Cruz blasts media after cartoon takes aim at his children
Source: Reuters
Republican Ted Cruz on Wednesday blasted the media and called for the children of presidential candidates to remain off-limits in campaign coverage after an editorial cartoon depicted his daughters as an organ grinder's monkeys.
The cartoonist, Pulitzer Prize winner Ann Telnaes, said Cruz had used the girls in a campaign ad video so she was justified in putting them in her cartoon, which was on the Washington Post's website on Tuesday before editors removed it.
The Texas senator, who has been rising in polls ahead of the November 2016 election, said at a campaign event in Oklahoma that he expected to be attacked but not his daughters.
"If folks want to attack me, knock yourself out," he said. "... I signed up for that, that's fine. But my girls didn't sign up for that.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cruz-idUSKBN0U61EU20151223
Tab
(11,093 posts)Lots of candidates show their children, but that doesn't make this sort of toon acceptable.
question everything
(47,487 posts)and about a private server.
He used his kids to attack other Hillary, Obama and others.
hibbing
(10,098 posts)I don't find the cartoon particularly enlightening, funny or frankly good in any respect.
Peace
rladdi
(581 posts)holidays. I don't believe he is outraged, it is his chance to get a few more bucks. But then he runs an ad like that against Clinton.
Mr.Bill
(24,303 posts)about stories on the internet that Obama's daughter was drinking at a frat house? (she wasn't)
I don't remember that.
atreides1
(16,080 posts)His girls didn't sign up, he did it for them!
In this case I have to agree with the cartoonist, Cruz opened the door by using his daughters in his snarky campaign video!
As for the rules about not "attacking" the kids, well the Republicans sure forgot that rule when it came to Chelsea Clinton!!!
He doesn't want his daughters to be in it, then leave them at home and don't involve them in his campaign!!!
adigal
(7,581 posts)That's ok though, right???
She sure has grown up to be a beautiful young woman.
The answer is simple, and doesn't really depend on whose daughter it is.
It's okay, and you have to say that what Limbaugh did was perfectly fine; or it's not okay, and you have to say that what the caricaturist did with Cruz' kid wasn't.
What's in between is either a doltish kind of tu quoque ("You did it, so it's okay for me to do it" or just hypocrisy ("it's never okay when you do it, but it's always okay if I do it" .
So is it a principled stance, or a fallacy best disposed of by the time we're 8 or 9 years old, or that ever-endearing faux-principled stance known as hypocrisy?
Or perhaps we can carve out a whole hierarchy of ever finer-grained principles. "It's okay if the kid speaks on air, but not okay if she doesn't. Or it's okay if she speaks on air and says something cute, but not something political. It's okay if she actually was filmed specifically for the political ad, but not if it's from some other appearance." Etc., etc., etc. With, of course, the appropriate people deciding the universal morality of what's okay for all and what's not okay for all.
chelsea0011
(10,115 posts)you are right. He opened the door by having them actively participating in an ad. And a very political ad at that. His kids probably didn't even understand the hidden meaning in the message. He is wrong to even think this warrants outrage.
Andy823
(11,495 posts)Keep the children out of it.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)that a candidate's family should be off-limits in a campaign. The first time that Cruz trots his wife and kids out on a stage at a rally to send the implicit message "See, I'm a great husband and father, therefore I'll make a great president", he's made them, and his family life, relevant and legitimate issues for discussion.
That being said, in this particular case, I have to agree that the cartoon is not making any meaningful or legitimate point about his candidacy.
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)they all trot them out to prove that their dicks work.
Arkansas Granny
(31,519 posts)in campaign ads, but quite another for someone else to use them in attack ads.
marble falls
(57,112 posts)okasha
(11,573 posts)Attacks on candodates' children are out of bounds.
PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)In that ridiculous, idiotic video he made them perform in.
Fuck him.
JI7
(89,252 posts)PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)And rightly so.
He's a piece of trash.
Igel
(35,320 posts)at events, we can soundly and righteously laugh at them being displayed as an organ-grinder's monkeys?
Because, after all, they're not the ones being attacked.
Really? We want to go there?
PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)Cruz didn't merely have the kids in the commercial, he had them fucking saying stupid political shit, they were involved, they were part of the politics because he was using them like an organ grinder.
It's not the same thing at all and you know it.
murielm99
(30,745 posts)Leave the kids alone. That is low.
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)And what is really upsetting is the fact that Cruz can now use this to claim victim hood and detract from the real issues where he is wrong about virtually everything.
JI7
(89,252 posts)DebbieCDC
(2,543 posts)He put them out there as fair game knowing full well what the consequences could/would be. Now he wants to whine about it AND use it as a money-raising gimmick.
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)In principle I agree that candidates' children should be left out of campaign attacks...but I can't help noticing the GOP attacks Democrats' kids with extreme gusto. They've gone after the Obama kids. They went after Chelsea Clinton, and they ripped poor Amy Carter so badly she's kept herself completely out of the public eye.
BTW can ANYONE tell me the attraction of Ann Telnaes' cartoons? She's not funny and her artistic style is as bad as Glenn McCoy's.
Eatacig
(97 posts)Why does right wing radio get a pass? Rush calls the Obama girls filthy names
every day. Ted Cruise accepts his support. Why the double standard? Could it
be because they are not little white girls?
liberaltrucker
(9,129 posts)Kids are ALWAYS off limits.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)If the cartoon had mocked something about their appearance or behavior then that would be over the line.
The cartoon insulted Cruz for using the kids as props.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)but minor kids should be off limits.
briv1016
(1,570 posts)The families and kids should be off limits. (Besides, both Cruz and Trump are wet dreams for the dems. Hold all attacks until they are the nominees.)
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)seven years.
narnian60
(3,510 posts)Good one.
BlueStater
(7,596 posts)He used his children as political props to attack Obama and Hillary. Fuck his whiny, self-righteous ass.
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)RussBLib
(9,020 posts)If Cruz had not used his kids as props in his campaign ad, the cartoonist would not have drawn that comic showing his kids.
Pretty simple.
So I guess it's ok for Cruz to use his kids as props, but not ok to call him on it.
Paladin
(28,265 posts)Cruz is a real piece of filth.
Midnight Writer
(21,769 posts)"Political Correctness" (known as PC in conservative circles) has for some reason become a major issue in this campaign.
Cruz, who sees no problem with Trump's insult comic routine, for example, calling a woman a "fat ass bitch", now draws the line when his family is the target. Good for him.
Now he should be challenged in every interview why he is OK with Trump's routines, insulting women, minorities and handicapped, but finds this cartoon over the line.
Response to alp227 (Original post)
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McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)libdem4life
(13,877 posts)potential candidate has to weigh...it's not just him/her. It's the entire family and often the extended family. I believe that is the reason we don't have quality candidates so much any more. Also, they have to be good at begging for money, leave their job, etc.
MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)It's not a good idea to give the Repugs a legitimate talking point, especially one that play directly into their theme of corporate media misbehavior.
Stupid.
Just play things straight. You give into their crap (e.g., attacking Trump for talking like the putz that he is), you play into the meme that the media is unfair to Repugs.
This is especially a bad idea with Cruz. Cruz is a true-believer wingnut. He really believes the crap he says (in contrast to Rubio, Trump, Huckabee, etc). And he's a fricking brilliant guy. Off the charts smart. I've seen him argue before the USSC, and I can say there is no one better on his feet.
Do not let this guy get traction with stupid moves like this.
He is, by far, the most dangerous candidate to the Progressive movement that I've seen in my 60+ years in politics.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Must be afraid of his wife. He's a scary, powerful dangerous man, be horrible to be on Cruzes bad side. He will ruin that cartoonist.
Him in power? well over half of Americans will suffer with his 'policies'. I think Trump carries water for Cruz, because if he didn't- Cruz would ruin Trump too.