Fox News has figured out at least part of the constitutional requirements to be president in the United States, citing today in a report about possible candidates for vice president that New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow is not old enough.
But nary a word was uttered about another requirement, that of being a "natural born citizen," which has been the basis of a multitude of challenges to Barack Obama since before his election in 2008.
The comments came when "Happening Now" co-anchor Jon Scott was interviewing Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics about possible running mates for potential GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
They first addressed the possibility of having Sen. Rick Santorum, who just this week dropped his campaign challenging Romney. Sabato said his answer to that question is "Anything's possible."
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"The people who know aren't talking and the people who are talking, like me, don't know," he said.
But he said it wasn't likely because he figures Romney will want a running mate who could bring in significant additional support, and Santorum fans largely will migrate to Romney anyway, because of having Obama as a mutual foe.
The top four candidates were cited as U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La.; and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Tim Tebow was listed in the second tier of candidates.
"Tim Tebow was a fun one," Sabato said. "He's well qualified. He checks all the boxes that you need in a vice president.
"There's just one problem. He constitutionally ineligible. He's of course in his mid 20s. You have to be of age. Thirty-five years old to qualify. He's also born in the Philippines. I don't know, the court has never really ruled on that question, as to whether that would disqualify someone from being president or vice president," Sabato said.
"He'd get a lot of votes. Be very popular. He'd unify the fiscal conservatives and the social conservatives. But it's going to have to wait a few years…"
Obama, of course, has yet to provide verified documentation that he meets the constitutional requirement to be a "natural born citizen." That probably was considered by the Founders who wrote the Constitution to be the offspring of two citizens of a country. Obama's father never was a U.S. citizen.
There also are those who say he wasn't born in Hawaii as he's said. And no verified documentation has been produced regarding that question.
The birth documentation Obama released amid much fanfare from the White House last year has been described by a law enforcement investigation into that question as probably a forgery.