On his radio show Wednesday, Mark Levin called out Breitbart News over the issue Ted Cruz’s citizenship, “[J]ust because [Donald Trump] says something doesn’t mean I have to agree with it like our friends over at Breitbart, who are going all kinds of crazy over the birther issue.” Levin, who knows plenty about the Constitution, believes the debate over Cruz’s eligibility to be president is “stupid.” But he adds, without realizing that this is the only point that matters, “Liberals love this stuff.”
First off, as cut and dried as Cruz’s citizenship issue might be to Levin, the trip to the “cut and dried” is objectively murky. My colleague Joel Pollak, who attended Harvard Law School, lays it all out here. Pollak doesn’t question Cruz’s eligibility; he does, however, understand modern American politics and lays out a convincing case as to why the issue could eventually become a problem for Cruz.
As of right now, Ted Cruz has a legitimate chance at winning the Republican nomination, and because Levin is 100% correct when he says “liberals love this stuff,” my question is a simple one:
As “stupid” as this issue may be for Levin, do we want to litigate it in front of the American people today or three weeks before the general election, when Cruz is either our presidential or vice-presidential nominee? Because you have to be wearing blinders to believe that will not happen.
If Cruz is on the ticket, you can bet the farm that Democrats and the DC Media have already gamed out an October Surprise centered on creating a political storm over Cruz’s natural born status. Moreover, all it would take is one federal judge to hurl a massive monkey into that wrench.
Exhibit A: The Clintons are the Original Birthers. If they went after Obama over this issue, who doesn’t believe they will go after Cruz?
Exhibit B: High-profile Democrats are already vowing to sue over Cruz’s eligibility.
Exhibit C: The White House proved yesterday that at the highest levels, Democrats are fully prepared to make this an issue.
Exhibit D: We’re still waiting for independent verification that Cruz’s mother was indeed an American citizen. Wouldn’t now be a good time to drop that shoe, however it falls?
Even if you side 100% with Levin on this issue, tell me how unrealistic it is to imagine a federal judge ruling on October 21, 2016, that Ted Cruz’s citizenship status is questionable. Cruz is running for president. We can’t just take his word on this.
If that happens, just like the phony late-October Casper Weinberger indictment that killed George H.W. Bush’s re-election momentum in 1992, we lose.
Trump is actually doing Cruz a huge favor. In Trump’s defense, he was asked about the Cruz issue, which doesn’t mean his intentions are not mercenary, but it also means that the net-benefit has been to prematurely explode the DC Media’s planned October Surprise.
Even if it is “stupid,” so was accusing Romney of murder in 2012, of not paying his taxes, of blaming him for Todd Akin. But with the coordinated help of the entire DC Media-complex, that’s exactly what Democrats did. Nobody believed any of it, which was never the goal. The goal was to keep Romney off-message and on defense, and it worked.
How different would the 2000 election outcome have looked had a Donald Trump brought up George W. Bush’s drunk driving incident during the primary?
This may be cut and dried for Levin, but how does his opinion control the actions of Democrats and the media? How does his opinion change the fact that there is no independent verification that Cruz’s mother was an American citizen.
The national debate over Cruz’s eligibility *is* going to happen, and it must happen.
The only question, then, is *when* will this be litigated once and for all in front of the American people.
Who doesn’t think now is better than October?
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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