Posted on 01/15/2016 10:18:55 AM PST by Isara
The support of conservative talk radio has been a boost for the Texas senator in his tussle with Trump.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.- Donald Trump rarely misses when he swings hard at a rival. But when it comes to his questioning of Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president, Cruz has a formidable defense that draws on the backing of not only legal scholars but conservative media.
Confidence in the strength of his position came across clearly Thursday night as Cruz and Trump squared off on the issue for the first time in person at the Fox Business debate, with Cruz turning questions about how his Canadian birthplace affects his eligibility to run for president into a blow on Trump, saying that the real estate mogul is only stirring up those concerns because he is trailing Cruz in some polls in Iowa.
"Back in September, my friend Donald said he had his lawyers look at this in every which way, and there was no issue there, there was nothing to this birther issue," Cruz said. "Now, since September the Constitution hasn't changed, but the poll numbers have. And I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear."
Cruz's ability to authoritatively dismiss the issue stems in part from the backing he is enjoying from conservative talk radio, where some of the most influential hosts appear to be circling the wagons around Cruz on the matter since it burst to the forefront last week. Mark Levin, who claims around 7 million listeners a week, has been especially outspoken in objecting to Trump's persistent pushing of the matter, something Cruz's team has pointed to in arguing that they don't expect the "birther" argument to move numbers with conservatives.
"Birthers stuck on stupid," Levin tweeted on Jan. 10.
"Birther attack flopping," he tweeted the next day.
On Wednesday, he tweeted a link to an article headlined, "It's beyond time for a cold hard look at Trump's record."
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham also came out in support of Cruz.
Limbaugh marveled that Sen. John McCain was even jumping on the bandwagon in questioning Cruz's eligibility. "It's getting into bizarro territory here now. Remember now, McCain was born in Panama, and his presidential eligibility is the same, and based on the same constitutionality as is Ted Cruz's," Limbaugh said last week.
Hannity, meanwhile, said "I see no issue here for Ted Cruz," with Ingraham agreeing - "There's no issue whatsoever," she said.
"The reality is, the reach of talk radio is greater than any other medium," Cruz campaign chairman Chad Sweet said in a post-debate interview. He went on to add, "There is no other candidate that has had the groundswell of organic support among talk radio that Ted Cruz [has]."
Nodding in particular to Levin and Ingraham, who have legal backgrounds, Sweet continued, "They came forward and very persuasively made the case for why Donald Trump's [attempt] to assert this nonsensical argument over his citizenship is totally misleading and unproductive."
And Cruz, a Harvard Law School-educated former Supreme Court clerk and ex-solicitor general of Texas, is also plenty capable of defending himself, easily brushing off Trump's claims that the question of his citizenship would be an issue Democrats would pursue in the courts should he be the nominee. Cruz was born in Calgary but to an American citizen mother.
"Listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court," Cruz said during the debate. "And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump."
He added later, "The chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero."
Cruz's team has also pointed to an article published in the Harvard Law Review, written by two former U.S. solicitors general, that clarifies that he is a natural-born citizen, spelling out a view shared by other legal scholars.
But at the debate, Trump noted that another expert--Cruz's former professor, Laurence Tribe-- has said that the matter is not one of settled law (it has not been ruled on by the Supreme Court). As he did earlier this week, Cruz immediately pounced on Tribe's liberal leanings, and used the moment to suggest Democrats were siding with Trump because they saw him as beatable in a general election, an argument Cruz's backers have long made, but that until this week Cruz himself had not made explicitly.
"He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter," Cruz said of Tribe. "And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary wants to face Donald Trump in the general election."
Cruz then pushed the argument that Trump - -whose campaign is based in part on the notion that he is a "winner" -- is raising the issue for purely political purposes, because he has slipped in some Iowa polls.
Later, Trump essentially admitted as much: "Because now he's going a little bit better," he said, when asked why he was raising the issue now. "No, I didn't care...It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance."
But Cruz, confident that he is far stronger than that on the citizenship issue, suggested that if Trump's argument were extrapolated to logical conclusions, many people, including Trump himself, would be disqualified from running.
"At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther issues that Donald has been relying on, some of the more extreme ones insist that you not only must be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil," Cruz said. "Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified, and interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified because, because Donald's mother was born in Scotland, she was naturalized."
Trump bristled at that, noting that he was born in the U.S. Cruz breezed past his objections.
"On the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you," he said, appearing to crib from Ronald Reagan, who famously pledged not to use his opponent's "youth and inexperience" against him when asked whether he was too old to run for president.
Cruz made a major mistake letting this drag out. He should have taken Donald’s advice and gotten a Declaratory Judgement.
Now he has a lawsuit out of Texas to oontend with. A Congressmen is threatening to file suit too.
And none of this makes Cruz look like the “Defender of the Consitution” that he painted himself to be.
The only thing that is going to help Cruz now is an American Birth Certificate....
The ‘conservative’ news isn’t going to do a thing, the first law suit filed and won against Cruz, they are going to drop him like a hot potato....they have done it before and they will do it again...
Unseal your hidden documents Cruz and quit acting like obuma and show us what you have...
Neither he nor his parents were born in this country. Could he be just a little jealous that Ted Cruz has one parent who fulfills the eligibility and Tribe doesn't?
One other thing - the Great Lawrence Tribe has NEVER defended the Constitution as a professor nor as a lawyer arguing his cases in front of the Supreme Court.
And some people think he should be listened to?
“Unseal your hidden documents Cruz and quit acting like obuma and show us what you have”
So what documents do you think he has hidden?
I don’t know, do you? If you do, please tell us about them....he said they were sealed....so why seal something unless your hiding something....reminds me of obuma....
His laughing it off was a mistake last night. He needed to explain why he is Natural Born so everyone could understand. He needed to put it to bed and did not.
Pray America wakes
He wasn't giving you legal advice. He was giving you POLITICAL advice and you'd be well served to take it.
He does.
And some of them are making fools of themselves over it now. The rest will make fools of themselves when the feathers stop flying.
It’s really too bad...
Supreme Court doesn't issue advisory opinions.
You know, the 25% polled who said Cruz BC a problem? Probably every single one a hardcore trumpee. DT is ridiculous. Doesn’t he know how many cases and briefs Ted has filed with SCOTUS?
Trumpees here can’t even admit Trump farts much less recognize facts.
Rather obvious if looking at some of his history:
Wikipedia on Declaratory Judgement
"A declaratory judgment is typically requested when a party is threatened with a lawsuit but the lawsuit has not yet been filed;"
Too late for Cruz now. The lawsuit has been filed.
From whom? A liberal judge? No thanks.
It is interesting to me that so many people on this site are siding with Ginsburg intead of Scalia on this topic just because they like Ted Cruz.
Scalia - leans toward AT LEAST Jus Soli
Ginsburg leans toward Jus Sanguinis
Yep. It appears to be the rope "they" gave his ego along with a map to the tallest trees and flagpoles on the White House grounds.
Ted?!? Wha' happened, man?
You coulda been a defenda of the Constitooshun(!)...instead of a natural born pretenda for President.
You were my greatest hope, Anakin, but you're breaking my heart!
And, you're going down a path I cannot follow!
Because he's just another Harvard liberal hack who hates Conservatives. That's why. You don't know that by now?
There are no hidden documents, DUmmie...
Donald Grump was attempting a whisper smear and giving future credit to Hillary, who Grump is a big fan.
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