that I be treated as an equal on that stage,” Bachmann told reporters before boarding a bus for a 10-day visit of Iowa’s 99 counties.
“He had made these accusations before, that my facts weren’t right. But he didn’t have an answer for the $1.6 million that he took to bring about undue influence regarding Freddie Mac.”
Bachmann has repeatedly tried to raise doubts about Gingrich’s conservative principles and accused him of being a Washington lobbyist for accepting up to $1.6 million in payments from troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which was at the heart of America’s housing crisis.
I am afraid that based upon her resume she is as “serious” as was Howard Baker in 1980. Candidates who have served in Congress but never as governor are not prepared to be “Chief Executive” of the USA. Baker even had a record of effectiveness vs Bachmann.
The only candidates who have served as “chief executives” are Obama, Perry, Roemer, and Romney.
Of those four only Perry has been re-elected (twice), and only Perry has been Reagan-like in his increased-conservatism over time.
Obama has failed even his own standard. Roemer hasn’t mounted a meaningful effort. Romney appears to have no core beliefs other than Mormonism and a perennial candidacy for higher-office.
“Serious” should mean “qualified by experience and performance” and that makes Perry the only one fit to be President.
Highlights from the GOP Thanksgiving Family Forum
Six of the Republican presidential candidates met at the First Federated Church in Des Moines, Iowa, last night for a dinnertime “family discussion” at the Thanksgiving Family Forum. Gathered around a wooden table garnished with a centerpiece of artificial pumpkins, moderator Frank Luntz asked Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum about their views on social issues, morality, personal responsibility, and God. Neither of the two Mormon candidates, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, were in attendance. Here are some of the most memorable moments:
1. Gingrich tells OWS: “Go get a job — right after you take a bath.”
Asked about the role of personal responsibility in society, Gingrich quoted John Smith (of Pocahontas fame): “In 1607 in the first English speaking permanent colony, [Smith said] to the aristocrats who had paid their way and didn’t want to work: ‘If you don’t work, you won’t eat.’”
The same principle, he said, should apply to Occupy Wall Street protesters, all of whom “start with a premise that we all owe them everything.”
They take over a public park they didn’t pay for, to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn’t pay for, to beg for food from places they they don’t want to pay for, to obstruct those who are going to work to pay the taxes to sustain the bathrooms and to sustain the park so that they can self-righteously explain that they are the paragons of virtue to which we owe everything” (1:10:05).
“Go get a job,” he said. “Right after you take a bath.”
2. Perry says we’re sending billions of dollars to China, where they abort 35,000 children per day
@DwDunphy:
You know if Dr. Paul were less honest, less intelligent, less geniune, and less consistent in his positions, he might make more friends… especially in the media
If savarin wants to leave, dont let the door hit him in the behind. i’m sure he could live a very comfortable and safe life in singapore.