Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain released an edgy video Monday that appears to show a rabbit getting shot.
The video uses computer-generated effects to show a rabbit being catapulted into the air and then shot by a man with a rifle, as if it were a clay disc in a skeet-shooting competition.
While it does not appear any rabbits were harmed in the production, the video is likely to raise some eyebrows. During his GOP presidential bid, Cain became renowned for his bizarre campaign ads, which often became big hits on the Web.
This point of the video is to criticize the tax code as hurting small businesses.
In the video, a young girl is shown holding a rabbit.
“This is small business,” the girl says.
The girl then places the rabbit on a catapult.
“This is small business under the current tax code,” she continues. The rabbit is then launched squealing into the air before being shot.
The girl in the video is the same one from an ad released earlier this month, in which a broken fish bowl is used as a metaphor for “the economy on stimulus,” and a goldfish is shown out of water, flopping and gasping.
Another unusual Cain ad featured his mustachioed campaign manager, Mark Block, taking a long drag on a cigarette before cutting to Cain staring into the camera and slowly smiling.
Last October, Cain shot to the top of the polls in the GOP primary on the strength of his populist message and 9-9-9 tax plan. His candidacy was derailed shortly after, amid allegations of sexual harassment and some high-profile foreign-policy gaffes.
