On Tuesday, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes released a cartoon depicting Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) as an organ grinder and his two daughters, aged four and seven, as monkeys.
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
She explained her vicious cartoon by recognizing the “unspoken rule in editorial cartooning that a politician’s children are off-limits.” She then added, “But 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.” How about President Obama’s children, routinely trotted out for political purposes by the Obamas? How about Hillary Clinton trotting out her status as a grandmother on the campaign trail? How about Nancy Pelosi stacking the House chamber with children to push her speakership and Obamacare, or Obama doing the same with regard to gun control? No biggie. But those Cruz kids – they’re monkeys, aren’t they? Here’s Cruz’s response:
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
The Washington Post eventually retracted the cartoon, with this editor’s note from Fred Hiatt:
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.
Why would he understand why Telnaes thought an exception was warranted? What hogwash. Telnaes has let her racism run unbridled with regard to Cruz:
Tortillas, #teaparty, & #TedCruz pic.twitter.com/PdkUS9Tpi3
— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) October 15, 2013
Senator Ted Cruz pic.twitter.com/0kg5prf8Yx
— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) September 23, 2013
And Telnaes has a history of ripping on children of conservatives in her cartoons:
This bitter childless woman has a history of imagining children on strings/leashes. pic.twitter.com/dv6bYn0tLZ
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) December 23, 2015
So, how did the media cover a major newspaper running a caricature by a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist of a Hispanic politician’s four- and seven-year-old children as monkeys? By ignoring it, or blaming Cruz.
CNN headlined, “Washington Post pulls cartoon depicting Ted Cruz’s daughters as monkey-like characters.”
CNN’s lead read thusly:
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.
Yes, you see, the villain in all of this is Cruz. He was waiting – waiting, you hear?! – to exploit his daughters and draw the media into his crafty trap.
Here was Politico’s headline: “Ted Cruz lashes out at Washington post cartoonist for drawing his daughters.”
As monkeys. And the problem is not Cruz.
But you won’t hear that from the media.
Here’s Reuters’ headline:
Cruz blasts cartoon accusing him of using his children as ‘props’ https://t.co/ODR5mTwXvj
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) December 23, 2015
That crazy Cruz and his anti-media aggression!
Pathetic left-lackey site Mediaite headlined, “WaPo Caves Into Pressure, Deletes Cartoon Depicting Cruz’s Children Amid Backlash.”
Depicting his children as monkeys.
The Hill ran a story titled, “Washington Post retracts cartoon that calls Cruz’s daughters ‘political props.’” Monkeys.
The Hill then reported that Cruz had “used the flat in a Tuesday fundraising pitch.” Well, that makes Cruz the bad guy, then.
The Washington Post itself ran a piece from Chris Cillizza titled, “Why that now-retracted Washington Post cartoon is a gift to Ted Cruz.”
The Post, needless to say, never said the same about references to Barack Obama’s birth certificate, or references about his ears, or anything of the sort.
So here’s the deal. If you’re Trig Palin, you’re fair game; if you’re Malia Obama, you’re not. If you’re Mitt Romney’s adopted grandson, you’re fair game; if you’re Hillary Clinton’s granddaughter, you’re not. If you’re Ted Cruz’s kids, you’re monkeys; if you’re any child of a Democrat, you’re off limits.
And if Republicans complain about this, they’re overreaching.
Despicable.