In the end, the WaPo editorial page editor Fred Hiatt caved to pressure and took it down, leaving this note:
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.Quite aside from the rule against going after children, I would have thought there was a rule against portraying a human being as a monkey (or ape). I know George W. Bush was depicted as a chimpanzee but I wouldn't think anyone mainstream and minimally sophisticated would dare to make an exception for anyone who did not read as 100% white.
A big lesson was learned, and America is safe from child-mockery and politicians are free once again to flog their children mercilessly. (Flog, you know, flog as in: sell.)
Here's the cartoon. (How are we supposed to understand that the monkeys are the children of the organ grinder, who is depicted as a human being? It doesn't really add up. And why is Cruz dressed as Santa Claus? Santa Claus normally represents a proponent of big government, not a staunch conservative like Cruz. )
ADDED: What a gift to Cruz! He can say: "Not too much ticks me off, but making fun of my girls, that'll do it." And he also made made an immediate appeal for donations based on that cartoon:
"My daughters are not FAIR GAME," he wrote in a fundraising email sent late Tuesday. "I'm sickened ... I knew I'd be facing attacks from day one of my campaign, but I never expected anything like this."Sickened!
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66 comments:
I guess WaPo doesn't moderate - much less exercise editorial judgement - its content.
Perhaps because "staunch conservatives" rarely seem to actually make government smaller or stop giving "goodies."
Complain?
I'm sure he expects it.
It's a bad political cartoon. Ted Cruz read knockoffs of Dr. Seuss to his children--he didn't make them solicit donors for funds.
"Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad ..."
So has Obama.
"How are we supposed to understand that the monkeys are the children of the organ grinder[?]"
When the Post published the cartoon online, it had a headline: "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props." So that's how.
(The headline is still there at the site, even as a the cartoon has been spiked.)
"I would have thought there was a rule against portraying a human being as a monkey [...] I wouldn't think anyone mainstream and minimally sophisticated would dare to make an exception for anyone who did not read as 100% white."
So whites are not even human beings anymore. Wow.
A child. A monkey. A clump of cells. Progress.
minimally sophisticated would dare to make an exception for anyone who did not read as 100% white
Au contraire, risk management is a fine art. It is the height of sophistication to demean another person on impulse and keep your job. Especially someone with a full color spectrum (i.e. white).
Anyway, Trig-ger wars. We learn to expect less from the highly sophisticated.
Republican children are always attacked. Can you imagine what would happen if someone did this to the Obama girls?? I, as a conservative, even went after people who were posting the pictures of Malia partying at Brown University. She did not ask to be put in the public eye, her Dad did. Leave the kids alone.
According to the artist the cartoon is supposed to be about Cruz having his children in the ad shown during SNL. So therefore two Hispanic children shown as monkeys.
Like Ace of Spades said, it's not so much the cartoon itself as the blatant double standard.
He's the Grinch dressed as Santa.
Note the nose, and the weird styling of the legs and outfit.
And the Cruz ad introduced the Dr. Seuss reference right at the start.
It's fake outrage all the way down. I'm surprised Cruz buys into the eternal outrage.
That means that policitical correctness is still in the editor's chair of every public debate if Cruz is elected. So no problem can be solved with him.
Trump is the only one so far that gets the urgency of mocking political correctness's enforcers back to their life as soap opera fans, and out of the editor's position in public debate.
Let the cable news networks go back to honest as-the-world-turnd programming.
Open up the coal mines again and put children to work.
How are we supposed to understand that the monkeys are the children of the organ grinder, who is depicted as a human being?
They're props, as presumably Cruz's children are to Cruz, you'd assume for the women's vote, because women don't think very much when estrogen kicks in. But they do vote.
Organ grinders of course care for their monkeys too, so I don't see the insult. Cruz isn't black, so another knee-jerk soap opera narrative is avoided.
Political correctness is all about not noticing things. It's hard to know what to not notice all the time.
Abolishing political correctness as a serious position would solve it all. Trump may do that.
This was the height of liberal hypocrisy. Obama put his kids in a political ad, and they are still off limits. Cruz does it, and they are portrayed as monkeys in a cartoon. Cartoonist should be fired. She won't be, of course. So, just remember this whenever the WaPo tries to play sanctimonious, or even even-handed.
campy said...
"Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad ..."
So has Obama.
Can we all imagine the screams (rightly so) if some person somewhere, much less a leading national outlet, portrayed the Obama girls as Monkeys?
It's early.
Everything in politics and the press is going to get extremely ugly next year. I think there will be open threats of post election prosecution, accusations of corruption and other personal insults flung face to face, and etc. The tone of the press will get apocalyptic. I wouldn't put outbreaks of political violence out of bounds either.
People are just too scared and frustrated and there is too much at stake.
This is low. The press always finds a reason to attack the kids of Republicans (Giuliani's son, Roberts' kids, Bush's kids, Palin's kids, Cruz's kids) and NEVER do it to Dems.
A child. A monkey. A clump of cells. Progress.
The clump of cells at 23 weeks seems now to be viable. I guess when old men or women on a court bench define what is the science of human life, agendas screw them up.
Progressives are bigots and haters when the mask comes off. This is not surprising.
It's par for the course for journalists (Democrat operatives with bylines).
1. Cruz does his Christmas ad on SNL.
2. Stupid, obscure WaPost cartoonist sees it, thinks "I must respond!"
3. Stupid, obscure WaPost cartoonist does cartoon, depicts Cruz kids as monkeys.
4. Stupid, obscure WaPost cartoonist defiantly defends cartoon as somehow justified because Cruz used his kids in political ad first!
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Cruz is marching up the polls. He has surpassed Trump in Iowa, he has tied Hillary in the General. The knives will be coming out for him, but no matter. He's a big player in the big leagues now.
It doesn't really ad up.
Are you overthinking this? Look, you said it yourself: anyone mainstream and minimally sophisticated wouldn't dare to make an exception for anyone who did not read as 100% white. Telnaes is a leftist, and like all leftists has a North Koean's flair for "othering" non-leftists. She's not remotely mainstream, nor is she minimally sophisticated. Layer on top of that the fact that she's a horrible cartoonist and you have a recipe for disaster.
The point of the ad was to humanize Ted Cruz. Politicians are always trying to humanize themselves. They kiss babies and have photo ops with their wives and children. Carly did that dog thing to humanize herself. Republicans have to humanize themselves more than usual because the media is so often demonizing them.
It's strictly routine, right? And yet this WaPo editorial cartoonist is furious. How dare you try to humanize yourself! How dare you show us your family! So now I'm going to demonize your children, too. They are monkeys. That's the purpose of her cartoon, to deny the humanity of Ted Cruz and his family. To restore the media narrative that he is a monster.
And the Catch-22 is that politicians who DON'T have their kids and families visible are viewed as being "weird" by the same media. If Cruz DIDN'T have them there, there'd be bitching.
And I bet you won't see Chelsea in any cartoons. Call it a hunch.
Isn't it also a problem that the dumb*ss editor admitted to not seeing the cartoon? Isn't that part of his job?
Hypocrisy, thy name is WAPO.
Also, note how CNN is covering this controversy: "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."
Obviously, it's Cruz who's out of his mind. I saw the original ad. I thought, like St. Croix, it did a good job of humanizing Ted. It was one of the first times I didn't want to punch him in the face (and I actually agree with his politics!)
" I don't see the insult."
Yes, you don;t. I wonder why ?
Republican kids are fair game, even if they aren't Republican yet. Depicting kids as monkeys is pretty low, no matter the color of the parent.
" I wouldn't put outbreaks of political violence out of bounds either."
I expect race riots if the GOP looks like it might win the presidency. If it's Trump it will be chaos.
so Althouse finds it OK to depict whites like Bush and Cruz's kids as monkeys,
I know George W. Bush was depicted as a chimpanzee but I wouldn't think anyone mainstream and minimally sophisticated would dare to make an exception for anyone who did not read as 100% white.
but God forbid mocking Pres. Rastus or First Lady Sapphire. got it.
Best revenge for President Cruz would be to limit White House press briefings to actual news organizations and not to DNC house organs.
Birches:
"It was one of the first times I didn't want to punch him in the face (and I actually agree with his politics!)"
This is interesting to me. I agree with him on most issues, but don't much like him, nor enjoy seeing/hearing clips of his better campaign moments. I'd much prefer him to Trump as the nominee, for any number of reasons, but there's a part of me that asks, If I don't like him, how will he ever win over the independents?
II wouldn't think anyone mainstream and minimally sophisticated would dare to make an exception for anyone who did not read as 100% white.
It's OK in this case. Since Cruz is a Republican he can be classified as "white" Hispanic.
I realize conservatives are now in "punch back twice as hard" mode, but how can we ever resume some sense of normalcy in this country when we reinforce the micro-aggression strategy?
Are folks here really outraged or are they faux outraged since that's what the left does as strategy?
I do agree that Cruz wasn't using his children in that very clever ad and I was delighted to see his family, even briefly.
President Bush's kids campaigned for him and I remember seeing President Obama's family on stage during his campaign without the charge he was using them.
IMO, the objection should be the false charge that Cruz was "using" his children any more than any other politician (liberals especially), not that the children were portrayed as monkeys.
I thought cartoonists were given lots of latitude in this country.
Maybe Ted should fake cry, and whimper that he is being bullied, like Hillary is doing.
AND, if that cartoon wasn't bad enough...How about one that depicts Ted as a Mexican, when he is Cuban?? http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2015/12/22/tortillas-teaparty-ted-cruz-another-racist-ann-telnaes-cartoon/
"Isn't it also a problem that the dumb*ss editor admitted to not seeing the cartoon? Isn't that part of his job?"
The editor is lying.
Since cruise comes from a protected racial background, surely the BLM and the everythingidracist police should be vehemently objecting to this sub-huminization. Would the media hacks be so quiet if Obama's daughters were depicted in say, the Federalist as primates?
It's an easily understood distinction. It's fair to use your children in promoting yourself and it is unfair for the media or opponents to disparage the children in order to attack the politician.
Of course, in practice the rule is that it's fair to disparage the children of conservatives but it is a holy crime to disparage the children of democrats.
The cartoon really doesn't work. It's a projection of the cartoonist. Cruz doesn't believe in the creation theory of simian derivatives.
@Michael K
I expect race riots if the GOP looks like it might win the presidency. If it's Trump it will be chaos.
I'm not so sure. Trump has a very good rapport with black community in New York. In fact, while, Yes, the militant hispanic illegal immigration groups understandably don't like Trump, I don't think Trump has made any noise against Black Lives Matter or any black group.
"so Althouse finds it OK to depict whites like Bush and Cruz's kids as monkeys..."
Did you have to go out of your way to read that badly?
Did you have to go out of your way to read that badly?
He merely treated you the way the MSM treats those on the Right.
"Isn't it also a problem that the dumb*ss editor admitted to not seeing the cartoon? Isn't that part of his job?"
Worse, he understood the rational for using Cruz's kids even though he pulled the cartoon.
"Did you have to go out of your way to read that badly?"...
It wasn't as long a trip as you imagine.
I read your line as it's less hard to believe someone of "sophistication" might do this to a white politician. So, since being sophisticated/educated/elite is requisite to being the final arbiter of right and wrong, it is (at least) not so bad.
Think of this as political road rage. Ann Telnaes was so upset that Cruz had the audacity to make fun of leftists in his commercial that she let her true bigoted feelings be displayed in public by attacking Cruz’s children in a racist manner.
Cruz did not go far enough. He should demand a public apology from the writer and the Post, and he should demand that she be fired, and ask his supporters to also demand it and keep demanding it.
That's what the Dem's would do.
Think about it; a cartoon of Zero or the Vagina's kids as monkeys. What would they the Dems demand. Yes firing is the only appropriate relief. Demand it today.
Conservatively, Trump is going to have at least 30% support from hispanics and blacks in the general. Some outraged liberals might want riots, but they're mostly not the sort to riot themselves. Opportunistic recreational looting on top of a protest, sure. But very little of it if Trump's a clear electoral winner.
It is a shame that at equal levels of prior political accomplishment, the people I consider at a glance to be more intelligent (Walker, Cruz) are underpowered in the charisma dept. To be honest Hillary is not as uncharismatic as her haters (myself included) would like to believe. I mostly object to her values + character + competence.
Considering Cruz and his kids are part Italian this is very offensive. When will the war on Italian Americans end?
This will be the season of the media, once again, showing us it's true colors.
Schlonged is a word that cannot be said. Teabaggers? Hahahahahaha!
Children should never be a target! Have you no decency!
Cruz kids are monkeys? Hahahahahaha!
They don't even notice either. Because the last 7 years was so long ago.
And this is just the beginning. The episodes of this happening will be legion.
Don't Ted Cruz's (adorable blonde) kids read as 100% white?
PS I have been assuming that Ted and Hillary will both get nominated in order to keep up the American tradition of electing presidents with adorable daughters.
Of course the children of the candidates should be off limits. Why anyone would think it's a good idea to insult children is beyond me.
"Trump has a very good rapport with black community in New York. In fact, while, Yes, the militant hispanic illegal immigration groups understandably don't like Trump, I don't think Trump has made any noise against Black Lives Matter or any black group."
Trump doesn't have a good relationship with the black community. He posted a graph with bogus stats in a tweet that came straight from a white supremacist group. Trump also said that if any BLM protesters disrupted his events he would deal with them harshly, rough them up.
BLM protester disrupts Trump, gets punched and kicked.
Trump posts bogus graph to make a racist point.
The Cruz kids were extremely cute. I thought he had hired child actors. They certainly don't favor the father.......Ivanka Trump is infinitely better looking and far more personable than Chelsea, and they're both well over twenty one. I hope Donald presents this as a campaign issue.
"Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad — don't start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well."
Barack Obama put his children in political ads, as does just about every other politician who has them (pictures of the family, if nothing else).
When the WaPo starts running cartoons of Obama's daughters as two monkeys, let me know. Until then?
The Cartoonist is a sleazy leftist, pardon the redundancy.
@ JPS
Oh yeah, I think he's Electoral suicide. Rubio would be a much better choice I think, even if he's squishy.
Are folks here really outraged or are they faux outraged since that's what the left does as strategy?
I'm more irked because it is a one-way street.
Chelsea Clinton is, literally, the most boring person in existence. She's so bland that vanilla cannot stand being around her.
Will she appear in cartoons? No. Did she when Bill ran? No.
Malia and Sasha are off-limits. OK, fine.
Why isn't Trig Palin? Bristol Palin? Jenna Bush? Why wasn't Giuliani's son? Why weren't Roberts' kids, who the WaPo "fashion editor" thought were worth attacking? Why aren't Cruz's kids?
Why should we sit there and ACCEPT a double standard?
Of course the children of the candidates should be off limits. Why anyone would think it's a good idea to insult children is beyond me.
The press does it to Republican kids fairly often.
Trump also said that if any BLM protesters disrupted his events he would deal with them harshly, rough them up.
Oh. I'm supposed to be outraged. I'll get right on it.
Ugh... another hack cartoonist with a Pulitzer. Philadelphia Inquirer readers praised one of the biggest cheapshot artists on the planet-- Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth-- for two decades or so. Auth was one-sided and heavy-handed. And his drawings were crude, but not in a charming way. Do the Pulitzer folks have any cred any more?
Damikesc,
I don't want you to be outraged. I don't honestly care how you feel. My point in bringing it up is that the Black community will not support Trump in any meaningful way. It's the black voter's feelings I'm interested in, not yours.
It's a twofer: The kid thing is a bad decision, the monkey thing is a secondbad decision. On top of that, there's nobody with a brain QC-checking the editorial page cartoon? You don't have to like Cruz to understand why Bezos is probably livid over this. It damages the already sinking brand he was purportedly trying to repair. Jeff: you can paint over the rot but it eventually shows through.
It should be obvious to anyone sane that one doesn't make derisive cartoons of a politician's minor children.
Really, it should.
Ann Telnaes should be made into an object lesson. Does she have kids? Go after them. Nieces or nephews? Go after them too.
You want to stop the Left from going after the children? Make them suffer for it.
Or, you can keep playing the "civility" game where your side is the only one playing fair.
Blogger Amanda said...
Damikesc,
I don't want you to be outraged. I don't honestly care how you feel. My point in bringing it up is that the Black community will not support Trump in any meaningful way. It's the black voter's feelings I'm interested in, not yours.
It doesn't have to be meaningful. If Trump gets 30% of the black vote, Hillary will be schlonged.
Weren't we just discussing Chelsea Clinton's pregnancy and its timing a few days ago?
While it doesn't sink to this level, it's odd to see people claim we never talk about Dems kids.
We did, this week, here.
No, Mark -- what we never see is the MSM demeaning the children of leftist politicians. Speculations on a blog aren't equivalent to a WaPo cartoon.
coincidence or enemy action,
http://www.weaselzippers.us/247034-phil-kerpen-bitter-childless-cartoonist-from-washington-post-has-history-of-imagining-children-on-leashes/
Chelsea Clinton is an adult and a public figure. She's fair game.
this is really not that hard.
Do what Mr. T. Does. Being civil just to show you're far better than they are does not work. You're already far better no matter what you say. If they poke you in the eye, you poke back. Including going after their family. If they have children, find something compromising and post their pictures and addresses. If they have no children, go after their relatives' children. Shouldn't be too hard to find arrest records, drug abuse, drop outs, still living at home, tax cheats and neer-do-wells. Don't let up until they cry "uncle." It's about time these bullies met someone capable of beating them up so bad they can't get up. Keep on making examples of every media personality until they give up. and not just their abuse of children, It's time to bring out your inner Ralphie. Mr. T. suggests families are fair targets when adversaries behave like savages. Time for reporters to be treated like what they are. I'ts wonderful that right to free speech applies to both sides, you're overdue to exercise yours. Mr. T. does, and you should too. Then just bathe in the applause from the least of us as your adrenaline drops after you've chosen to fight, not flee. Be sure to declare what offense you are responding to. From a savage attack on family, a child or relative, or those who are the DNC with a byline. After all as DNC supporters they can't do any worse than they've already done to you, their opposition. Time to fight fire with 10x the fire, No reason to turn the other cheek after a decade and more of this sh!t. They started it, it's time for you to end it or die trying. Ralphie might not have lived happily ever after. But you'll never know unless you give it your best shot.
You want to stop the Left from going after the children? Make them suffer for it.
Go after Chelsea and her husband. And, maybe grandkids. She is still butt ugly, and would make a great cartoon character. He isn't any better looking. And, she is old enough that there should be no resistance. Plus, she is one of the direct beneficiaries of the Clinton corruption, having the third name on their foundation, used by her mother to shovel money to the family when she was selling American foreign policy for money to the family. What I am envisioning right now is Hillary, maybe Bill, Chelsea, her husband, and kid(s), all with exaggerated features and wads of dollar bills sticking out everywhere. Maybe Bill off to the side with his male organ in an underaged girl. Or, something like that.
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