Ted Cruz Calls out Washington Post for Cartoon Depiction of his Daughters as Monkeys

Republican presidential hopeful, Ted Cruz, has bashed Washington Post for publishing a political carton that depicted his two young daughters as monkeys. The cartoon, which was drawn by Ann Telnaes, has since been taken down.

Cruz had tweeted, "Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me--Caroline & Catherine are out of your league."

The senator also sent out a fundraising email that read, "My daughters are not FAIR GAME. I'm sickened ... I knew I'd be facing attacks from day one of my campaign, but I never expected anything like this."

The fundraising email is seeking to raise $1 million in 24 hours.

On Tuesday, Telnaes' piece, titled "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props," was published. The satirical cartoon was a response to Cruz's latest campaign ad that features his two daughters.

The cartoonist, who defended her decision to include Cruz's children, a line that the media usually will not cross, tweeted, "Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad- don't start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well. https://wapo.st/1U0FF7M "

The Post's editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt, however, did not agree with Telnaes' reasoning and took down the post.

"It's generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it," Hiatt's statement read. "I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published. I understand why (the cartoonist) thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree."

The cartoon also received criticisms from the other Republicans.

Marco Rubio tweeted, "Wash Post cartoon featuring @tedcruz's children is disgusting. The Post saying the kids are 'fair game' is even worse."

Washington Post retracts cartoon depicting Cruz's daughters as trained monkeys: https://t.co/vTApGsDQGV pic.twitter.com/IUrxifMTQS

— The Hill (@thehill) December 23, 2015