Ted Cruz Really, Really, Really Wants You To Stop Talking About His Canadian Birth

Over the past week or so, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has had to deal with a renewed focus on his eligibility for the White House due to the circumstances of his birth. The surging GOP Presidential hopeful was born in Canada to an American citizen and a Cuban refugee. While it had been largely accepted that, by definition, Cruz obtained his U.S. citizenship through his mother at birth, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump started questioning Cruz’s “natural born” status earlier this month, leading to other attacks from rivals and Trump supporters.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning, Cruz tried to shut down discussion of his eligibility due to his Canadian birth by citing the Constitution and his standing in the GOP polls. According to the Tea Party darling, federal law is pretty much settled over the definition of “natural born citizen,” meaning he has nothing to worry about regarding this upcoming election.

“The substance of the issue is clear and straight forward. As a legal matter, the Constitution and federal law are clear that the child of a U.S. citizen is a natural born citizen.”

He then stated that the law was very transparent because the American people need to focus on the real problems facing the country. (Wait, huh?) Also, those who want to chase conspiracy theories are distracting from substantive issues.

“As a legal matter this issue is straightforward, what it’s really designed to do listen what the American people are focused on are the real problems facing this country.In my view any candidates, or for that matter folks in the press who want to go down rabbit trails and circus sideshows are distracting from the real issues the American people are focused on.”

But the real reason his rivals are attacking him is likely due to the fact that he is the clear favorite to win the nomination. At least, according to Ted Cruz expert Ted Cruz.

“The dynamic that’s happening is interesting. Almost three weeks ago, every Republican presidential candidate was attacking Donald Trump. Now almost every Republican presidential candidate is attacking me. And that kind of suggests maybe something has changed in the race.”

While Cruz is currently leading in Iowa, he is still far behind Trump in New Hampshire and nationwide.

Anyway, that should be the end of all of this Canadian birther talk, right? It isn’t like the press got a hold of Canadian voter rolls from the early ’70s that showed Cruz’s mom was registered to vote in that country. And, as we all know, Trump will totally just quiet down whenever you call him out on something.