Taking his cue from Josh Earnest, John McCain has jumped on the Ted Cruz birther bandwagon. The venue was a talk radio program in Phoenix, AZ.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who faced questions as the 2008 GOP presidential nominee about his birth abroad, is now posing the same question to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In an interview Wednesday on Phoenix radio station 550 KFYI’s Chris Merill Show, McCain said he “doesn’t know” whether Cruz’s birth in Canada makes him eligible to be president. Cruz, whose father was born in Cuba, asserts that he is a U.S. citizen because his mother was an American.

“I know that came up in my race because I was born in Panama, but I was born in the Canal Zone which is a territory. Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona when it was territory when he ran in 1964,” McCain said.

McCain added that he was born on a U.S. military base, which he said is not the same as being born in Canada.

“That’s different from being born on foreign soil. I think there is a question. I’m not a constitutional scholar on that, but I think it’s worth looking into. I don’t think it’s illegitimate to look into it.”

Asked if the Supreme Court might have to weigh in on the “natural born citizen” issue, McCain said, “It may be, that may be the case.”

Those of us, and we were legion, who doubted McCain’s fitness for the presidency have just been vindicated. McCain is letting his personal dislike for someone who is basically the opposite of the supine, go-along-get-along, log-rolling Republicrat that John McCain represents. It is ironic that McCain is using an attack ginned up by the same guy who denigrated McCain’s military service because he was a PW.

What is at play here is very simple. The establishment, of both parties, are soiling themselves over the prospect of a Ted Cruz candidacy. While they are still viewing Trump as a novelty candidate who will implode of his own volition, there is no doubt that Cruz is smart and tough enough to win the presidency. And with his victory the Washington way of doing business is over. They don’t think any of the establishment-friendly candidates in the field can stop him, o they are slinging whatever bullsh** they can and hoping some of it sticks and weakens him. It won’t.

Image credit: DonkeyHotey via Flickr Creative Commons

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Does this leave you with a desire to horsewhip McCain through the streets of Old Tucson? There is more in my archive.