Ted Cruz releases birth certficate

By Rick Moran

An earnest attempt to set the record straight? Or is the Texas Senator having a little fun at Obama's expense?

Sen. Ted Cruz released his birth certificate to the media Sunday, as the 2016 presidential contender faced increasing attention over his birth in Canada.

The Texas Republican shared his birth certificate with The Dallas Morning News. It shows his place of birth as Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother, which gave him American citizenship.

Canadian lawyers told the Morning News that Cruz's birth in Canada also instantly conferred upon him Canadian citizenship, though a spokeswoman for Cruz said he was not aware of having dual citizenship.

"Senator Cruz became a U.S. citizen at birth, and he never had to go through a naturalization process after birth to become a U.S. citizen," Catherine Frazier told the Morning News. "To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship, so there is nothing to renounce."

Cruz is a tea party favorite and buzzed about candidate for president in 2016, and he has been vocally calling on Republicans to shut down the government in an effort to defund Obamacare. He has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over his Canadian birth, though many experts have concluded Cruz qualifies as a natural-born citizen to run for president.

For those who have the birther bit in their mouth, this release probably won't solve anything. But I have a feeling that Cruz used the release to tweak the president a bit, and may be getting a good laugh at liberals who will no doubt try to make something of this.