Patrick Caldwell/Mother Jones
On Friday, the Republican National Committee unveiled its latest tactic to tear down Hillary Clinton’s would-be presidential campaign: an intern in a giant orange squirrel suit. The concept behind the attack requires some mental gymnastics to grasp. See, Republicans find it crazy that Democrats have latched onto Clinton as their 2016 standard bearer, so the squirrel’s tagline is “Another Clinton in the White House is Nuts.” When the squirrel wandered around outside a Clinton event in DC last Friday, its message wasn’t readily apparent; most Hillary devotees offered it high-fives before they noticed that the furry mascot was a GOP project.
So why a squirrel? Consider it a money-saving move on the GOP’s part. This isn’t the first time the party has used this particular squirrel suit. Back in 2008, the GOP introduced it as part of a campaign against ACORN, the voter registration group that would eventually close after a conservative backlash. The squirrel traveled the country that fall protesting ACORN. The RNC even gave the squirrel its own WordPress blog. “We are a group of concerned squirrels traveling around the country in an effort to highlight Barack Obama’s relationship with ACORN,” the About page said.
He became friends with fitness guru Richard Simmons:
The ACORN squirrel speaks:
Ultimately, the squirrel failed at its mission: Obama won the 2008 election despite the ACORN controversy. Since then, the suit has lingered unused at RNC offices. Why revive it this year? Kristen Kukowski, press secretary at the RNC, told Mother Jones over e-mail, “What can I say? We believe in recycling.”