First, a question (I'm in Harrisburg): Are Santorum's TV ads running on network affiliates in Philly, or only in the 5 other (less expensive) TV markets in PA?
Some are questioning whether Santorum was actually in the room with the senior citizens in his new Social Security ad -- there's speculation he shot his part (out of state perhaps?) in front of a green screen. For example, check out this column from the Scranton paper.
The Casey campaign hasn't taken a position on whether the ad is fake, but they say "we do know that Santorum's rhetoric on Social Security is fake. ... Watch this video to see Santorum's rhetoric on Social Security then and now."
The video is 1 1/2 minutes long -- it's the Santorum ad intercut with video of the senator's infamous 1994 comments about his support for raising the Social Security retirement age to 70, "even farther if I could."
I don't know
The overly bright colors and variations of contrast makes me think that Santorum and the lady he mindlessly tramples are standing in front of a green screen, but does it really matter? Perhaps. I think the Casey campaign does the right thing by addressing the question as a hook to discuss the hokey-ness of Santorum's current public stance on Social Security. Perhaps they can expand that to his election-year stances on "Intelligent" Design in public schools, the importance of living in-district, a woman's place, stem cells, corruption reform, etc. When the woman says "Move it or lose it," she might as well be talking about Santorum's position on any of these issues...
I haven't seen the ad aired in Philly, but I don't watch a whole lot of tv. The ad seems to target the "T" crowd, and I would be surprised if Santorum's campaign spent $$ to air it in the Philly market.
Thanks (and remember Bush's RATS ad from 2000?)
We get one Philly TV station on cable here, but it's hit or miss on seeing which campaign ads run in SE PA, especially this early. I think the question of whether the ad is "fake" is mainly useful because it can knock Santorum off-message (remember Bush's RATS ad in 2000) and as a news peg for bringing up other fakery/slipperiness by Santorum.