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Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign released a new television ad overnight, which has caused a bit of a stir in Republican circles. Here’s the 30-second spot, which will begin airing in South Carolina as early as today:
For those who can’t watch clips online, the ad, called “Easy Answer,” features the following script:
“Obama supported the Wall Street bailouts. So did Romney.
“Obama gave us radical Obamacare that was based on Romneycare.
“Obama’s a liberal on social issues. Romney once bragged he’s even more liberal than Ted Kennedy on social issues.
“Why would we ever vote for someone who is just like Obama? When we can unite around Rick Santorum — and beat Obama.”
It’s obviously a pretty straightforward spot, hitting the Republican frontrunner on some of his intra-party weaknesses. Indeed, these are the kind of points many of us expected to be important in the race of the GOP nomination all along.
And therein lies the point: where has this ad been? It’s the kind of campaign commercial I would have expected to see in heavy rotation in, say, September and October.
Instead we’re seeing it in mid-January — after Romney locked up control of the race, and built up double-digit leads in South Carolina and Florida.
There’s nothing wrong with the ad; it’s relatively honest (by Republican campaign standards) and hits Romney on some key points. But like the religious right deciding to get organized after the process has largely been decided, I really don’t know why Romney’s rivals decided to wait until it was too late.
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MikeBoyScout on January 17, 2012 4:40 PM:
I really don’t know why Romney’s rivals decided to wait until it was too late.
You're too kind Steve. The reason why is that they are all incompetent idiots.
dalloway on January 17, 2012 4:54 PM:
It's all about the benjamins. Counting Bachmann and Ron Paul, the conservative donor dollar was being pulled in five different directions and, because they're all total non-compromisers, nobody would pull out of the race. Now that Bachmann's gone, Perry's support is drying up and so is Gingrich's, Santorum (aided by butt-kicks from the pastors who met this weekend) is getting a little long green love to go with his frothy mix and can afford to put up some ads.
Tyler on January 17, 2012 4:55 PM:
Its not because they are incompetent idiots, thats giving that group of Humans a bad name. They are just following that they GOP beleives in. They dont beleive in long term planning, efficiency, orgniazation, facts and logic.
As the debt ceiling showed up, when the GOP is losing a fight, they think they are actully winning. If they are winning, they think they are winning. Its very rare when they think they are losing.
Ron Byers on January 17, 2012 4:58 PM:
They waited until it was too late to beat Romney because they don't really want to win. They are all just trying to extend their book tours and set themselves up for 2016.
Marko on January 17, 2012 5:31 PM:
And therein lies the point: where has this ad been?
Well, we're not exactly dealing with the A-Team here.
jsjiowa on January 17, 2012 5:35 PM:
They've let Romney skate on just about everything, until Newt started getting pointed about Bain (although Huntsman's videos were pretty strong, too).
How much of that is following Reagan's philosophy of Republicans not attacking each other during primary season? At first they each tried to present a positive case of being the best candidate; that was ok until Romney's numbers actually started to move. Then they started to get a bit more desperate, and pulled out the negative stuff.
Will be interesting to see if Santorum's ad makes any difference. The most recent CNN poll showed Republicans trust Romney the most of all the candidates on health care. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/01/13/rel1aa.pdf
emjayay on January 17, 2012 6:01 PM:
"Relatively honest" I suppose for Republicans. But the ACA is "radical"? A national system very similar to a state system already in place, except with some tweaks to address the weaknesses of that plan. A plan more conservative than that of any other country on earth. A plan that leaves pretty much everything that any insured person has in place, except for some obvious improvements.
Republicans have heard this kind of lie so often it sounds like the truth. I think Krugman's criticisms of Romney's current material were if anything too weak. Every word of what he keeps repeating about Obama (not that he's perfect or anything) is a complete fabrication. But as we all know from a certain Nazi's propaganda theories (all used by advertisers and politicians and right wing blowhards and Fox News all the time)repetition of a lie makes seem to be true.
Swiftboating has moved from the commercials to the mouths of politicians. One of them anyway.
Ronval912 on January 17, 2012 6:15 PM:
Republicans just aren't very smart. It's not a mystery.
liberalGRIT on January 17, 2012 6:22 PM:
FYI this started airing last night in SC markets (I'm in Charlotte NC, so we get to see commercials intended for SC).
emjayay on January 17, 2012 6:31 PM:
I type it, I preview it, I rewrite a little, I preview it again, I fix it up, I preview it again, and still.....
dbtexas on January 17, 2012 8:17 PM:
The most amazing part of all this posturing is that Santorum inhabits a universe where he actually believes he could win the presidency of the US. The amount of delusion necessary to hold such a thought is mind boggling.
Texas Aggie on January 17, 2012 11:55 PM:
The universe that Santorum inhabits is the same one that Goodhair lives in. Santorum is totally and completely faith based and doesn't even begin to understand the concept of reality and actual evidence. Witness his whining about how gays are bad mouthing him for no good reason. And then he talks about being the Jesus candidate representing moral positions. This after having been an integral part of Delay's K St. project. The guy really is out of touch with reality.
PeteCO on January 18, 2012 6:47 AM:
Because they have to appear to be representing the interests of the god-botherers. They actually want Romney to win, because, like him, they are extremely wealthy, and he represents their interests. The Jesus stuff is just to get the idiots out on election day.
Obvious, really.