Photo by Hank for Senate/Text by Benjamin R. Freed
Just days after he tossed his collar in the chase for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Jim Webb (D-Va.), Hank the Cat, America’s favorite (and only?) feline candidate for higher office, became the target of a nasty smear advertisement authored by a mysterious political-action committee.
The spot, allegedly the work a super PAC called Canines for a Feline Free Tomorrow, asks some pretty damning questions about the furry, free-market conservative kitty. Where are his birth certificate and tax returns? “He has never responded to allegations that he used catnip.”
The ad also wants to know if—in keeping with recently passed state-level legislation that will require pregnant women seeking an abortion to first undergo an ultrasound examination—Hank will demand the same of female cats before they are spayed.
But most trenchantly, the ad wonders what Hank, a Maine Coon, is doing so far away from New England. Maybe Hank is a carpetbagger. Then again, so are his rivals, Democrat Tim Kaine (birthplace: Saint Paul, Minn.) and Republican George Allen (Whittier, Calif.). And whether or not Hank is actually from Maine or if its just his lineage should matter very little. Maine Coons are one of the most popular domestic breeds of North American cats and one that evolved on our shores. (The breed’s more distant ancestry, however, is a bit spotty, with one legend claiming that Marie Antoinette, while unable to escape the French Revolution herself, was able to secure passage for six prized pet cats on a ship bound for America.)
Hank’s owner and campaign manager, however, is taking the attack ad as seriously as Hank’s campaign should be taken, which is to say much less seriously than the media—DCist included—have been so far. “He’s still taking his daily naps and getting excited about cheese,” Matthew O’Leary told The Huffington Post.
And the so-called super PAC of concerned pooches is actually the handiwork of The Big Honkin’, a group of Virginia filmmakers. Watch the full ad below:
