Perry ad: Media fumbles tricky triple dipthong

The media has done a good job of spelling the name of Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry. Things get a little dicier, though, when U.S. reporters are asked to string three vowels together in the middle of someone’s name. That’s the feat required when spelling the name of the precocious and exotic-sounding producer on whom the Perry campaign relied for a just-released ad. It’s like a triple dipthong! Herewith a roundup of Perry ad coverage, with an accent on spelling:

Business Insider snarks and gets it right:

“The ad was produced by Lucas Baiano, the 23-year-old Canadian-borm filmmaker responsible for Tim Pawlenty’s dramatic campaign ads, and features the same theatrical soundtrack and cutaway shots. The effect is a little less ridiculous, but still pretty over-the-top.”

ABC News goes with a misspelling:

“This is the second video — which was made by former governor and Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty’s filmmaker Luca Baniano, according to Politico – from the Perry campaign. The first video was a biographical sketch that introduced Perry to the American people, released on the day he announced his run.”

Hey, that’s not how Politico spelled it!

“Rick Perry’s new web video has an action-packed, cinematic quality that’s reminiscent of Tim Pawlenty’s old campaign ads. And sure enough, Morning Score reports that former Pawlenty movie producer Lucas Baiano is the man behind the video.” Politico also sees conflict brewing in the spot: “It seems likely that some Obama supporters will bristle over the fact that for one full second in the video, the only words shown are: ‘An American.’”

Dallas Morning News ramps up the movie stuff, stays away from producer spellings:

“The nearly 2-minute web ad, which looks and sounds like the trailer to a superhero movie, spends about half the time ticking off ‘zero’-inspired Obama insults against the backdrop of post-apocalyptic images.”

USA Today doesn’t even try to spell the name of the producer. (Smart).

MinnPost goes with the ABC misspelling and adds some commentary, from Eric Black:

That filmmaker, Luca Baniano, has signed up with Rick Perry and the first of his Perry pieces is now viewable online. It runs one minute and 45 seconds and I can’t count the images fast enough but it’s about one a second. It spends its first half arguing that President Obama is a liar and a failure. That half uses audio of Obama making promises of hope and change while the images “argue” that everything Obama has touched has turned to poo. Zero hope. Zero change. The video dubs Obama “President Zero.”...I argued in the TPaw era, and still believe, that this technique is very effective even though -- or perhaps precisely because -- it is the death of thought.

Yahoo spells the name of the producer correctly but gets his age wrong (he’s 23, not 22) and adds some solid play-by-play:

As a dramatic score kicks in, messages flash on the screen against snippets of cable news chatterers discussing Obama’s economic record: “Zero jobs. Zero confidence. Zero ‘hope.’ Zero change.”

“President Zero,” a narrator intones.

Suddenly, the skies clear, and a sun rises, against shots of the Statue of Liberty and downtown Los Angeles. According to the ad, a hero has arrived to save the day, and it’s Perry.

Crowley Political Report dwells not on the producer, but on the symbolism:

Then newscasters and campaign voiceovers are heard talking about “zero jobs” in August and, “Not a single job being added.” “No jobs created, net zero.”

And then - you ready - we see a quick image of the legs of horse. Yup. Can’t be true Texan if you ain’t got a horse. You can’t see the rider but one can assume it is Perry riding to the rescue.

The Daily Plunge gets the producer’s first name right but flubs the second:

“Now that Tim Pawlenty is out of the race Rick Perry has taken his video director, Lucas Baniano, and created something Michael Bay would be proud of…”