by Nomad
Republicans have once again incurred the wrath of the Karma goddess. After years of ranting suspicions about Obama's eligibility to be president, the Republicans could be in a pickle in 2016.
Karma has now focused her attention on GOP/Tea Party darling, Ted Cruz.
For most of President Obama's first term in office, the
subject of his birth and eligibility for office were constantly being bandied
about by ultra-conservatives. The "Birther" bunch was lead primarily
led by one Orly Taitz- a colorful character to say the least. No amount of proof
seemed to satisfy her and her scouts. Something, they said, was just not right (white?) about Obama.
Eventually even the most die-hard conservative lost
interest. To the so-called right wing-nuts, the question was enough to bring up any attack against the president. Truth did not need to prevail, the innuendo was sufficient.
Now the subject of citizenship seems poised to re-appear, but this
time it will become the bane- (so to speak) of Republicans.
Last week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz formally renounced
his Canadian citizenship which he had maintained throughout his life. As of May 14, Cruz was no longer a Canadian citizen.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on December 22, 1970, Cruz had kept his dual
citizenship until its existence was revealed by the Dallas Morning News.
This move and the revelation that necessitated it was an important step in the career of Ted Cruz.
Why?
A recent survey by Public Policy Polling (PPP) found that Ted Cruz was a Republican front-runner for the 2016 election, beating out Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and even Jeb Bush.
Hard to believe, I know.
The poll also found that Cruz is considered the de facto leader of his party, with a large majority of respondents saying they trust him more than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House John Boehner.
With Eric Cantor expectedly tossed out on his tunkus, who knows who is next to receive the bum's rush out of the doors of Congress.
Therefore the question of Cruz's eligibility to run for
president suddenly becomes essential.
The US constitution requires that a
president be a "natural-born citizen" Despite being born in Hawaii, to
an American mother, Obama's eligibility was widely (and sometimes hysterically) contested by conservatives, especially by the Tea Party..
In
Cruz's case, the subject takes the debate to an even higher level. Ted Cruz,
like Obama, was born to an American mother, but he was certainly not born in
the US.
Cruz is clearly aware that this is could be a major problem. Witness his interesting statement on the matter.
"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."
The statement provides a wealth of insight into the mind of Ted Cruz.
Notice how he takes great pains to repeat the phrase, "at birth." It is
questionable claim or some would say, dishonest.
Under no stretch of the imagination was Ted Cruz an
American at birth, since he was born
in Canada. In fact he is a Canadian at birth and is an American by virtue of his parentage on his mother's side.
The rest of the statement contains equally deceptive- dare I say, weasely- phrases, such as "I may technically have a dual
citizenship." There was nothing technical about it. He has maintained a
dual citizenship which he could have easily made null and void at any time.. before it became publicly known.
(These phrases wouldn't count for much at any formal immigration hearing, I presume.)
As one site pointed out:
Technically, as bright a lawyer as Ted Cruz is, one would think he knows he must formally go to a Canadian Embassy and file forms to legally renounce his citizenship.
Cabal, Intrigue, and Corruption
It's worth pointing out why the natural-born clause was written in the first place. In Federalist No. 68, Alexander Hamilton wrote that great care that must be taken in selecting the president: "Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils."
Imagine.. if you can.. if Obama had admitted having dual citizenship to another country, like Kenya? Blood would be draining out of the corners of Sean Hannity's eyes, silvery froth on Megyn Kelly's lacquered lips and the veins in O'Reilly's forehead would be squirming like nightcrawlers.
If nothing else, the Cruz statement shows exactly the kind
of character at play.
Yes, yes, I hear you ask, but does this mean the hopes of Cruz and the Tea Party have been dashed against the slippery rocks of Payback Cove?
Well, not necessarily.
Congress has kindly cleared a path for Cruz.
Congress has kindly cleared a path for Cruz.
A 2011 Congressional Research Service report
has decided that:
The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term "natural born" citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship "by birth" or "at birth", either by being born "in" the United States and under its jurisdiction, even those born to foreign parents; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship "at birth". Such term, however, would not include a person who was not a U.S. citizen by birth or at birth, and who was thus born an "alien" required to go through the legal process of "naturalization" to become a U.S. citizen.
It certainly stretches the definition of a natural-born
citizen. But the Washington Post notes that this is probably not going to put the matter to rest.
The debate about whether Cruz can run for president because it's not 100 percent clear that he's a "natural-born citizen" will likely rage on.
But more importantly we can now understand why Ted Cruz kept using the phrase "at
birth." It is part of the Tea Party platform to keep saying foolish or untrue things
until people accept them as facts.
With some people, it doesn't seem to take too long .
"I think that Ted Cruz is correct in addressing this issue early on and I commend it..Not only does he need to release his birth certificate, but he needs to go to court and have a high-ranking judge ... make a determination on this issue."
Taitz, helpfully suggested that Cruz seek "declaratory relief from a judge to determine if he qualifies as a natural-born citizen." Surely there are enough honest willing judges in Texas.
As if to prove she is the same frazzle-headed Orly, she added in her shattered logic, that even if Cruz could not find an honest corrupt compliant judge, she would encourage people- the billions of people who listen to her every word, she means- to vote for Cruz anyway.
Yep, even if he is not eligible to be president.
Yep, even if he is not eligible to be president.
Why?
Voters should cast their vote for Cruz, she says, if he is "the best candidate to turn the country around ... because we won't have any rule of law."
Read once, twice and repeat.
But isn't that exactly what voters did in 2008 and ... oh never mind.
Thanks for the good laugh, Orly.
As if things were complicated enough, a judge will have to consider what Salon points out:
Thanks for the good laugh, Orly.
As if things were complicated enough, a judge will have to consider what Salon points out:
Cruz’s father is a Cuban émigré who was not yet a U.S. citizen when Cruz was born in 1970. Thus, Cruz himself falls under a special section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that governs “Birth Abroad to One Citizen and One Alien Parent.” Under that provision, Cruz only qualifies for citizenship if his mother was “physically present” in the United States for ten years prior to his birth, five of which had to be after she reached the age of fourteen.
It's going to complicated and it's going to need some evidence to back up whatever Cruz claims. In the end, somebody is not going to approve of the final decision. If only his history had been more clear, like say, President Obama's.
And On the Other Side of the Family..
If Cruz can somehow overcome this obstacle, he will
undoubtedly have to face the problem of his Cuban father, Rafael Bienvenido Cruz.
Papi
Cruz fled Cuba in 1957 at the age of 18,
landing in Austin. Despite his claim of only having $100 sewn into his underwear, and having no English language skills, was able to
study at the University of Texas.
I don't know about you but I smell the burning scent of government assistance, which as a Tea Party voter would tell you, is the first cousin to Socialism and most awful of all, big fat government and federal programs.
Basically, a short list of every thing Ted Cruz claims he is against.
If Rafael was not a free-loading illegal alien taking advantage of the system- as any patriotic Tea Party voter would say, then another question arises about where exactly he obtained his support.
In fact, Senor Cruz only became a US Citizen in 2005, after 48 years as an illegal.If Rafael was not a free-loading illegal alien taking advantage of the system- as any patriotic Tea Party voter would say, then another question arises about where exactly he obtained his support.
More questions have emerged about Daddy Cruz. One source asks this legitimate question:
How is it that Rafael Bienvenido Cruz has been in the United States first from his arrival all through his time of study at the University of Texas. Then leaving the United States to live in Canada and only returning in 1974 to the United States. All the while not being a citizen or going through the proper immigration channels initially, attending the University of Texas and re-entering the United States in 1974, then only becoming a US Citizen in 2005?
Something doesn't make sense there.
There might have been a loophole but it wouldn't apply to Cruz's father.
There might have been a loophole but it wouldn't apply to Cruz's father.
Unfortunately, his arrival in 1957 was well before enactment of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 that says, essentially, that anyone who fled Cuba and got into the United States would be allowed to pursue residency a year later.
According to his own narrative, Rafael came from a middle-class background, the son of an RCA salesman and an elementary-school teacher. He claims that he and some of his schoolmates frequently clashed with Batista’s officials.
He later linked up with Castro’s guerrilla groups and supported their attempts to overthrow Batista.
Yes, that's correct, he fought along side Communist Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution.
But it a decision, he says, he now regrets. I am sure that's true at this point in his son's political career.
But it a decision, he says, he now regrets. I am sure that's true at this point in his son's political career.
A Cuban rebel who fought with the enemy of the US and friend of the Soviets entered into the country with nothing but a Franklin in his boxers, and using illegally-obtained documentation.
Now that sounds more than a little suspicious to me. "Palling around with terrorists" is the phrase that comes to mind.
Under the circumstances, it's not hard to imagine that CIA or the FBI once kept a file on Cruz's father. Hopefully we will catch a peek at that sometime in 2016.
Under the circumstances, it's not hard to imagine that CIA or the FBI once kept a file on Cruz's father. Hopefully we will catch a peek at that sometime in 2016.
(Calling Dr. Orly, Dr. Alex Jones to the Conspiracy Room, Stat!)
In an interview with NPR, Papi Cruz clumsily attempts to clear the air. After admitting to bribing a Batista official to stamp his passport with an exit permit he then claims that he went through all legal channels while applying for a student visa from the U.S. government to attend the University of Texas to study mathematics and chemical engineering .
"I came to this country legally," he said. "I came here with a legal visa, and ... every step of the way, I have been here legally."
Despite that claim, his account simply does not make sense. Universities aren't cheap, and weren't, even in 1957, especially for a non-English speaking non-American with his bank account in his briefs.
The claim that he came to America legally is also quite a hard one to swallow. According to U.S. Code § 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, what Cruz did would appear to have been very much illegal.
* * * *
It's only a matter of time before
yet another Republican presidential candidate goes down in sparkling flames, it seems. Of
course it will all come out during the campaign, if Cruz decides to run.
Remember this was a party that could not forgive a candidate for forgetting which social program he was planning to slash.
Remember this was a party that could not forgive a candidate for forgetting which social program he was planning to slash.
Cruz and his
father's history would add an interesting twist to the immigration reform
debate, to say the least.
Unquestionably, the Goddess of
Karma seems to have taken a special interest in Ted Cruz.
