In a shocking display of bad taste, the Washington Post insulted the children of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz. The newspaper published a cartoon that shows Cruz’s daughters Catherine and Caroline, as dancing monkeys and Cruz as a Santa-clad organ grinder. The cartoon was drawn by Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes.
Cruz was justifiably outraged. “My daughters are not FAIR GAME. I’m sickened … I knew I’d be facing attacks from day one of my campaign, but I never expected anything like this,” wrote Cruz in an email.
He also used the fracas to launch an emergency appeal to raise $1 million in 24 hours as a response to the cartoon and to combat what he called the liberal media’s attempt to “attack and destroy me (and my family) by any means necessary.”
The Washington Post pulled the carton and issued the following retraction:
Editor’s note from Fred Hiatt: It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it. I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published. I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree.
Other Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Marco Rubio expressed support for Cruz, tweeting:
The artist who drew the cartoon defended her actions on Twitter in a tweet, “Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props.” The tweet has since been deleted.
