I think this is the dumbest political shibboleth raised to date, and I am not a McCain supporter. Are you going to tell me that we as a country are going to send American servicemen and servicewomen overseas to defend our country and protect our national interests and then, oh by the way, tell them, “Oops, sorry, your children are not American citizens????? That is asinine. From one site:
“But citizenship per se is not the question here.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 addresses the question of who exactly is a citizen. Unfortunately the act rules includes racial restrictions, restrictions which have finally been eliminated over time. But the part of that act germane to the question of John McCain is the part that involves citizenship for Americans born “abroad.” As the Act states, “the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens.” This Act was replaced by The Naturalization Act of 1795, but the provision quoted above was not changed, including the phrase “natural born citizen.” The Act determined that children of Americans born abroad were Americans, but this not necessarily make them eligible to be president.”