I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree.” I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published.

“It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it. In place of the cartoon Fred Hiatt, the Post’s editorial page editor, wrote in a post why it was taken down. Cruz frequently jokes that reporters and editors will “check themselves into therapy” when he is elected because they will be so distraught. “When a politician uses his children as political props, as Ted Cruz recently did in his Christmas parody video in which his eldest daughter read (with her father’s dramatic flourish) a passage of an edited Christmas classic, then I figure they are fair game,” she wrote.Ĭruz frequently cites his two grade-school daughters in his stump speech, which also frequently ridicules coverage of Cruz in prominent national publications like the Post and The New York Times. She added that Cruz had now made his kids acceptable targets for satire. “Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad - don’t start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well,” she wrote. Telnaes, however, defended her cartoon on Twitter. We’re both Dads of young kids, and it’s hard enough on them,” Cruz tweeted. The Post saying the kids are ‘fair game’ is even worse,” he tweeted. “Wash Post cartoon featuring children is disgusting. Stick w/ attacking me–Caroline & Catherine are out of your league,” Cruz tweeted Tuesday.Įven Marco Rubio, who has been tangling loudly with Cruz for several weeks, came to his defense. In the 90-second spot, “Cruz Christmas Classics,” which had nearly 1.5 million views as of Tuesday afternoon, the daughters and Cruz’s wife, Heidi, read from a fictional holiday-themed children’s book while sitting together on the couch. If you want to do it in a political cartoon, think very hard about how you present it.WASHINGTON - (CNN) Ted Cruz obtained new ammunition Tuesday to shoot at his favorite bogeyman, the mainstream media, after The Washington Post depicted his two young daughters as monkey-like characters doing the bidding of their father.īy early Tuesday evening, backlash to the cartoon had swelled to the point where the Post took down the image and replaced it with an editor’s note.Īnn Telnaes, a Post cartoonist, drew an animation of the Republican presidential contender in a Santa outfit, with two hatted creatures, after the family gamely appeared in a parody television advertisement that aired during “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. Do it on-air while discussing the commercial. Do it in words: 'I don't think the way Cruz uses his children is appropriate-it feels like they're props, and he has them repeat political views that they probably don't even understand.' Do it in an opinion piece. This doesn't mean it's impossible to criticize at all, though. Since political cartoons are basically never nuanced, and the subjects are generally caricatured, this does mean that it's going to be close to impossible for a cartoonist to criticize this sort of thing without being seen as violating the norm. This necessarily means that criticism of politicians using their children as props, when it is not done in a nuanced way, or when it is perceived as peripherally attacking the children alongside the parent, is going to be criticized. One way to keep this sort of norm strong and prevent it from being watered down is to treat cases that are less central the same way you would treat central cases. The way this norm is maintained is by strong disapproval from both sides of the aisle whenever it is violated. We have a strong norm in US politics against attacking the kids of politicians.

Ted cruz daughters monkies