Chicken George (politics)

Chicken George was a campaign tactic in the 1992 U.S. presidential election, where one or more people in chicken costumes heckled President George H. W. Bush over his refusal to participate in a debate with Democratic candidate Bill Clinton.

In 1992, Bush refused to agree to the debate format determined by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. As late as September, the campaign was refusing to accept proposals from the Commission.

Clinton supporters Derrick Parker and John O'Meara came up with the idea for Chicken George at a bar in Detroit, Michigan on September 9, 1992. They devised a publicity stunt invoking the pejorative term "chicken" that involved renting a chicken costume and following Bush around, calling him too cowardly to debate. The following day, Parker appeared as the chicken outside the Detroit Economic Club, where Bush was giving a Labor Day speech. The Chicken did not speak, but was accompanied by O'Meara, who called himself Colonel James Baker III and acted as his spokesperson, "translating" the chicken sounds that Parker would make.

Their publicity efforts were eventually picked up by the national news media and included an ABC World News Tonight story interviewing the pair on a golf course in the Upper Peninsula. Soon the Clinton campaign was ensuring that a chicken would appear at each Bush event. Clinton political strategist James Carville wrote that "... there was a Michigan Chicken George, a Mississippi Chicken George, a Tennessee Chicken George. At first we recruited them, but real soon all the local people wanted to do it. Everybody wanted to be Chicken George. It was the way to get on TV. At War Room meetings we'd get a Chicken George report." Chicken Georges in Clarksville, Tennessee had signs that said "READ MY BEAK: DON'T BE A CHICKEN. DEBATE." A Chicken George in Mississippi was arrested. Another in Shreveport, Louisiana was unable to get through security until he showed them a sign that said "POULTRY WORKERS FOR BUSH." After he was inside the campaign event, he turned the sign around to reveal that it said "CHICKEN GEORGE".

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