August 17, 2012 05:24 PM UTC

So, About This "Granny Off The Cliff" Ad...

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve received a rather breathless alert from the Agenda Project Action Fund:

Today, Paul Ryan’s hometown TV station WMTV refused to air the NEW Granny Off A Cliff: Part 2 Video from The Agenda Project Action Fund. The new Granny video was set to air today in Madison and Janesville, Wisconsin the hometown of vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.  WMTV- Madison refused to air the video “due to content.”  Paul Ryan’s hometown station is the only station to have refused the ad.  When asked to clarify their reason for rejecting the ad, the station said that their lawyers had advised them not to offer any further explanation…

The new video – which highlights VP candidate Paul Ryan’s anti-Medicare stance – hit airwaves this week across the country in Ohio, Florida and Colorado.  It has aired on national cable networks and generated buzz on Hardball with Chris Matthews (“Favorite Campaign ad of 2012”) ABC’s George Stephanopoulos (27:35), The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Salon, Fox Business’ Varney and Co., Fox and Friends, Fox and Friends Sunday, Fox Business’s Money with Melissa Francis, NBC’s KOAA, Examiner, Fox News, among others.

We weren’t lucky enough to catch this spot’s showing on KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs, but for all of us who don’t live in the El Paso County media market, here’s the ad as shown in Colorado and now rejected by a station serving Rep. Paul Ryan’s residence in Wisconsin:

Yikes! As you can see, the title “Granny Off The Cliff” is, um, accurate as hell.

The apparently very small buy in Colorado was more about getting it on the Youtube radar–and now that a station has refused to air it, we’d expect them to try again somewhere in Colorado and further capitalize on the reaction. In terms of defending this ad, or condemning the decision of a broadcaster to not show it? We’re going to leave that to the consensus view of our readers.

It’s possible we lack the intestinal fortitude needed for these trying times.