GOP's Cruz Tries to Silence Own Birthers

In an effort to silence the whispers about his presidential eligibility, Ted Cruz released his birth certificate yesterday, and sure enough, he's Canadian. The Texas senator gave the certificate to the Dallas Morning News, which reveals that Cruz was born to an American mother and Cuban father in Canada. His parentage automatically made him a US citizen, which most legal scholars believe is good enough to satisfy the Constitution's "natural born citizen" requirement.

But he could also theoretically run for Canadian parliament, because he's a full citizen there, too—though Cruz isn't acknowledging that. Asked if he'd renounce his dual citizenship, a spokeswoman said, "To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship, so there is nothing to renounce," according to USA Today. Cruz's political enemies are eager to use his birthplace against him, with some dubbing him "Canadian Ted." It's also not enough for so-called "birther queen" Orly Taitz, who tells US News & World Report that Cruz has "basically the same issue as Obama has." But she applauded him for addressing the issue, and said that if no "honest judge" would rule Obama ineligible, that people might as well vote for Cruz, "because we won't have any rule of law." (More Ted Cruz stories.)