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Newt Gingrich Releases First TV Ad On ‘The America We Love’

» 26 comments

Current national Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich released his first TV ad today, entitled “Is the America We Love a Thing of the Past?”

The spot is being supported by a near Tiffany-esque $250,000 ad buy in Iowa, where Gingrich leads steadily rising Ron Paul by 7 points, and is drawing comparisons to Ronald Reagan’s famous “Morning In America” commercial. However, a glaring difference between the two ads seems to make clear what the America Newt doesn’t love looks like.

RELATED: Ronulan Attack: Ron Paul Polling 2nd In Iowa, Ahead Of Mitt Romney

Newt’s ad and “Morning in America” share gently uplifting music (Ed Morrissey recognizes Newt’s tune as part of the theme from Rudy), gauzy photography, and hopeful happy-talk in common, but within the first few frames, it becomes apparent what’s missing from Newt’s America:


The America I love actually has cities and oceans in it, but they’re notably absent from the one Newt’s “we” loves. In fact, the former House Speaker somehow manages to include a shot of the Statue of Liberty, without showing the cities or oceans that surround it.

By sharp contrast, “Morning in America” actually opens with a shot of both, and quickly dissolves to a shot of people crossing a city street:


In the decades since the Reagan presidency, and particularly in the last one, Republicans have increasingly sought to exploit a culture war between the “two Americas,”and there’s no greater warrior in that conflict than Newt Gingrich. His idea of showing love to the America that’s absent from his ads is to fire those people, and press their children into service at their parents’ old jobs.

RELATED: Not An Onion Spoof: Newt Gingrich’s Education Plan Is To Fire Janitors And Replace Them With Kids

While Gingrich’s contempt for coastal elites and “city folk” is evident, watching “Morning in America” again made me realize that the battleground dynamics of our electoral system seems to have gradually disappeared cities from pretty much all political ads, unless they’re exploiting national tragedies that happen in them. So pervasive is the politician’s need to kow-tow to cow towns that the soft-focus fetishization of middle America has become a staple of all political ads.

The other major difference is, of course, the ridiculous spectacle of a candidate following his own narration by saying, “I’m Newt Gingrich, and I approved this message.”

Ordinarily, my reaction to this is, “Yeah, I know,  it was you talking,” but in Gingrich’s case, that’s still no indication that he approves of what he’s saying.

The ad will play well in Iowa, though, and it’s a good way to kick things off, by at least trying to seize the high ground. With Ron Paul close in the rear-view mirror, though, and blasting Gingrich with brutal but resonant attacks, it won’t be long before Gingrich has to get down in the mud with him.

 

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  • Anonymous

    Yammer yammer yammer yammer.

    Tommy, why can’t you report on things with the same respect for facts and insights as the others?

    You make this all about YOU. It’s not. It’s supposed to be about media. None of your colleagues employ such sarcasm and snide comments as you do, often as if they’re just facts; you really do this site a disservice.

    It is one thing to be critical constructively, but you are so disrespectful and dishonest in your critiques that you undermine any intelligent illumination or analysis, unlike the other writers on Mediate.

  • Anonymous

    The America he loved so much that he had to cheat on his wife to prove it!

  • Anonymous

    The America you love presumably includes slaves. Otherwise no one ever says the ‘America we love is gone’. No one.

    Newt shouldn’t use his face to promote a message, should he? He is so slimy it is almost comical.

  • Anonymous

    Newt should tell us about the “America We Leave When it Gets Cancer”

  • WiddleBabyDanielson

    “I cheated on my wife because I was working so hard for my country”

  • Anonymous

    See, ‘morning in America’ was a great ad because whoever did it knew what they were doing and Reagan was a very likeable fellow. He was a moron but he was cuddly and highly telegenic. Newt is smarmy and extremely annoying.

  • Anonymous

    respecting one another?
    is this the guy who called for congressmen to be put in jail for the same thing he was doing?
    the guy who  pushed for the impeachment of a president for doing WHAT NEWT WAS DOING?
    newt is the primary reason we have lost respect for each other and lost respect around the world..
    between he, fox news, the bush years with Tom Delay?

    and to call themselves Christians–really takes a lot of nerve~

  • Anonymous

    But to be fair, South America is a close number two.

  • Anonymous

    I feel like I need a shower after watching that.

  • Anonymous

    Like its a surprise the left wing nut jobs dont like this Ad! They despise this Ad and visuals. America to them is more like the broken Europe model or even a third world country where entitlements and welfare are the norm. 

    Work and competition is bad! The people with the money only should be movie stars and sports figures in their America!

  • Anonymous

    It’s well known Tommy Christopher is a leftist (tool) hack, but I think the ad is great. So what if there aren’t cities?  Maybe they couldn’t get good shots of them with all the putrid Occupyers crapping in the streets. I’d he shocked if anyone at Mediate actually praised a GOP candidate and we know asking a Democrat to comment honestly on a Republican is a joke.  The media is dead. I only come here for the idiocy put out in this column regularly. It’s good for a laugh.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Knight/100000088685384 David Knight

    Nice, quiet, peaceful….so his supporters don’t wake up from their slumber. WAKE UP! This Chameleon is a dangerous fraud.  He can NEVER beat Obama. 

    Nobody that has worked with him has any respect for Gingrich. Look at all the former Congressmen who are already criticizing him this EARLY in the game. Unprecedented. Just as it was unprecedented when he became the ONLY Speaker in American history to be found guilty of ethics violations.  Pelosi said she has a 1,000 pages on him from that. His own party voted to fine him $300,000 and tried to throw him out as Speaker.

    Vote for someone who as been proven consistent, conservative and ethical through decades in Congress. Someone who told us what the problems were and how to fix them but we didn’t listen. Vote for the only candidate to beat Obama with Independents – Ron Paul. 

  • Anonymous

    The thing I like most about America is fire hydrants.  Newt does not show any fire hydrants in his commercial.  I think he just hates fire hydrants.  Come to think of it, there are no lakes either.  Or ponds or puddles or even sinks with running water..Maybe Newt just hates water!  Yep, that’s why I don’t like him…because he didn’t show an ocean in his commercial.

  • Anonymous

    I agree with the comments anti Gingrich.  I would include  the fact that several years ago he  wanted to drastically cut so many social program during Dumya’s presidency,  he was called the Grinch that stole Christmas.  Plus as mentioned earlier he cheated on his wife when she was  being treated for breast cancer.  Reminds me of John Edwards and of course I don’t mean the “psychic.”  His wanting to dismantle child labor laws is loathsome. 

  • Anonymous

    Can you imagine a young kid being asked to clean the toilets of his playmates? 

  • Anonymous

    Oh  – you somehow forgot the Tech guys.  I would say that owning Microsoft or Facebook is not what I would call a sport or movie star.

  • Anonymous

    He seems to be taking this one to Tiffany’s often enough to keep her happy.  Since he has had 3 wives and had affairs during each of his previous 2 marriages, do you think Callista is just a little concerned that #4 is waiting in the wings?

  • Anonymous

    Hi gorgegirl.
    I think it would be  grossly unfair even if  were punishment.  I  remember reading back in the last half of the 19th century in the UK kids in the single digits were used as chimney sweeps.  The reason was they were small enough to get into the chimney.   Meantime they breathed in the toxins from the soot.  Strongly suspect there were  a lot of carcinogens there.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_45S32GWGDRUJIL6E2U4HOZW4BM Bob

    My thought exactly. This ad should be code to Callista that Newt is about to trade up on mistresses again.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_45S32GWGDRUJIL6E2U4HOZW4BM Bob

    or multiple sclerosis, as in mistress #1/wife #2′s case

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_45S32GWGDRUJIL6E2U4HOZW4BM Bob

    lectures on loving America from the party of that idolizes secessionists like Perry and the Palins.

  • Anonymous

    Wife #2 was uterine cancer, I believe.

  • Anonymous

    Boy Tommy really found his crowd in you bunch of obama poster children below, the things that concern you all are laughable, you don’t mind Obamas failures, including half a billion of your dollars lost / thrown away with solyndra, fast and furious, failed stimulus, stopping Bpeing from creating thousands of jobs in SC, shovel ready jobs( even Obama thought that was funny ), keystone pipeline
    ( by the way tree huggers, he’s going to approve after election, that is if he wins? ) the intensional losing of two wars, union cronyism, suing state over ” illegal ” immigration, and so on……..
    But trying to trash Newt is what’s important, By the way, Tommys a plant designed to wind you sheeple up.

  • http://ninure.tk Ninure

    Is it just me, but did anybody notice there are no Black or Hispanics in either ad? Am I mistaken in seeing that in the GOP America there are NO non-Whites?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MPPK2CTPRQYEYSXVOFVUJRX3SQ ken

    That music is unbelievably smarmy

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know about the Iowa caucus, but I think Pfizer just found its new spokesman for Viagra.

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