My conversation with Rick Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley about the new Santorum ad in which images of President Obama are interspersed with images of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Q: Is the moment when Ahmadenijad and Obama's images are interspersed meant to suggest that they are the same person?

Gidley: "Don't be ridiculous. He's the president of the United States, Ahmadenijad is the president of our sworn enemy. I'm don't know that it was 'interspersing,' I'm confused by that. Obviously I'm not trying to say anything about Obama and Ahamdenijad. So if we're not trying to say anything about that, then I don't understand the issue.

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. He's the leader that deals with rogue nations, and Rick doesn't feel like that's something he should do. But, you know, the whole ad is based around the fact that, in two more years, this is what the country is going to look like.

Q: What is the country going to look like in two years?

Gidley: That's what the whole ad is saying: If we continue on the track we're continuing down, this country is going to be in a whole lot more trouble than it was in the first four years of his administration.

Q: And there's no suggestion here that Obama is Ahmadinehad?

Gidley: No, no, no, no, no. We'd be a lot more deliberate if that's what we were trying to do. There'd be something a whole lot more -- Rick doesn't parse words, our campaign, we're not sneaky people. We'd tell you what we think, obviously. That's not what we're trying to do.

Q: Was there any point at which you were looking at this ad and thought this might be an issue?

Gidley: Not the specific moment. I thought that the whole ad would definitely raise some questions, I just didn't know which questions you guys would come up with. The bottom line is, the campaign is making a point that Barack Obama is wrong for the country. He's wrong on foreign policy, he's wrong on domestic issues. That's basically what the ad is trying to say, in a horror story fashion.

Q: How does a shot of Ahmadinejad and Obama switching back and forth make the point that Obama is wrong for the country?

Gidley: I don't even know. I need to go and look at this ad, because I don't really remember the part you're talking about. I'll call you back.

Gidley called a few minutes later to say that the man who made the ad would be calling shortly.

UPDATE:

John Brabender, the media consultant who made the controversial video, calls to add his denial:

It shows the increasing conflict between the U.S. and Iran because of the growing likelihood that they’ll have a nuclear weapon by that point, under the present policies that we’re under. ... The intent was to show that there will be a constant threat back and forth between the United States if they have nuclear capability. 

To see [a conflation of Obama and Ahmadinejad] would be to see something that was not intended to be there in any way. And there’s nothing in there that says ‘Buy Popcorn’ either."

Brabender also explained that the ad is actually a trailer for an eight-part webisode series that will run on the Rick Santorum website in two weeks. "Each episode takes some part of Obama’s policies and shows how that would impact people two years down the road in 2014," he said.

Brabender also disagreed with Gidley's characterization of the trailer as a "horror story." 

"That would be a gross over exaggereation," he told me. "Its not meant to be something horrofic. Its simply meant to state our belief, projecting into the future, that if Iran sucessfully gets a nuclear weapon, there will be a constant conflict, back and forth, on a regular basis, between the United States and Iran."