Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was again under fire on Saturday, this time for supposedly implying twice in a 60-second Web video that a vote for President Barack Obama is a vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The short video, titled “Obamaville,” was posted on Friday to Santorum’s official YouTube page. The video briefly intercuts stock footage of Ahmadinejad with a split-second image of Obama on a small television screen.
Toward the end of the video, Obama’s face appears a fraction of a second before and after Ahmadinejad’s.
The “Obamaville” video begins by ominously depicting what it labels a “small American town” two years after President Obama’s hypothetical re-election.
“Small business are struggling, and families are worried about their jobs and their future,” a narrator intones. “The wait to see a doctor is ever increasing. Gas prices, through the roof. The freedom of religion, under attack. And every day, the residents of this town must come to grips with reality that a rogue nation and sworn American enemy has become a nuclear threat. Welcome to a place where one president’s failed policies really hit home. Welcome to Obamaville: more than a town, a cautionary tale.”
At approximately the moment that the narrator says the words “sworn American enemy,” Obama’s image replaces the Iranian president’s face on a television screen.
And — although Santorum’s campaign has not been widely criticized for it — when the narrator says “failed policies,” Ahmadinejad again appears a split-second before and after Obama.
Reaction on the Internet was swift, as left-wing bloggers and websites pounced on the president’s appearance in the video.
“Rick Santorum Ad Draws Extremely Subtle Link Between Ahmadinejad and Obama,” one post by liberal blogger David Weigel was titled. Weigel soon corrected himself by noting that, on second thought, the link “really isn’t too subtle.”
In London, The Telegraph was even more direct, charging that Santorum’s ad “compares Barack Obama with [the] Iranian President.”
The reaction was equally dramatic on Twitter, where Santorum’s campaign had posted a link to the clip.
“Is this what our politics has come to?” said Twitter user Timothy McLaughlin.
“In Santorum Ad, Obama Is Ahmadinejad And Re-Election Means Nuclear War With Iran,” wrote someone identifying himself as “Nicronon.”
“If you squint, tampon commercials look like Rick Santorum attack ads,” added another Twitter user.
Santorum campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley called allegations that the video intended to subliminally link Obama to the Iranian president “ridiculous.”
“I think everybody knows — our party and Rick has been very adimant and open and vocal about the fact that Barack Obama has been absolutely leading from behind as relates to Iran,” Gidley added.
Above: This transposed image shows the two shots
|of the world leaders side-by-side. In the clip,
they appear less than a half-second apart.
John Brabender, a Santorum adviser, had gone on record with the news website Politico saying that the video was the first in a planned eight-part miniseries.
As of early Sunday, the video — which was viewed over 50,000 times — was voted “disliked” by nearly 1,200 users and “liked” by only 110.
Polls show Santorum leading rival Mitt Romney by a significant margin in Louisiana ahead of the state’s primary on Saturday.
WATCH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DApjHZq9o7M
