Giuliani's Tough New New Hampshire Ad

Rudy Giuliani's new New Hampshire ad ("One Hour") is his first on the subject of national security. And it's eye-opening. The subject matter is Iran -- but not Iran of the present century -- Iran of the 1980s, and specifically, Iran's perception of the United States when Jimmy Carter was in power versus that same perception the moment Ronald Reagan became president.

“I remember back to the 1970s and the early 1980s. Iranian mullahs took American hostages and they held the American hostages for 444 days. And they released the American hostages in one hour, and that should tell us a lot about these Islamic terrorists that we’re facing. The one hour in which they released them was the one hour in which Ronald Reagan was taking the Oath of Office as President of the United States. The best way you deal with dictators, the best way you deal with tyrants and terrorists, you stand up to them. You don’t back down. I’m Rudy Giuliani and I approve this message.”

Now -- this ad, the Giuliani campaign says, was cut way before the new National Intelligence Estimate was released; it is not meant to reinforce Giuliani's specific policies towards Iran today -- just, generally, his "peace through strength" foreign policy message.