Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tore apart a cartoon published Tuesday by a Washington Post cartoonist that depicted his daughters as trained monkeys—then used the image himself to fundraise against the “desperate” “liberal media.”
The cartoon was subsequently removed from the publication’s website and replaced with an editor’s note.
Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes had tweeted out the cartoon, which showed Cruz’s daughters depicted as monkeys after they were featured in an advertisement for the presidential hopeful.
Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad- don’t start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well. https://t.co/7hafBacOiK
— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) December 22, 2015
Telnaes has since deleted the tweet that showed the cartoon, but not before Cruz caught it:
Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me–Caroline & Catherine are out of your league. https://t.co/N61ys6z8w1
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 22, 2015
Fred Hiatt, the Post’s editorial page editor removed the cartoon from the newspaper’s website Tuesday and added an editor’s note that said that he had not seen the image before it was published online.
“It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it,” Hiatt wrote. “I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree.”
Cruz later launched an “emergency” campaign to fundraise against the “liberal media” he said attacked his daughters. CNN host Jake Tapper tweeted a picture of the fundraising email:
.@tedcruz fundraising email, referencing the since-removed @washingtonpost cartoon of his daughters pic.twitter.com/eCuqfv0bIV
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 23, 2015
Rivals Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) also decried the cartoon:
The @washingtonpost, which is the lobbyist (power) for not imposing taxes on #Amazon, today did a nasty cartoon attacking @tedcruz kids. Bad
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2015
Wash Post cartoon featuring @tedcruz’s children is disgusting. The Post saying the kids are “fair game” is even worse.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 23, 2015
Well, he DID use them as campaign props himself.
But I wouldn’t have run the cartoon,either. Its in poor taste, and its definitely a case of where taking the higher road actually matters.
Its not like the girls have a lot of say in their dad using them.
The fact that the Post pulled it means they don’t believe that.
Cruz’s outrage doesn’t make sense given that he and his family are not related to ‘monkeys’, but are instead created in God’s image. I have to call False outrage on this one I’m afraid, and Merry Christmas everyone!
We’re rightfully upset when Obama’s kids are attacked so this should be off limits as well. Plenty of material to attack Cruz with without going after his daughters.
Martyred victimhood. Amusing coming from the original dog-whistler.