Photo by Hank for Senate/Text by Benjamin R. Freed

Hank the Cat, the furry, housebound, third-party candidate running to be the next U.S. senator from Virginia might be boasting that he has more Facebook friends than his Democratic rival in the race, former Gov. Tim Kaine, but it’s not all good news for the hairball-coughing campaigner.

Canines for a Feline-Free Tomorrow, the supposed political action committee opposing the Springfield cat’s candidacy, is back with another attack ad impugning Hank’s supposed ability to serve Virginia’s 8 million residents. And this time, the charges could really stick. Last week, the anti-Hank super-PAC accused Hank, a Maine coon, of being a carpetbagger. Then again, Kaine and the Republican candidate, former Sen. George Allen, weren’t born in Virginia themselves.

But the ad released over the weekend is much more damning. Imagine if, the spot suggests, that a crisis were brewing and that the junior senator from Virginia were needed to step into the fray. With the phone ringing urgently, would Hank be prepared to answer the call?

No, of course. One needs thumbs to properly work a telephone and Hank, as a cat, doesn’t measure up. What does that make Hank, in a word?

Opposable. (Groan.)

However, this attack seems a slight bit unfair. The lack of thumbs hasn’t precluded others from serving in the U.S. Senate. Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who lost an arm and both legs in the Vietnam War, served from 1997 to 2003, while Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who lost his right arm in World War II, has been a member of the Senate since 1963.

Watch the ad, created by the Virginia filmmakers’ group The Big Honkin’, and decide if it veers too close to mocking a physical disability.