In my previous post, I suggested that maybe Bush just doesn't understand that the Presidential oath is a bit more than a literal instruction to not let the dog eat the Constitution or something like that.
I take any benefit of the doubt back. He's just stupid.
At a naturalization ceremony yesterday - a handy venue to discuss immigration issues, I suppose - Mr. Bush said, "Our Constitution does not limit citizenship by background or birth. Instead, our nation is bound together by shared love of liberty and a conviction that all people are created with dignity and value."
Well, President Idjit, it kind of does. Maybe Bush's speechwriters were trying to say that ultimately, once you get through the naturalization process, your country of origin does not matter - you are American. Idealistic, definitely, and not true hardly at all, but OK. The problem, though, is that you can't give this halfwit sentences like "Our Constitution does not limit citizenship by background or birth" and not expect people like me to point out the obvious fact that our Constitution does indeed limit citizenship by background or birth.
The 14th Amendment says, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
It even has the word "born" right there in it - citizenship is defined by birth first. DUH. Gah, why do his handlers let him read this stuff out loud?
Why why why why why why why...
2 comments:
The key is the word "naturalized". Anyone can become a citizen, regardless of their origin. Compare this with German citizenship laws, for example, which make it very difficult for someone without German ancestry to obtain citizenship. W is certainly an idiot, but this is one case where I give him a pass. In fact, he (or his speechwriter, rather) is right on the money with this one.
And I get that - I should have been more clear about why this bugs me. It's not that there wasn't context implied (I even granted that) ... it's that he's just said so, so many stupid things that I have no tolerance anymore. At all. Certainly his speechwriters could have done a better job with the wording of that bit.
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