The web is alive with commentary about the Focus on the Family ad during the Superbowl; here are a few of my favorites this morning

1. From Commentary by Michael Christy on University of Kentucky Student Newspaper the Kentucky Kernel.

If you are going to have a commercial about the abortion debate, this is how it should be done. Rather than focusing on dead babies and Roe v. Wade, which seems to detonate the pro-life camp’s outreach to the masses, this ad focused on choices. The ad was not about taking away a woman’s right to choose, and it was not about spooking audiences, it was about a family.

2. From “Reformed Chicks Blabbing” blog by Michele McGinty

Brilliant move by Focus on the Family, the pro-aborts had a cow over the ad and now look like extremists since the ad doesn’t even mention abortion plus the ad was the buzz for weeks. Everyone knows the subtext of the ad, they didn’t need to include it (which probably would have gotten it rejected by CBS).
http://blog.beliefnet.com/reformedchicksblabbing/2010/02/tim-tebow-pre-game-ad.html

3. From Armstrong Williams commentary in The Washington Times

These groups (feminists) are supposed to represent women. They fail to do so when their response to objectionable political ideas is urging women everywhere to cover their eyes and ears. Do the women of NOW think that women are so weak-minded that they are going to abandon their reproductive rights after seeing a 30-second ad about a woman continuing her pregnancy in the face of adversity? The sheer stridency of their response smacks of desperation.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/08/old-guard-feminists-sound-off-over-super-bowl-ad/

4. From the Staff of TMZ.COM

After weeks of hype and outrage, the Super Bowl commercial with Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow finally aired Sunday night — so what was all the fuss about? The ad, paid for by Focus on the Family, features Tim and his mom — but doesn’t make mention whatsoever of any political issue (*cough cough abortion). If you want to be upset about anything that went on during the Super Bowl — take your anger out on whoever booked The Who for the halftime show.
www.tmz.com/tag/tim+tebow/

5. From Jay Busbee on Yahoo.com Sports

Over the past 43 Super Bowls, commercials have grown from simple product pitches into pop-art touchstones as companies spend millions for 30 seconds of the nation’s undivided attention. They’ve run the gamut from provocative to subversive, ridiculous to sentimental. They’ve employed celebrities and ordinary people; they’ve praised and mocked their subjects. But until Sunday, they all had one thing in common: They stayed away from the charged worlds of politics, religion and morality.

With one gently pitched 30-second ad, however, all that has changed. A door previously closed has now been cracked open. The ad isn’t simply an advocacy of a particular moral position; it has the potential to be a watershed moment in our national discourse if we allow real-world concerns to impact our entertainment.
sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Tebow-s-Focus-on-the-Family-ad-could-change-futu

Here is a link to YouTube to watch the ad in case you missed it: /www.youtube.com/watch

OH, and by the way – weren’t you expecting to see an ad from Planned Parenthood? Did I miss something?

[Editor’s note: Some of the original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]