The birthers are back, but not because of what they’re saying. It’s their silence that’s grabbing attention this time.
We took a deeper look at birther-friendly forums and Twitter conversations about Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz after he released his hotly debated birth certificate to the Dallas Morning News Monday. The document shows that the Canada-born Tea Party favorite is indeed a natural-born citizen of the United States because his mother is American. He’s therefore eligible to run for president in 2016.
But many birthers, aka “eligibility activists” or conspiracy theorists who say Obama’s not a natural-born citizen (even though he was born in Hawaii to a mom who was a natural-born citizen and a Kenyan dad), aren’t making a huge stink about Cruz’s dual citizenship. Sure, there are the crazies over at the Birther Report who claim that Cruz definitely isn’t eligible to run. But on the whole, it seems they might be willing to let Cruz—whose father is Cuban—slide.
Overall, the birthers are barely making a peep, probably because they’d love to have Cruz in the Oval Office. They seem really into the Tea Party (though the feeling isn’t always mutual). Another possible reason for the silence: Obama is black and Cruz isn’t, end of story. Which is what a lot of folks have been talking about on social media.
Readers in comment sections have picked up on this hypocrisy, calling out the birthers for their silence. “Hey, birthers: Where is the uproar, protest and lawsuits?” wonders commenter HippyHay73 on a Daily Beast article. “Response…crickets.”
And on Twitter, users have been asking the very same questions:
I honestly can't wait to see all the former Birthers line up to support Ted Cruz for President
— Travis Tarver (@TravisTarver) August 19, 2013
@BenjySarlin Still, I can't help but enjoy the schadenfreude of birthers' cognitive dissonance with regard to Cruz.
— Yahel Carmon (@yahelc) August 19, 2013
@tootwistedtv Can't wait to see how the birthers play this next year.
— Heidi (@chippers87) August 19, 2013
Where are all of the birthers when it comes to Ted Cruz????
— Kena (@Kenlia84) August 19, 2013
Now, anti-birther “experts” say these Twitter users don’t entirely know what they’re talking about. Birthers are staunchly opposed to Cruz’s candidacy, they say; birthers haven’t changed their mind. Bill Bryan (aka “Foggy”) is a member of FogBow, an anti-birther organization bent on debunking the birther movement, and wants to set the record straight on birther politics. “There’s no indication that there is such an animal as a birther who says Cruz is eligible,” Foggy tells Vocativ in an email. “I doubt you ever will find one.”
Foggy points to strong voices in the birther community, such as Mario Apuzzo and J.B. Williams, for evidence that birthers continue to believe that Cruz is ineligible.
No outrage by the Birthers over Ted Cruz's birth certificate? Yep, Birthers are being exposed for what they really are, racist. #tcot
— Chico Delainky (@ChicoDelainky) August 19, 2013
Any Jew can become a citizen of Israel and still b American. Does this mean a Jew can never b president? Birthers r racist!
— Jerri Guinther (@JerriGuinther) August 19, 2013
Ted Cruz releases birth certificate (will birthers protest, no; they are racist hypocrites). http://t.co/Ep1NuEy6C1 #p2
— Stephen Gary (@kindcutesteve) August 19, 2013
Foggy believes that whether or not birthers do speak out against Cruz, they’re really pining for an anti-Cruz birther backlash from liberals. ”The birthers are hoping like hell that some liberals will claim Cruz is ineligible, because they think that will support their arguments about Obama,” he writes.
And while they wait, they continue to swat attention away from the Texas senator. “Obama has never produced a legal copy of any birth certificate with his real name on it,” explains one commenter on a birther news site’s story about Cruz. “Hell, we don’t even know his real name for sure.”
Actually, we do know his real name: It’s Barack Hussein Obama II. And you can find his birth certificate here.
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