Why people have trouble with the "rat" comment?
I don't consider "rat" as an insult. Consider for a moment, the world a rat lives in. It's a hostile world indeed.
Has a rat ever done anything to you to create this animosity you feel toward them? Rats were the cause of the Bubonic plague, but that was some time ago. In all your born days, has a rat ever caused you to be sick a day in your life? I purpose to you, any disease a rat could spread, a squirrel could equally carry. Yet I assume you don't share the same animosity if Ronaldo call Rooney a squirrel, do you?