The Washington Post has removed an editorial cartoon from its website that showed Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as an organ grinder dressed as Santa Claus with is daughters depicted as trained monkeys.
Cruz lashed out at The Post via Twitter after it printed the cartoon by Ann Telnaes Tuesday, saying, “Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me–Caroline & Catherine are out of your league.”
The Post removed the cartoon – the caption read, “Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props" -- from its website late Tuesday, replacing it with an explanation of the decision.
“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.”
Hiatt is the paper’s editorial page editor.
Fellow GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio joined Cruz in condemning the cartoon.
According to Politico, the cartoon was in response to a parody ad the Cruz campaign released online over the weekend which showed him reading Christmas stories with politics-related themes to his daughters, Caroline, 7, and Catherine, 4. The parody video has been seen by more than a million people.
Telnaes referenced the parody ad in a tweet she posted late Tuesday.
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