Rand Paul on the record: not a birther

Commenting (or rather not commenting) on the eligibility of possible Canadian-born presidential candidate Ted Cruz, Ron Paul told CNN yesterday:

I decided a long time ago I wasn’t going to be a birther for Democrats. I’m not a birther for Republicans.

Well bless his heart.

Read more and watch the video at The Hill.

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
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29 Responses to Rand Paul on the record: not a birther

  1. Majority Will says:

    And a delusional birther bigot will inevitably and predictably parse his statement as meaning he does question the eligibility of the current President but just not as a Democrat or Republican.

  2. Joey says:

    The hardcore birthers over at freerepublic.com are already whining that “Rand Paul is now dead to me.”

  3. Steve says:

    Joey:
    The hardcore birthers over at freerepublic.com are already whining that “Rand Paul is now dead to me.”

    “Say it ain’t so, Rand. Say it ain’t so…”

  4. Woodrowfan says:

    the comments on The Hill are a sewer of birthers and a few 9/11 Twoofers.

  5. ZixiOfIx says:

    The only non-birther who has survived denying the birther lie on the far-far right is Sarah Palin.
    She does it by choosing her words carefully, and winking a lot.
    Or choosing those who write her words for her.
    And winking a lot.

    At any rate, once a far-far-righty denies birtherism, they’re on their way out. They’ve been compromised.
    Someone in the Obama Administration has got to them, and they can’t be saved.
    The PTB have something on them.
    They’e cowards.
    They’re suddenly liberals.
    They’ve join the conspiracy.

  6. ZixiOfIx: She does it by choosing her words carefully, and winking a lot.

    The same way she sympathizes with clinic violence:

    Palin won’t call abortion clinic bombers ‘terrorists’

    “Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that it would be unacceptable to—I don’t know if you’re going to use the word terrorist there, but it’s unacceptable, and it would not be condoned, of course, on our watch.”

    http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/001804/#sthash.JS2BlyqQ.dpuf

  7. ZixiOfIx says:

    misha marinsky: The same way she sympathizes with clinic violence:

    Palin won’t call abortion clinic bombers ‘terrorists’

    She helped usher in an era of rank stupidty that the GOP will probably not recover from during my lifetime, if at all.

    “Just open your mouth and whatever falls out, falls out” is no way to lead and it no way to converse.

    It’s not “rogue”. It’s not “maverick-y”. It’s idiocy.

    I wanted to add that anyone who knows better – who, like Sarah Palin, have gone through the process and knows what the background checks and intrusive nature of the press are like, and who still answer birthers with a wink – those people are contemptuous.

  8. Hillary2016 says:

    I’m sorry…I’m confused. Let me get this straight. Rand says that he won’t question the eligibility of any candidate and, that, therefore, that relieves him of the cowardice to stand up on tell the truth about Cruz because he is afraid of disparagement as a birther? I thought being a birther was making claims that a presidential candidate was not born in the United States. UH…excuse me…HELLO…Ted Cruz WAS NOT born in the United States. And, those idiots who passed resolution 511 on behalf of John McCain explicitly stated in the language of the resolution that John McCain was eligible specifically because he was born to two citizen parents. Uh…excuse me again…hello, again…Obama’s father was not a U.S. Citizen…AND NEITHER WAS TED CRUZ’. So, therefore, we have different standards applying to different candidates depending on who is declaring them eligible or ineligible. There is a name for that type of illegality. It’s called tyranny.

  9. ZixiOfIx: She helped usher in an era of rank stupidty that the GOP will probably not recover from during my lifetime, if at all.

    So did Ann Coulter. D. James Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Ministries started an anti-education campaign, and Coulter was a cheerleader.

    The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History

    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/04/the-chosen-few-a-new-explanati.html
    _____________________________________________________________

    Second Child Death for Convicted Faith-Healing Couple – A couple that was sentenced to probation after their 2-year-old died in 2009 from pneumonia have had another child die.

    Herbert and Catherine Schaible, fundamentalist Christians who believe in the power of prayer ahead of modern medicine, recently had their 8-month-old son die, according to Philadelphia Police spokeswoman Jillian Russell.

    The child was taken to a funeral home by an as yet unknown individual and the undertaker alerted police, Russell said.

    http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Faith-Healing-Parents-Schaibles-Child-Death-203782041.html

  10. ZixiOfIx: She helped usher in an era of rank stupidty that the GOP will probably not recover from during my lifetime, if at all.

    OT, but apropos: Toby Stangel Gets 3 Consecutive Life Sentences for Honolulu Highway Shootings

    HONOLULU — A judge on Wednesday sentenced a freeway shooter to three consecutive life terms in prison after saying he deserved harsh punishment for turning Honolulu highways into “killing zones.”

    Toby Stangel, 30, was sentenced after being convicted of the murder of Tammy Nguyen, a mother of 10 children, and the attempted murders of two other motorists.

    Stangel apologized to Nguyen’s family, who sat in the courtroom sobbing, and insisted he is a changed a man. The son of a pastor, Stangel said he’s now “living for Jesus Christ.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/14/toby-stangel-life-sentences-honolulu-highway-hootings_n_3757265.html

    Have you ever heard of someone saying at a parole hearing, “Since being incarcerated here, I’ve become an observant Jew”?

    Didn’t think so.

  11. justlw says:

    Oh, hi Hil. Hold on there a moment, you got a little outrage on your cheek, there.

    Hillary2016:
    I thought being a birther was making claims that a presidential candidate was not born in the United States.

    Being a birther is doubting the circumstances of birth of a presidential candidate. It has too many forms to count, and is known for its ability to rapidly mutate, sometimes in midsentence.

    UH…excuse me…HELLO…Ted Cruz WAS NOT born in the United States.

    Doesn’t matter. He was born a US citizen, due to his mother being a US citizen who conforms to the residency requirements of US citizenship law.

    And, those idiots who passed resolution 511 on behalf of John McCain explicitly stated in the language of the resolution that John McCain was eligible specifically because he was born to two citizen parents.

    Not all that specific, really. It recounts that he was “born to American citizens.” It does not, just as Minor does not, say that a multiple of citizen parents is necessary.

    Uh…excuse me again…hello, again…Obama’s father was not a U.S. Citizen

    But Obama Jr. was born on US soil, to a US citizen mother.

    …AND NEITHER WAS TED CRUZ’.

    But Cruz was born to a US citizen mother who conformed to the residency requirements of US citizenship law.

    So, therefore, we have different standards applying to different candidates

    Well, yes, but they’re different dishes from the same menu, if you will. Both Cruz and Obama were born US citizens, fulfilling different requirements of the same body of law.

    There is a name for that type of illegality.It’s called tyranny.

    Not so much, really.

  12. donna says:

    Hillary2016: So, therefore, we have different standards applying to different candidates depending on who is declaring them eligible or ineligible. There is a name for that type of illegality. It’s called tyranny.

    have you read the CRS report on mccain’s eligibility?

    CRS says: “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 alien 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.'”

    There is no requirement of two “citizen-parents,” CRS found.

    The CRS report took note of a federal court decision by the Northern District of California, which said that McCain would qualify as a citizen “at birth,” and thus would be considered a “natural born” citizen, since he was born outside the United States to citizen parents.

    The CRS did not look specifically at Cruz, and we can’t ask it to comment on him. The service works exclusively for Congress.

    But Cruz, by being entitled to citizenship at birth because his mother was a U.S. citizen and by being in the U.S. for more than 14 years, would seem to qualify as a “natural born citizen” under the definition in the report.

    http://www.politifact.com/ohio/article/2013/may/09/ted-cruz-eligible-under-constitution-become-presid/

    OR the opinions of tribe & olson?

    http://nativeborncitizen.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/mccain-opinion-of-laurence-h-tribe-and-theodore-b-olson-2/

  13. Awfully convenient that the Twitterverse was arguing whether there were any left-leaning folks who turn birther against Cruz, and one shows up here. One has to wonder if Hillary2016 is really supporting Hillary in 2016.

    Hillary2016: UH…excuse me…HELLO…Ted Cruz WAS NOT born in the United States. And, those idiots who passed resolution 511 on behalf of John McCain explicitly stated in the language of the resolution that John McCain was eligible specifically because he was born to two citizen parents.

  14. Thomas Brown says:

    Hillary2016:
    I’m sorry…I’m confused.Let me get this straight.Rand says that he won’t question the eligibility of any candidate and, that, therefore, that relieves him of the cowardice to stand up on tell the truth about Cruz because he is afraid of disparagement as a birther?I thought being a birther was making claims that a presidential candidate was not born in the United States.UH…excuse me…HELLO…Ted Cruz WAS NOT born in the United States.And, those idiots who passed resolution 511 on behalf of John McCain explicitly stated in the language of the resolution that John McCain was eligible specifically because he was born to two citizen parents.Uh…excuse me again…hello, again…Obama’s father was not a U.S. Citizen…AND NEITHER WAS TED CRUZ’. So, therefore, we have different standards applying to different candidates depending on who is declaring them eligible or ineligible.There is a name for that type of illegality.It’s called tyranny.

    Uh, excuse me… HELLO? You need to look at yourself and your words.

    Only tyranny is tyranny.

    Only things illegal are illegal.

    Only cowardice counts as cowardice.

    And for others who may be reading (you know who you are):

    Only Nazis were Nazis.

    Only Hitler was Hitler.

    Only Stalin was Stalin.

    Only communists are communists.

    Only religious oppression is religious oppression.

    Only treason is actually treason.

    HYPERBOLE MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID. Uh… HELLO?

  15. Majority Will says:

    It’s a safe bet that the usual suspects of deranged birther bigots are warming up faux liberal sock puppets to protest against Cruz et al.

  16. Hektor says:

    Like many here, I think that Ted Cruz is eligible. Even if I didn’t think he was eligible, mere disagreement with Cruz (or for that matter the courts or Congress) on that subject would not make it a tyranny. Heck, even if on January 19th, 2017, someone accidentally pulled off President Obama’s mask and it was revealed that he was R’logar, Beast-King of the Slave Planet Davos, it would not (by itself) make the previous eight years a tyranny (or for that matter, magically undo all of Obama’s actions).

    Tyranny involves (among many other horrors) rule by whim rather than rule by law. President Obama has not defied any court or Congress or even simply an unwritten convention regarding his eligibility. Nor for that matter has Senator Cruz. One can easily argue that the President has provided much more evidence than convention dictates.

    Now there are plenty of scenarios which might make an ineligible candidate an actual tyrant, but that would involve say, a coup or the state-sanctioned murder of a judge who ruled against the candidate, etc. Whether they are plausible are a different matter.

  17. Bob says:

    I think the popular perception is that if you’re born in the United States then you’re eligible to be president and that if you’re not born in the US you’re not eligible to be president. If Cruz wants to run for president there will be endless discussion about his eligibility. Obama didn’t have that problem because he was born in the US.

    We don’t actually know where Rafael Theodore Cruz (if that’s his real name) was born because we haven’t seen the long form, vault copy of his birth certificate much less the original.

    Where’s the birth certificate?

  18. Suranis says:

    If Cruz was born a US citizen he is eligible. End of story really

  19. jdkinpa says:

    Bob August 15, 2013 at 5:06 pm

    We don’t actually know where Rafael Theodore Cruz (if that’s his real name) was born because we haven’t seen the long form, vault copy of his birth certificate much less the original.

    Where’s the birth certificate?
    ================================

    My son was born in The Netherlands when I was stationed there with NATO. He has a BC issued as Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America (CRBA) to document that the child is a U.S. citizen.

    Birth of U.S. Citizens Abroad

    I’m certain he or Cruz would fit the ‘natural-born’ requirement to run for President. My wife is American too, but she could have been from any country in the world and he would still be good to go.

    I sincerely hope that the Obots of the world don’t fall for the two parents, or not born in the USA meme. Although I’ve found that a few are already leaning in that direction. BTY. If Hillary2016 is anything he/she is a disgruntled PUMA member who probably thinks Philip J. Berg is a good lawyer.

  20. donna says:

    jdkinpa: I sincerely hope that the Obots of the world don’t fall for the two parents, or not born in the USA meme.

    there are no obots here who fell for the “the two parents, or not born in the USA meme”

    birthers will TRY to pin that on obots, but they will not succeed – we have hundreds of court decisions, doc’s articles, commenters, etc to prove otherwise

  21. JPotter says:

    He says he’s eligible, he’s eligible, until proven otherwise. Not even worth discussing until a reasonable doubt is raised. It’s in the nature of political campaigns to dig up all the dirt possible on their opponents, and to use anything found. If none of the parties most motivated to find ineligibility (that is, the other candidates!) are alleging ineligibility, then it simply isn’t there.

    And … can you please at least wait until Jon Stewart gets back?

  22. Bob says:

    For all we know Cruz could have been born in the United States and just wanted the healthcare Canada provides for its citizens.

    Cruz, release your records!

  23. donna says:

    JPotter: It’s in the nature of political campaigns to dig up all the dirt possible on their opponents, and to use anything found.

    that reminds me of what huckabee replied when asked about the reluctance of some top national Republicans to say they believe Obama is a U.S. citizen in spite of the constant push from “birthers” questioning that fact

    Huckabee replied that it was a silly effort, adding, “If there was any shred of truth to it, Hillary Clinton and her wonderful investigative opposition (research) machine would have found it and would have used it …I think is a waste of energy and time.”

  24. Rickey says:

    Hillary2016:
    I’m sorry…I’m confused.Let me get this straight.Rand says that he won’t question the eligibility of any candidate and, that, therefore, that relieves him of the cowardice to stand up on tell the truth about Cruz because he is afraid of disparagement as a birther?I thought being a birther was making claims that a presidential candidate was not born in the United States.UH…excuse me…HELLO…Ted Cruz WAS NOT born in the United States.And, those idiots who passed resolution 511 on behalf of John McCain explicitly stated in the language of the resolution that John McCain was eligible specifically because he was born to two citizen parents.Uh…excuse me again…hello, again…Obama’s father was not a U.S. Citizen…AND NEITHER WAS TED CRUZ’. So, therefore, we have different standards applying to different candidates depending on who is declaring them eligible or ineligible.There is a name for that type of illegality.It’s called tyranny.

    The definition of a birther has expanded to include anyone who believes that Obama is not eligible to be President. That includes those who mistakenly believe that a natural born citizen must have two citizen parents.

    Also, as has already been pointed out, Senate Resolution 511 does not say that McCain was eligible because he had two citizen parents. It just mentions that he had two citizen parents, just like it mentions that he was born on a Navy base in Panama. Does that mean that a natural born citizen must be born on a Navy base in Panama?

  25. JPotter says:

    Rickey: Does that mean that a natural born citizen must be born on a Navy base in Panama?

    Why, YES, Rickey, it does. It’s right dere in der Con-ster-too-shin’!

    Never too late for a new birfer meme 😉

  26. dunstvangeet says:

    Rickey: Also, as has already been pointed out, Senate Resolution 511 does not say that McCain was eligible because he had two citizen parents. It just mentions that he had two citizen parents, just like it mentions that he was born on a Navy base in Panama. Does that mean that a natural born citizen must be born on a Navy base in Panama?

    Don’t forget the fact that it was mentioned that he was born in 1936. I guess that means that the only Natural Born Citizens are those who were born in 1936.

  27. donna says:

    Ted Cruz’s Candidacy Would Be Awkward For Birthers

    The Constitution likely allows Canadian-born Ted Cruz to run for President but birthers may disagree.

    In short, if you acquire citizenship by birth and do not need to be naturalized, you are natural born.

    The irony is that the circumstances of Cruz’s birth almost perfectly mirror the scenario offered by birthers, even down to the fact that the Texas senator nominally entered the world a British subject by dint of being born in Canada in 1970.

    The result is a delightful paradox. Any liberals who try to cast doubt on Cruz’s citizenship will likely be using almost the exact arguments they scorned when falsely applied to President Obama. And, of course, any birthers who defend Cruz while still insisting Obama’s tenure in the Oval Office is illegitimate aren’t just being conspiracy theorists. They are being hypocrites as well.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/16/ted-cruz-s-candidacy-would-be-awkward-for-birthers.html

  28. James M says:

    “Deciding not to be a birther” is like “deciding” not to be the weird guy who sits at the bus stop and flings poop at passers-by. It’s not a decision point that rational people cross to begin with!

  29. Kiwiwriter says:

    I don’ t know if Ted Cruz is eligible or not, and I’m not going to worry about it, because:

    1. The race is in 2016.
    2. Chris Christie will probably be the GOP’s candidate, if he can survive the primaries.
    3. If the GOP falls back on its historic base of aging, angry white men, and panders to them solely, and nominates a Barry Goldwater type to appease them, the Democrats will probably get four more years.

    So I’m just going to worry about Chris Christie being elected president in 2016. I mean…he could do what the GOP did in 1946, a simple slogan that worked after World War II: “Had enough?”

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