He expected it from Rubio. He expected it from Trump. But Rand Paul jumping on the Ted Cruz "birther" bandwagon? The very thought had Glenn less than excited about inviting Senator Paul back onto The Glenn Beck Program Thursday.
"This is the first time that I've had Rand Paul on that I'm not excited about," Glenn said. "I'm a little---quite honestly---I'm a little nervous about it because I really like Rand Paul an awful lot."
Apologizing for getting Glenn "tied up in knots," Senator Paul took the hot seat to explain why he jokingly said about Cruz, “I think without question he is qualified to make the cut to be prime minister of Canada.”
Glenn challenged the senator about what he'd say in a mano a mano conversation.
"If you weren't running for president of the United States, come on, man. If we were just sitting in a room together, what would you say? Is he qualified to run for president or not?
Senator Paul shared his opinion on how the courts would rule about Senator Cruz's eligibility to be president.
"If I had to say, I would say the courts in all likelihood would say yes," Paul said.
Later in the program Glenn and his co-hosts talked about the true intent behind the president being a natural-born citizen.
"It's to prevent foreign agents," said co-host Pat. "And we know Ted Cruz is not a foreign agent."
In the case of Ted Cruz, you've got a U.S. citizen whose American mother happened to give birth in another country and raised him to honor and revere the U.S. Constitution.
Ironically, in Barack Obama's case, he was born on American soil, but taught the exact opposite of what Ted Cruz was taught.
"[Citizenship] didn't stop Barack Obama," Glenn said. "If he's not a foreign agent---I think he was born in the United States of America, but if he wasn't groomed to be a foreign agent . . ."
Listen to this program segment below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
GLENN: I have to tell you, I am -- this is the first time that I've had Rand Paul no that I'm not excited about. I'm a little quite -- quite honestly, I'm a little nervous about it because I really like Rand Paul an awful lot and I really respect Rand Paul and I'd vote for Rand Paul in a heartbeat.
And I could -- I could -- I guess I could save it for a question at the end, but I want to get it off my chest so we can move on and talk about other issues.
Rand, welcome to the program. How are you, sir?
RAND: Good morning, Glenn. I'm sorry I got you tied up in knots.
(chuckling)
GLENN: Well, you do because I have real respect for you. And you are a constitutional expert. I mean, that's why I like you.
And I -- you've done something that I just don't understand, that I just didn't expect. I expected it from Rubio. I expected it from everybody. But I didn't expect it from you. And that's this birther nonsense with Ted Cruz, where you joked -- and I accept the joke at first, "Eh, he might be a good prime minister in Canada." I accept the joke. But then when you're pushed on it, you say, "Well, I'm not a constitutional expert. I don't know." Come on, man. Yes, you do. Yes, you do.
RAND: I think the reason why nobody really knows the answer is, it's never been adjudicated. We've never had a nominee or a president that wasn't born in the United States. I'm not saying that he isn't eligible. I'm saying that Democrats will, of course, bring this up, and it will have to be adjudicated because it's never happened before.
GLENN: Right. Well, McCain was done that. Barry Goldwater was --
RAND: Right, but the court decided in those cases that US territories were part of the US. And Canada is not a US territory.
GLENN: So let me ask you this. Because we talk about things that the courts have adjudicated on and we say the courts are wrong on that. If you're not a constitutional scholar, if you're not a constitutional expert, then what the hell are we voting for you for? So just tell me --
RAND: You know, we have to -- you know, we have to go back --
GLENN: Hang on just a second.
RAND: If we want to debate what a natural-born citizen is, you have to go back to either what the Founding Fathers said or the Constitutional Convention said. And the bottom line is, it is ambiguous. And that when things are ambiguous --
PAT: None of the Founders were natural-born.
GLENN: So let me just ask you this question: What does Rand Paul say? Not what the courts say. You know you've studied this out in your head enough. If you weren't running for president of the United States -- and I understand the politics of it -- I really do. But if you weren't running for president of the United States, come on, man. If we were just sitting in a room together, what would you say? Is he qualified to run for president or not?
RAND: If I had to say, I would say the courts in all likelihood would say yes. But I will say that no court has ever decided what it means to be natural-born with regard to eligibility of the president. Whether or not being born outside of the US means naturally being born in the US, I think it's an open question as far as the courts are concerned.
Featured Image: Screenshot from The Glenn Beck Program
