The Birther Hypocrisy The Right Desperately Wants You to Ignore

Do you hear that noise? It's the sound of crickets from the birther community after Senator Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Why, you may ask, should there be any noise from this community over Senator Cruz's eligibility to run for President in 2016? Well, that's because Senator Cruz, unlike President Obama, actually wasn't born in the United States.

Ever since then Senator Obama announced his intention to run for President in 2007, Republicans questioned his eligibility to do so by insinuating he wasn't a United States citizen. Some conspiracy theorist claimed the President was born in Kenya while others claimed he was born in Indonesia. His birth certificate was labeled a fraudulent document by Donald Trump, whose expertise in birth certificate validation is second to none. And Republicans of all stripes can't stop fanning the flames by consistently accusing the President of 'not being one of us.'

So I must ask why our birther friends aren't up in arms about Senator Cruz's candidacy for President? If we are to abide by their standards of who can and can't run for President then shouldn't they be front and center in demanding that Senator Cruz be ruled ineligible to run due to the fact that he actually was born outside of the United States? Their silence on this subject is deafening and only shows that their conspiracy theory was never based on anything other than their contempt of President Obama.

If you have a birther friend then I encourage you to point out their glaring hypocrisy when it comes to this issue. Why are they so committed to the idea that President Obama is ineligible for office, but scoff at idea of Senator Cruz being held to their same standards? Ask them to explain their contradictory positions on this rather simple question. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

What you won't hear from Democrats, other than the expected tongue-in-cheek jokes, is a question of whether Senator Cruz is eligible to run for office. Of course he is. An individual born to an American citizen is given birthright citizenship in the United States regardless of where they were born. There is no question about that among Democrats. So don't expect a Democratic 'birther' movement anytime now or in the future, but do expect Democrats to point out the birthers double standard time and time again.