• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 13, 2012

Credit Newt Gingrich for taking a stand Friday against attack ads and a lengthy video that take brutal shots at Mitt Romney.

Just not too much.

Gingrich asked the “super PAC” supporting him that has been running the footage to edit or pull it, after independent organizations have pointed out distortions in Romney’s record leading Bain Capital.

Candidates don't often distance themselves from ads on their behalf. Instead, they – shocker! – have a way of going with a sort of it's-not-me legerdemain. In Gingrich's case, his condemnation comes against "Winning Our Future," a "super PAC" spending heavily for him and whose support he needs.

So, praise the former House Speaker.

But before Gingrich gets a full green light on the high road, consider that – another shocker! – he has plenty of political reasons for offering up his rebuke. He's trailing in the South Carolina polls to Romney and may be hoping his condemnation will be interpreted as virtuous and bring support from voters.

Also, he cleverly called on Romney to take a similar stand against “super PAC” ads backing him. The former Speaker titled his statement: “A Test of Leadership: Gingrich Repudiates Inaccuracies in ‘Super PAC’ Ad. Will Romney Do the Same?"

Independent PolitiFact has found both the pro-Gingrich and pro-Romney stuff carry falsehoods. A pro-Romney spot from “Restore Our Future” was said to include “repeated distortions” regarding Gingrich.

Local stations in South Carolina seeking massive political spending to continue through the Jan. 21 primary won’t mind if “super PACs” change ads. But they’d be pretty ticked if criticism from Gingrich or Romney angered them enough to take their money and leave.

In his rebuke of the attack ads Friday, Gingrich didn’t exactly get straight to that point. Instead, he first assailed claims Romney has allegedly made about creating jobs at Bain. And he said Romney raised taxes and fees by $700 million when governor of Massachusetts.

Gingrich also hardly denounced negative campaigning, saying Republican primary voters have a right to “ask questions” about Romney’s record. On Thursday, Gingrich said on CNN’s Piers Morgan’s show that he avoided going negative in Iowa as sort of an experiment to determine whether voters would appreciate that. Cool if true, but that didn’t seem to work, so any move for the moral high ground in S.C. is unfortunately unlikely to either.

A Gingrich "super PAC" ad refers to Romney as part of a group of “corporate raiders … more ruthless than Wall Street” when he ran Bain’s private-equity arm. It also shows sympathetic figures, who allegedly worked at companies where Bain cut jobs and benefits.

"Winning Our Future" is behind the spot, drawn from a nearly 30-minute, documentary-style film titled “When Mitt Romney Came to Town.” Housed online, it focuses on alleged Romney manipulation for profiteering at Bain.

Some have likened the video to a Michael Moore screed. Romney is accused of “exploiting dozens of American businesses” and harboring “greed” while making a quick buck.

Another word freighted with meaning – which Gingrich uses too -- also pops up:

“Massachusetts."

Don’t expect that to be edited out as Republicans battle each other.