Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich slammed the "Big Sister" ad that appeared anonymously on YouTube attacking Hillary Clinton, calling it "the Entertainment Tonight version of governing a great country," reports The Hill.

The ad, which plays off an Apple Computer commercial and portrays Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in a negative light, may have been posted originally by an anonymous supporter of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). It has created the biggest buzz of any ads of the early election season thus far.

While Gingrich, speaking to the Independent Women’s Forum at the National Press Club, described the ad as "clever," he also said it was harmful to a national dialogue and an impediment to problem-solving. "It is utterly, totally destructive of the process of thought," Gingrich said.

He's right, of course, but that doesn't matter much. This is the way of things now for political campaigns. You can't stuff the genie back into the bottle. You can only adapt and prepare. Remember when folks talked about "surfing" the World Wide Web? Well, if the web is something you surf, then social media is like the Banzai Pipeline and those intense tubular waves that champion surfers both dream of and fear.