This is one situation that actually makes me feel a bit sorry for distrusTED. What parent hasn't had their seven-year-old act out in a bizarre way? Most of us, though, don't have to deal with this with cameras documenting the moment. I mean, what is he supposed to do? Smile and turn away? Scold her? No matter what his reaction, we're going to find something to pick at.

Doesn't mean that he's not a complete dick, though.

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME DAD

How about empathize with her obvious discomfort and don't make it worse by forcing it, especially on national TV...

Oh wait, did I mistake Ted Cruz for someone capable of empathisizing?

"But Dad, you said we can only do our kissing thing when people aren't watching!"

So many people (of whatever persuasion) are all about the projection of appearance over substance (the perfect family, the stellar career arc, the "best" schools, the hippest pet, etc.). One thing that really warms my heart is seeing kids and parents being casually and naturally affectionate with each other in public, especially when the kids are in the age range where they're supposed to hate that (10-16, ± a couple of years?). You just know that somehow the kids have learned trust and bodily autonomy, and the parents have never betrayed that (or very rarely, and with appropriate amends).

I do enjoy the daughter's attempts to flick him away like a bug.

Harvesting cyber-rot out of raw footage.

What @1 said.

Not really sure what the point of that video is. So what? A kid doesn't want hugged by their parent in public. Who hasn't felt that way before from time to time when you were a little kid?

There is way more pertinent shit to go after the Asshole Cruz.

Cato the Younger Younger @7,

Nothing wrong with not wanting to be used as a prop by a self-absorbed parent in a drama of their own making. Completely understandable and most parents learn to respect their children’s autonomy.

This parent didn’t. When she clearly indicated No, he tried to force himself upon her.

Oh my God, my kids sometimes act like this too. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with my soul, or that I'm a terrible parent (I think). I fail to see what the fuss is all about, and I can't stand Cruz.

Cato the Younger Younger @7,

It’s completely normal for a child not to want to be used as a prop by a parent in a public drama of their own making. Entirely understandable. Most parents respect a child’s autonomy.

Not this parent. When she clearly indicated No, he forced himself on her. And now she’s being lectured at home for embarrassing him.

Fuck, that was a creepy look.

I read someplace that he spends so much time away from home that when he came home recently, one of his kids didn't recognize him.

Now I'm definitely not voting for him! He may even lose the forced-kiss vote too.

That was like Alien 3.

@15 just with more slime

Even his family doesn't like him.

@Rob- "You just know that somehow the kids have learned trust and bodily autonomy, and the parents have never betrayed that"

Except that he forced a public kiss from her when she plainly didn't want to be touched. That is plainly betrayal and really gross and creepy. I've never understood (or perhaps understood too well) fathers who kiss their daughters, it just seems really incestuous and creepy.

What @3 and @8 said.

My three-year-old sometimes doesn't want to give me hugs. When that happens, I laugh and ask if she'll give me a hug later, which she usually agrees to. Or I exaggerate being mopey and dejected, which sometimes causes her giggle and run over to give me a hug.

What I never do is force her to hug me, because it's creepy as fuck. Because I hated it when relatives did that to me when I was a kid. And because I want her to learn, as early as fucking possible, that she doesn't have to touch anyone if she doesn't want to.

Cruz, on the other hand, has zero (0) sense of his daughter's autonomy. She's a prop in the "loving dad" role he wants to project to the world. And if that script isn't being followed, then by gawd he's going to push it along.

So the problem isn't her rejecting him. It's how he responded to that rejection.

"...because I want her to learn, as early as fucking possible, that she doesn't have to touch anyone if she doesn't want to."

Yeah, I think it's fine for fathers to physically demonstrate affection [in the non-incestuous way], and everyone is going to have the awkward moment, but if I had a daughter--or son, for that matter--I would really like them to grow up knowing that a hug, kiss or even an arm around the shoulder from me is something they are always free to decline without repercussion.

I think that is a great way to teach a child that their body is there own, so that as adults they don't think twice about letting others know where their boundaries are.

@9 Busy, it wasn't just the forced kiss to camera that Dan highlighted, it's that lecherous look on Cruz's face straight after. This guy is more incidious than Trump, at least the latter owned up to wanting to do his daughter.

Suffer the little children, indeed.

Skye Blu @18, that quote from me was meant to refer to OTHER instances of child/parent interaction I have witnessed that were unforced and not nauseating, rather than the Cruz/daughter one, which was both forced and nauseating. Sorry I wasn't clear.

My sentiments exactly. Poor kid.

@5, I thought it was plenty clear that you were describing the type of parent that Cruz is not.

Of course Cruz looks creepy when he looks at the camera... Because Cruz has Resting Creepy Face. Seriously, he ALWAYS looks creepy.

As for the interaction itself, I am loathe to judge from a short video segment. Could be as simple as an awkward parent child interaction, which we've all had, or something that would seem entirely benign with greater context.

@23: You were clear enough to me as well, rob! Skye Blu's misreading wasn't your fault.

I get the respect for autonomy. I really do. But Cruz's approach is hardly uncommon or egregious. My father had a similar attitude of "Come give me a kiss," and it certainly wasn't a question. I don't agree with his approach, but neither do I consider the man a monster, and it's vaguely unsettling to see so many people latch onto that moment as cheap fodder. This is a man you really shouldn't *need* cheap fodder against.

@21: Lecherous look? Really? I see a man who's clearly embarrassed, trying to shrug off the rebuff with a joking expressing that says, "Kids, amirite?" You seriously think Cruz wants to bang his seven year old daughter?

Trump's comment that he would marry his daughter was more along the lines of they had a lot in common than he wanted to bang her.

I yearn for the day in politics when issues will matter more than gaffes. I'll probably for waiting.

*joking expression, *probably die waiting

Damn this phone.

I remember being guilt-ed into kissing relatives. None of them were creepy, but I was a little kid who rarely saw these folks, sometimes they smelled strange (makeup, perfume and after shave were foreign smells to me) and for whatever reason I hated that moment of interaction.
Now, when kids are little, it can be useful to pick them up and move them along from danger (sockets, stairs, hot stoves) regardless of what they want. But I love to grant them autonomy over them selves so they learn they HAVE a right to not be touched, that everyone has that right. So at times of greeting and farewell, I like to offer "kisses or hi-fives" and if they don't respond I drop it immediately. Sometimes this requires a quick reassurance to the parent that I'm totally fine with the kid's response, but usually it works fine. Some kids are happy to hug everone, some aren't and both are legit. They should be able to make that choice themselves whenever a parent can let them.
But none of it is stuff you want on camera.

I agree with Xiao and others. Cruz is a creep, let's not be creeps too.
My dad liked to grab us and hug and kiss us with his scratchy stubble. We hated/loved it. And fuck anyone saying dads shouldn't hug and kiss their daughters. You're the one with the problem if see something sexual in that.

I heard Donald Trump say he would date his own daughter.. That sounds a little off kilter to me. The look in Cruz's face looked lecherous to me, or maybe a look of control/ ownership. I don't see embarrassment.
Whatever stops Ted Cruz from getting anywhere near the White House is fine by me.

The issue isn't that she didn't want to kiss him, it's that he didn't laugh it off or let it be, but persisted. Shows a clear disrespect for his daughter, and that just highlights the clear disrespect in using these very young kids as photo fodder in the first place.

It's not unusual for the very young children of very busy people to not have warm and natural relationships with them. It's even not necessarily all that bad a thing, if the children have other people around to love and be loved by - it just is what it is.

But having that type of relationship (and this is not the only video that shows Cruz spends very little time with his kids and they are very not comfortable with him) is one thing - somebody's got to do the kind of jobs that mean you're not home much, and some of those people are parents. It's entirely another thing to have that, but pretend you've got warmth and natural affection. Crux is clearly cold bloodedly exploiting the fact that he has young children in order to make himself seem a "family man" - something he equally clearly is not.

My main reaction to this clip was to think about what that kid's evening was like, out of view of all the cameras. Shudder.

Oh, and I didn't see the glance at the camera as showing perversion, but rather what the real purpose of that little exercise really was - "How does this make me appear?" It's all that matters to him. If this was hard on the kid, it pretty obvious Cruz doesn't give one small shit.