Freshman Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.), who took some heat for introducing a bill that would force presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship, explains
“„Why’d I do this? Well, for a number of reasons and the more and more I get called names by leftwing activists, partisan hacks and political operatives for doing it, the more and more I think I did the right thing. First, it’s easy to call people names. This week, I’ve been called some pretty nasty things. That’s fine. But none of these tolerant people actually want to discuss the issue at hand … whether or not a presidential candidate should have to file these documents with the government.
“„I could easily fill up a page listing all the activities an American needs to show their ID for … everything from playing youth soccer to getting a drivers license, buying cigarettes and alcohol, to opening bank accounts and even playing little league. So I was pretty surprised to find out that to run for president, despite the constitutional requirement and the media scrubbing that goes on, it’s not required for a candidate to file these documents when they submit their statement of candidacy with the FEC.
“„But having been charged with reforming the elections in the State of Florida after the 2000 recounts and lawsuits, I thought I could offer a solution to this question on eligibility. There’s nothing anyone can do about changing past elections … the President won. All the lawsuits in the world are not going to change that. But if what some folks are worried about – that presidential candidates don’t have to submit to the same documentation that average folks have to submit to – well, then we can change that for the next election.
“„A recent AOL poll found showed that 75 percent of the people participating agreed with me. And many have expressed surprise it is not already a requirement.