Sen. Ted Cruz hammered the Washington Post on Wednesday for publishing an online editorial cartoon depicting his two young daughters as dancing monkeys, telling a crowd in Tulsa that the attack "has no place in politics." 
 
 "Not too much ticks me off, but making fun of my girls, that'll do it," Cruz said in response to the cartoon, which has since been taken down. 
 
 "It used to be for a long time the rules across the board that kids are off limits," he added. "That should be the rules. Don't mess with our kids. Don't mess with my kids. Don't mess with Marco's kids. Don't mess with Hillary's kid. 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 gonna do. But leave our kids alone." 
 
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 "Let's argue about marginal tax rates. Let's argue about policy. But don't be attacking five year-old girls. That has no place in politics." 
 
 Cruz also tweeted a cartoon of Hillary Clinton walking her "lapdogs," the Washington Post and the New York Times. 
 
 Seems like a better idea for a cartoon: Hillary and her lapdogs. pic.twitter.com/dou9c7fS4U — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 23, 2015 
 
 On Tuesday, Cruz launched an "emergency" appeal seeking to raise $1 million in 24 hours in response to the 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." 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz launched an "emergency" fundraising appeal after the Washington Post ran an animation online showing his daughters as monkeys. TedCruz.org 
 
 Cruz accused the "liberal media" of attempting to "attack and destroy me (and my family) by any means necessary." 
 
 "This is an emergency — all hands on deck," his fundraising letter added. "Click here to make an instant, emergency contribution and help me fight back." 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz shops for jewelry with his daughters Catherine, left, and Caroline during a campaign stop in Deerfield, N.H., on Oct. 2. Jim Cole / AP 
 
 The animation by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes sparked immediate controversy and was later taken down by the Post. 
 
 Telnaes also posted a tweet showing the image on Tuesday, which stated that "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props." It was later deleted. 
 
 The cartoon — which portrayed Cruz in a Santa outfit with an organ-grinder and daughters Catherine, 4, and Caroline, 7, as monkeys — was replaced by a note from editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, explaining that it had generally been the Post's policy “to leave children out of it.” 
 
 Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me--Caroline & Catherine are out of your league. https://t.co/N61ys6z8w1 — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 22, 2015 
 
 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.” 
 
 Telnaes was herself unapologetic, posting a link on Twitter to a parody campaign ad released by Cruz's campaign which showed him reading Christmas stories to his daughters with titles such as “How Obamacare Stole Christmas” and “Rudolph the Underemployed Reindeer.” That ad aired during the most recent episode "Saturday Night Live." 
 
 Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad- don't start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well. https://t.co/7hafBacOiK — Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) December 22, 2015 
 
 Cruz received support from his Republican rival Marco Rubio, who called the cartoon “disgusting.” 
 
 Wash Post cartoon featuring @tedcruz’s children is disgusting. The Post saying the kids are “fair game” is even worse. — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 23, 2015 
 
 Thank you, @marcorubio Appreciate the kind support. We're both Dads of young kids, and it's hard enough on them. https://t.co/8bBtHgxv3M — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 23, 2015 
 
 And Donald Trump tweeted a defense of Cruz on Wednesday morning, too. 
 
 The @washingtonpost, which is the lobbyist (power) for not imposing taxes on #Amazon, today did a nasty cartoon attacking @tedcruz kids. Bad — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2015 
 
 Cruz will spend Wednesday on the final day of an eight-state, 12-city "Christmas Tour." 
 
 A new national Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday put the Canadian-born Texas senator at 24 percent in the race for the GOP nomination — behind Donald Trump at 28 percent. 
 
 Last weekend, Cruz's wife, Heidi, and the couple' daughters joined him for a weekend trip through the South. While their father shook hands, his two daughters stood on stage and waved to the crowd. ||||| The Washington Post removed an editorial cartoon depicting Ted Cruz’s daughters as monkeys from its website Tuesday after the GOP presidential candidate lashed out at the paper. 
 
 “Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me--Caroline & Catherine are out of your league,” Cruz tweeted. 
 
 The cartoon, featuring the Texas senator as an organ grinder in a Santa Claus hat and his two daughters as monkeys, was removed from the paper’s site and the editorial editor issued a statement. 
 
 HALF OF U.S. VOTERS WOULD BE EMBARRASSED IF TRUMP WAS PREZ 
 
 “It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it,” editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said in the statement. “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.” 
 
 The cartoonist, Ann Telnaes defended her work, saying that Cruz’s 5- and 7-year-old daughters were “fair game” after being featured in a Christmas parody ad released by the senator’s campaign. 
 
 The tongue-in-cheek ad featured Cruz and his wife Heidi reading fake Christmas books to their daughters with titles including “How ObamaCare Stole Christmas” and “Auditing St. Nick.” 
 
 Cartoonist Ann Telnaes called Ted Cruz's daughters "fair game" after they appeared in the GOP presidential candidate's campaign ads. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call,Inc.) 
 
 “Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad- don’t start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well,” Telnaes wrote. 
 
 Even Cruz’s GOP rivals jumped to his defense. 
 
 “Wash Post cartoon featuring @tedcruz’s children is disgusting. The Post saying the kids are “fair game” is even worse,” fellow Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter. ||||| Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Florida, have had a contentious few weeks on the campaign trail sparring over policy positions from immigration to government surveillance in an effort to break out in a crowded GOP primary field and solidify their own support for the Republican nomination. 
 
 But just three days before Christmas, the Washington Post has brought the two senators together on a central tenet of politics -- that children are off limits. 
 
 Earlier Tuesday, The Washington Post had published a cartoon by Ann Telnaes, the paper's editorial cartoonist, that depicted Senator Cruz dressed like Santa Claus accompanied by his two daughters who are attached to strings and wearing red outfits looking like "trained monkeys" as Cruz put it. 
 
 The caption read, "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props." 
 
 Cruz, who spent his 45th birthday Tuesday campaigning across several SEC primary states responded swiftly to the Washington Post cartoon on Twitter. 
 
 Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me--Caroline & Catherine are out of your league. https://t.co/N61ys6z8w1 — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 22, 2015 
 
 Rubio later tweeted his own disgust for the newspaper and support for Cruz. 
 
 Wash Post cartoon featuring @tedcruz's children is disgusting. The Post saying the kids are "fair game" is even worse. — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 23, 2015 
 
 Cruz then thanked Rubio for coming to his defense. 
 
 Thank you, @marcorubio Appreciate the kind support. We're both Dads of young kids, and it's hard enough on them. https://t.co/8bBtHgxv3M — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 23, 2015 
 
 The Cruz campaign was also quick to turn the cartoon into a fundraising appeal to supporters, characterizing it as an attack on Cruz and his family from the "liberal media." 
 
 The first line of the email from Cruz - which includes a screen grab of the cartoon - reads, "I'm sickened...I knew I'd be facing attacks from day one of my campaign but I never expected anything like this." 
 
 The Washington Post has since taken the cartoon down. Although the headline still stood, reading, "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props (updated with statement)," the cartoon was gone, and in its place stood this: 
 
 "Editor's note from Fred Hiatt: 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."
– The Washington Post has retracted a political cartoon featuring Ted Cruz's two daughters that caused the Republican candidate to warn his kids "are not fair game." The image, seen here, from Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes showed Cruz as an organ grinder dressed as Santa, led by two dancing monkeys, representing his daughters Catherine, 4, and Caroline, 7. "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props," the caption read, per CBS News. Not long after it was published online, however, it was replaced by a note from editorial page editor Fred Hiatt. "It's generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it," he wrote. "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." By late Tuesday, Cruz had launched an "emergency" fundraising appeal hoping to raise $1 million in 24 hours so he could "fight back," reports NBC News. He called the cartoon a "tasteless attack" on his children. "I knew I'd be facing attacks from day one of my campaign, but I never expected anything like this," he added, arguing the "liberal media" is trying to "attack and destroy me (and my family) by any means necessary." He was backed by Marco Rubio, who called the cartoon "disgusting." Telnaes, however, defended the cartoon on Twitter. "Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad," she wrote. "Don't start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well." NBC reports Cruz's daughters were spotted waving to the crowd from a stage at a campaign event last weekend.