Ted Cruz: I'm not Freddy Krueger

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is fed up with everyone thinking he's some child-scaring monster.

During a weekend stop in New Hampshire, Cruz caught the attention of a three-year-old girl with a line about the whole world being aflame. Many reports painted the girl as petrified of Cruz, an interpretation the freshman senator rejects.

"It's gotten worse and worse," he said Tuesday on MSNBC. "It was first 'girl startled,' then it became 'girl terrified.' By the end of it, I'm Freddy Krueger, torturing this girl in her nightmare."

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In the horror franchise, the vengeful Krueger infests children's dreams and kills them in their sleep. —Jon Terbush