Cruz birthers

It seemed a little silly over the weekend when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) felt compelled to release his birth certificate. The right-wing Texan was born in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother, which immediately made Cruz an American citizen. With the senator apparently eyeing national office, and with much of the right fascinated by birth certificates in recent years, the move was apparently intended to resolve any questions about eligibility.

But in this case, it didn’t work out the way Cruz hoped. The Dallas Morning News noted that, as a technical matter, Cruz had dual citizenship — he was an American by virtue of his American mother, but he was also Canadian the moment he was born on Canadian soil. Cruz could, in theory, obtain a Canadian passport, register to vote in Canada, and even run for Parliament.

And so, late yesterday, Cruz filled out a form, renounced any claim to Canadian citizenship, and released a written public statement…

“Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter.

“Now the Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship. Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I’m an American by birth and as a U.S. Senator, I believe I should be only an American.”

What a strange story. Ted Cruz, the Harvard Law School grad and Supreme Court attorney, didn’t realize he had dual citizenship until two days ago? Because his Mom told him not to worry about it?

I have no doubts about Cruz’s eligibility, though I have to admit, seeing conservatives wring their hands about a “foreign-born” candidate is awfully amusing given the circumstances.

If you grew up in the United States someplace other than the Confederate state of mind – and after the McCarthyism decade – you may not be aware of the America First kind of bigotry that’s considered a requirement among uneducated bigots who still aren’t convinced the United States Constitution gives everyone the right to vote.

There will be dancing in the streets of Ottawa.



  1. Adrian says:

    Renouncing your Canadian citizenship is not as simple as filling out a form. The process takes many months, and the Canadian government is allowed to reject your renunciation.

  2. Mr Diesel - Bobbo who thinks nothing is wrong with child porn says:

    He is not a natural born citizen so therefore is not eligible to be president. Oh wait. that doesn’t matter anymore since the current asshat in chief isn’t either and he is in there.

    • Phydeau says:

      Keep fighting the good fight! 🙂

    • bumrocky says:

      By virtue that he has an American Citizen as a mother, that makes him a natural born citizen. The constitution blocks anyone who is not considered a citizen at birth as disqualification…not that you have to be born on American Soil. If you meet criteria to be a citizen at birth, you are a natural born citizen. Per US Code 8 subsection 1401 paragraph:

      The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:

      (d) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such person, and the other of whom is a national, but not a citizen of the United States;

      I think since his mother meets the criteria, he’s a fully eligible natural born citizen. Obama also met this criteria….people forget this clause and only think it applies if you’re born WITHIN the contiguous USA.

      • spsffan says:

        Well, his mother seems to qualify for the first part of (d) above, but what about the father? It says that the other parent has to be a national of the united states, and the birth certificate above says nothing of the sort. It says that the father was born in Cuba and living in Canada.

        Now, perhaps he was in fact a national of the USA, but it doesn’t say so.

        As for Obama, he was born IN THE UNITED STATES. It doesn’t matter is his parents were Mahatma Ghandi and Marie Antoinette.

        • NewformatSux says:

          >As for Obama, he was born IN THE UNITED STATES.

          Funny how every biographer who set out to prove this point, failed. David Maraniss, Sally Jacobs, Janny Scott, David Remnick, best they could come up with was someone who suddenly made the connection 50 years later that she remembered someone saying ‘Stanley had a baby’, and Governor Neil Abercrombie claiming to have seen baby Barack in the hospital when he was born, now backtracked to merely saying he saw the baby and met the parents socially. Other friends of Obama Sr said they had no idea who this woman was or that she had a baby.

      • NewformatSux says:

        >I think since his mother meets the criteria, he’s a fully eligible natural born citizen. Obama also met this criteria

        Yup; the birthers are hanging onto a limb that Congressional law didn’t confer citizenship automatically at the time, because Obama’s mom was underage.

  3. Guyver says:

    Could be worse.

    We could have a current President in office who has not released an actual birth certificate.

  4. msbpodcast says:

    Besides, being a Canadian, he’s not likely to be black or hispanic. (A lawn jockey or the guy who trims the grass around a lawn jockey.)

    Hell, he might even be white, though he may be a Bohunk.

    And you want to watch out for Doukhobor in his ancestry. (Follow the link and it will become obvious.)

  5. msbpodcast says:

    If you grew up in the United States someplace other than the Confederate state of mind – and after the McCarthyism decade – you may not be aware of the America First kind of bigotry that’s considered a requirement among uneducated bigots who still aren’t convinced the United States Constitution gives everyone the right to vote.

    And these people are exactly and precisely why I advocate having <a href="http://otakurovira.pbworks.com/w/page/53335081/No%20Party%20Required"selected representation.

    At least it would get rid of self-selected, rich idiots.

  6. dcphill says:

    This kinda reminded me when Barry Goldwater who was born in Arizona before it was a state and was considered not born in the USA for purposes of being POTUS.

  7. IG says:

    That’s how you do it. A controversy (no matter how silly and contrived) pops up, you deal with it and move on. Much better than Obama’s 4 year exercise of birtherism.

  8. NewformatSux says:

    You really need to work on your throwaway commentary. Or perhaps, just say nothing. That makes no sense whatsoever.

    Oh, and the Constitution does not give everyone the right to vote.

    • undercoverfaghag says:

      I’m guessing the discongruent awkwardness of your comment means that it was missplaced response to msbpodcast??

      It’s a shame we can’t edit our own comments here because you probably wish you could remove yours as making no contextual sense whatsoever.

      peaceful armaggeddon,
      {redacted}

      • NewformatSux says:

        No, I’m referring to Eiditor’s gibberish.

        • Tim says:

          He/she/it came to realized that but the retraction disappeared??

          a test… ‘Eideard’

          result… Hmm. A distant horse whinny on the wind, but this comment is still alive. It’s quite a quandary.

  9. Uncle Patso says:

    ♫ Blame Canada! ♫

  10. Dallas says:

    I haven’t seen a good birther explanation to this Canadian born Teatard nigga with a Cuban Communist father wanting to be POTUS.

    Oh, the humanity!

    • NewformatSux says:

      Simple, his mom hasn’t posed nude, therefore he can’t be Canadian.

  11. John Eddie Kerr says:

    He won’t move back to Canada to get free health care now.

  12. Marc says:

    He was also born to a Cuban father, making him officially Cuban.

    He needs to renounce that too.

    • NewformatSux says:

      As with Elian gonzalez , clearly he should be rounded up and sent back to Cuba for reeducation.

  13. orchidcup says:

    How do we know that Ted Cruz has produced an authentic certificate of birth?

    Those kinds of documents can be easily faked. Ask any Tea Party dude.

    • NewformatSux says:

      No, if they could be easily faked, Obama wouldn’t have done such a poor job of releasing a fake one.


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