There was surprising consensus on today's Morning Joe concerning the Washington Post cartoon that depicted Ted Cruz as an organ grinder and his youngs girls as monkeys. From Mika Brzezinski to Joe Scarborough to Harold Ford, Jr., there was universal condemnation of Ann Telnaes' foul image.
Willie Geist said it best: "people look for moments of bias in the media. Here's one right here. You can't be selectively offended by cartoons. If that had been a Democrat, or God forbid the President of the United States, they would have lit the house on fire. There would have been wall-to-wall coverage on it."
Just before Geist's comment, Scarborough destroyed Telnaes' tweeted suggestion that the cartoon was justified because Cruz had included his kids in a TV commercial. Morning Joe ran an from the 2008 campaign in which Barack Obama's girls were prominently featured. As Geist said, God forbid . . .
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: The Washington Post has retracted a political cartoon over the way it depicted a presidential candidate;s children. Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Ann Telnaes tweeted out this cartoon of Ted Cruz as an organ grinder and his two daughters as apparent [apparent?] monkeys with a caption: Ted Cruze uses his kids as political props.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I've seen it time and time again when you have a candidate that people don't like, editors don't like, papers don't like, the mainstream media don't like, they'll do this. I'm sure Barack Obama never-- Alex [Korson, EP] Barack Obama never did anything like this, did he?
ALEX KORSON: Um, I don't, well actually, Dom [sp?] can you roll X please?
JOE: Let's see if he did. He wouldn't. He'd never use his children.
Cut to 2008 Obama ad with voiceover of Michelle Obama extolling Obama as a great father, with extensive footage of the Obama daughters. Also clip of a victorious Obama telling daughters how much he loves them and that they've earned a puppy to take to the White House.
JOE: That's very cute. And we await the Washington Post's cartoon, political cartoon, mocking Barack Obama's children. Um, Willie: wow!
WILLIE GEIST: People look for moments of bias in the media. Here's one right here. You can't be selectively offended by cartoons. If that had been a Democrat, or God forbid the President of the United States, they would have lit the house on fire. There would have been wall-to-wall coverage on it. Leave the kids out of it, yes, but this particular depiction of it is what's disgusting.
MIKA: And the senator did not waive the unspoken rule. There's no unspoken rule.
JOE: There is no unspoken rule.
MIKA: What the heck are you talking about?
JOE: It's outrageous.
