Birthers Now Targeting Rubio
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – After spending the better part of the last four years trying to prove the accusation that President Barack Obama wasn't born in this country, the so-called birthers have a new target, Senator Marco Rubio.
Rubio is a rising star in the Republican Party due to his charisma and conservative credentials.
But, the birther movement is relying on a strict constructionist view of the Constitution that would preclude Rubio from ever running as a president or vice-president.
"It's nothing to do with him personally," New Jersey lawyer Mario Apuzzo told CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. "But you can't change the rules because you like a certain person. Then you have no rules."
Birthers allege that the phrase in the Constitution that said "no person except a natural-born citizen…shall be eligible to the Office of President," preclude Rubio because his parents were not U.S. citizens until he was four-years-old.
Birthers also claimed that Obama wasn't eligible because his mother was a citizen but his father was a Kenyan national.
Birthers claim Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is also ineligible because his parents weren't U.S. citizens until after his birth.
The so-called birther queen, Orly Taitz, told the Herald that the Supreme Court needs to define who a natural-born citizen actually is.
Taitz has filed numerous lawsuits against Obama and all of them have been thrown out of court. She's also been fined by a court for her birther accusations against Obama.
Rubio has repeatedly said that he has no interest in running for president or vice-president. But with Republicans growing weary of their current choices, Rubio will continue to be at the forefront of discussion for both birthers and the GOP.
