Sierra Club socks it to Republicans on New Hampshire primary’s eve

The Sierra Club is using sock puppets in a satirical effort to transform Republican candidates’ attacks on the EPA and climate science into a political liability for the White House hopefuls.

The group, a day before the New Hampshire primary, released short videos (and unveiled a new Facebook page) that feature recordings of the candidates’ actual comments on the Environmental Protection Agency and climate, voiced through the mouths of satirical puppets.

Sierra claims the candidates are doing the bidding of “deep-pocketed puppet masters.”

The targeted candidates in the Sierra Club’s new “Real Republicans” campaign include front-runner Mitt Romney. His puppet likeness restates Romney’s comment that oil company executives told him that life was better under President George W. Bush, and Romney’s retreat from agreement that human activities are fueling global warming.

The puppets echo attacks on EPA by Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and other candidates whom the Sierra Club calls “extreme” and at odds with public support for public health protections.

“All of the candidates in the Republican primary have turned their backs on the air we breathe, the water we drink and the health of American families to pander to their deep-pocketed puppet masters and the most extreme elements of their party,” said Tony Cani, the Sierra Club’s National Political Director.

The effort includes online ads with New Hampshire news outlets, and the group is planning to continue the campaign in other primary states — Cani said that “this project will help expose their reckless agenda for what it really is.”

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