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Coulter: It's 'Absolutely False' That Ted Cruz Is a Natural Born Citizen

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  January 08, 2016 10:22 AM

Resolved: I'm going to keep writing about this ridiculous story, even if it means showering attention upon opportunists who desperately seek it, until this dumb boomlet finally dies out. Ted Cruz is a natural born citizen of the United States of America. He is fully eligible to be her president. But led by Donald Trump -- who claims he's making these noises for Cruz's "own good" (of course you are, Don) -- various figures in the Republican/conservative universe have begun questioning and disputing this fact. Yesterday, we had Senators Rand Paul and John McCain. Now we have firebrand anti-immigration columnist Ann Coulter eagerly joining the fray:


Anyone have a solid rebuttal to these points? Hey, here's one (via John Tabin):


It's extraordinary what a few years and an acute case of Trump fever can achieve.  Coulter now says she'd been misled and has since "looked into it," but the law is crystal clear.  Her ALL CAPS 2013 pronouncement, and explanation furnished, was correct. Incidentally, why on earth Coulter -- who revels in broadcasting her hardline anti-immigration opinions as widely, and at times as crassly, as possible -- has evidently picked Trump over Cruz is anybody's guess.  Thanks to a series of...policy evolutions, Cruz is now outflanking Trump on the issue from the right.  Ah well.  Anyway, Coulter isn't the only Trump spokesperson who's engaged in dutiful hedging and backtracking in order to lend credence to Trump's unsubtle conspiracy amplification:

Appearing on CNN on Wednesday, Pierson blamed Cruz for the questions about his birthplace. “There’s a ton of voters who are a little uncomfortable with voting for someone outside of the country,” she said, “and the fact that Sen. Cruz has sort of left this issue off the table for so long has created some of the controversy.” When host Wolf Blitzer asked Pierson if she believes Cruz is a natural-born citizen, she hedged. “Well, I have no reason to believe he isn’t,” she said. “But again, that’s not for myself or Mr. Trump to convince the voters of that, that’s up to Senator Cruz.” ... Pierson wrote on Facebook nine months ago that Cruz is definitely absolutely 100 percent-qualified to run for the Oval Office. “Repeating your wishes as facts isn’t going to make them so,” she wrote in March 2015. “Ted Cruz is a natural citizen by BIRTH and is eligible to be President. For those constantly citing otherwise is plain whiney and the most unintelligent way to prop up your choice. So, your candidate is just going to have to bring it in the debates. Good luck!”

Pierson, it should be noted, once worked for Cruz.  Meanwhile, the Texas Senator had some harsh words for one of his GOP rivals on this whole front, and it ain't either of the two candidates who've actually given oxygen to this bogus controversy:

Ted Cruz responded to John McCain questioning his eligibility for the presidency, saying the Arizona senator is secretly trying to boost Marco Rubio's chances at the Republican nomination. "I think it is no surprise to anybody that John McCain is going to be supporting Marco Rubio in this election," Cruz told Mark Halperin of Bloomberg's "With All Due Respect." "It's no surprise at all that he's trying to do what he can to help the candidate that he's favoring who he thinks shares policy positions with him."

McCain is supposedly doing Rubio's bidding Cruz speculates, in an apparent non sequitur that shifts the focus away from Trump -- the man who's chiefly responsible for this "issue" getting so much play, and the man whom Cruz will never criticize. In case you're curious, Rubio's actual stance on the matter is a repudiation of Trump and a defense of Cruz:


Parting thought: Have we achieved peak dumb yet?  I fear we have not, friends, but we're getting close: