GOP's Latest Ad Uses Video From Televised Debate (Video)

4:51 PM PDT 10/4/2012 by Paul Bond

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President Obama Mitt Romney First Debate - H 2012

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"Smirk," as the ad is known, was being touted by Rush Limbaugh and other conservative media personalities on Thursday.

The GOP wasted no time trying to make hay from Wednesday’s presidential debate, which many TV commentators called a victory for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

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In an ad the Republican National Committee dubbed, “Smirk,” Romney and President Barack Obama are seen on a split screen with Romney doing all of the talking as Obama stares down, shakes his head and pierces his lips.

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In the ad, the “smirk” moment comes at the 45-second mark, when Obama is shown half-smiling as Romney says in a reference to health care: “We don’t need to have a board of 15 people telling us what kinds of treatments we should have.”

See the ad below.

The 90-second ad, which so far has appeared exclusively online, received a big boost Thursday courtesy of Rush Limbaugh, who told his estimated 12 million listeners to check it out.

"You have to see this,” Limbaugh said Thursday. “I can play the audio for you, but it’s just Romney scoring point after point after point.”

That Republicans are using video from the televised debate isn’t surprising, given that so many pundits, even those on the left, are praising Romney’s showing while criticizing Obama’s.

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Hardball host Chris Matthews said Wednesday night, for example, that he and other MSNBC anchors make a better case for progressive politics on their shows than Obama did during the debate.

“He should watch just not Hardball, Rachel, he should watch you,” Matthews said to Rachel Maddow after the debate. “He should watch Reverend Al (Sharpton); he should watch Lawrence (O’Donnell). He would learn something about this debate.”

See the Matthews clip below.

Email: Paul.Bond@thr.com