Ted Cruz bashed the Washington Post with renewed vigor Wednesday after the paper pulled a cartoon depicting his two young daughters as monkeys.
Speaking to reporters, the 2016 GOP presidential candidate said the rule of thumb shouldn’t be too tough: “Leave our kids alone.”
The Texas senator, in Oklahoma for a campaign stop, said, “It’s not complicated — don’t make fun of a five-year-old girl and seven-year-old girl.” He also thanked Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, both rivals for the nomination, for their support during the controversy.
“It’s Christmas time. It’s a time to be with your family, and it’s a time to play with your kids,” Cruz said, adding that he can’t wait to get home for the holiday with his daughters.
“I have to admit, when I saw that cartoon — not much ticks me off, but making fun of my girls, that’ll do it,” Cruz said. “That tweet that I sent, I typed that out on my iPhone … All of us learned in kindergarten don’t hit little girls. It’s not complicated, don’t make fun of a five-year-old girl and seven-year-old girl.”
“Everyone expects the mainstream media to be liberal, to be biased. Folks want to attack me? Knock yourself out. That’s part of the process. I signed up for that, that’s fine,” Cruz told reporters. “But my girls didn’t sign up for that.”
The 2016 hopeful went on to tell the press that the toughest part of the campaign is being away from his two daughters for days at a time on the road.
“It used to be for a long time the rules across the board, that kids were off limits, that should be the rules. Don’t mess with our kids,” Cruz continued. “Don’t mess with my kids, don’t mess with Marco’s kids, don’t mess with Hillary’s kids, don’t mess with anybody’s kids. Leave kids alone. And if the media wants to attack and ridicule every Republican, well that’s what they’re going to do — but leave our kids alone.”
“There shouldn’t be a partisan line,” Cruz added. “It should be true for both Democrats and Republicans — we ought to agree, leave our kids alone.”
Cruz, who has surged to a lead in Iowa recently over Donald Trump, made the remarks after the newspaper pulled the cartoon, with editorial page editor Fred Hiatt reiterating the Post’s policy of keeping the children of candidates off limits.
“It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it,” Hiatt said. “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.”
Source: Washington Examiner
