Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had been in office all of one month before The New York Times gave former-restaurant critic Frank Bruni 1,000 words to attack him as “The G.O.P.’s Nasty Newcomer” in the Sunday Review. Cruz’s crime? He had the audacity to do his job by questioning President Obama’s Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel and he refused to defer to Senate colleagues who, in Bruni’s words “are vastly senior to him.”

How dare he!

Six months later, now that Cruz is again showing leadership by helping lead the conservative fight to defund Obamacare, the leftists hit pieces are back. And they are weaker than ever.

Oh Canada

First, the Dallas Morning News published a story Monday, noting that Cruz recently produced a copy of his Canadian birth certificate, showing that he was born to an American mother, and therefore is a “natural born U.S. citizen” as the Constitution requires all U.S. presidents to be. The Dallas Morning News story went on to quote Canadian immigration law experts who said that Cruz’s Canadian birth also gave Cruz the right to obtain a Canadian passport (which Cruz has never done) and vote in Canadian parliamentary elections (also something Cruz has never done).

Just to be safe though, Cruz went ahead and filed paperwork Monday officially renouncing his Canadian citizenship.

Super Mario Bro

Later on Monday, The Daily Beast published a hit piece by Patricia Murphy subtitled, “Can a master debater who wore a paisley bathrobe to creepily stroll by the women’s wing of the dorm be the next president?”

In addition to her bombshell that Cruz sometimes wore a bathrobe in a co-ed dorm, Murphy also revealed that Cruz played Nintendo in his dorm room with other debaters, could be described as “intense” and “strident,” and once got involved in a poker game where he lost heavily.

Murphy then reports that after Cruz lost $1,800 in a card game, he quit playing, got the cash from his aunt, and then worked two jobs to pay his aunt back over the next two years. The horror.

The Teflon Texan

After Obama broke the mold by vaulting from first-term senator to President of the United States, it is understandable why the left is eager to destroy any conservative who has a chance of repeating Obama’s feat. But so far, the attacks on Cruz from the left have proved laughable.

From The Washington Examiner

Editorial: Our overly generous welfare system

Mark Flatten: VA progress on claims backlog is a statistical illusion, vets groups say

EXography: Feds paying record amounts in lawsuits

Brian Hughes: Obama searches for post-vacation boost

Joel Gehrke: Team Rand raising questions in Iowa about Cruz’s eligilibility

Conn Carroll: Obama’s high-speed rail plan suffers huge loss in California court

Steve Contorno: Conservative talk show host calls on Bob McDonnell to resign

Monday meme: Rodeo clown

Tim Carney: The sordid intersection of business and government

Ashe Schow: Union leader slams Obama’s ‘war on coal’

Michael Barone: Brookings scholar defends NSA surveillance, contra Washington Post

Charlie Spiering: HHS offering cash prizes for pro-Obamacare videos

In Other News

The Daily News, Obama Administration Secretly Suspended Military Aid to Egypt: The administration won’t publicly acknowledge all aspects of the aid suspension and maintains its rhetorical line that no official coup determination has been made, but behind the scenes, extensive measures to treat the military takeover of Egypt last month as a coup are being implemented on a temporary basis.

The Daily Beast, Kerry Reinstates Benghazi Officials Clinton Punished: Secretary of State John Kerry has determined that the four State Department officials placed on administrative leave by Hillary Clinton after the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi do not deserve any formal disciplinary action and has asked them to come back to work at the State Department starting Tuesday.

ABC News, What Could Happen If Border Asylum Claims Keep Rising: The number of people seeking asylum at the Southwest border has doubled since 2011, according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Washington Post, Cruz will renounce Canadian citizenship: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced Monday evening that he will renounce his Canadian citizenship, less than 24 hours after a newspaper pointed out that the Canadian-born senator likely maintains dual citizenship.

Pew Research, Public Backs Cutoff of Military Aid to Egypt: With violence continuing to rage in Egypt, 51% of Americans say it is better for the United States to cut off military aid to Egypt to put pressure on the government. This is nearly double the percentage (26%) saying it is better to continue military aid to the government in order to maintain influence in Egypt.

The New York Times, For 2nd Term, a 2nd White House Dog: There is a new resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and a new playmate for Bo, the presidential pooch. Her name is Sunny, a Portuguese water dog like Bo.

Lefty Playbook

The Huffington Post attacks Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., for telling an 11-year old girl her father should be deported.

The Atlantic asks, “Are the rich getting too much of the economic pie?”

Bill Keller attacks Republicans for rejecting the Common Core educational agenda.

Righty Playbook

Erick Erickson announces the RedState Action Center is open and is urging conservatives to call their Senators and Congressman and tell them to defund Obamacare in the continuing resolution.

Ramesh Ponnuru responds to a Daily Beast hit piece on Ted Cruz.

David French demands all aid to Egypt cut until the country’s Christians are protected.

Mark Krikorian argues that amnesty is why more illegal immigrants began staying in the U.S. after 1986.