OTTAWA - Twenty-four hours after they were released, the Harper government has pulled two attack ads that prompted a flood of criticism.

The ads featured an out-of-context video clip of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and were slammed as dishonest, unethical -- even the work of "drunken frat boys."

The ads vanished from the party's website the day after they were posted.

A Tory official claims the ads were always intended to be a one-day web posting.

But critics say they were likely yanked because they went too far -- even some softer Tory supporters complained about them.

The ads purported to ask Ignatieff whether it makes sense during a period of fragile economic recovery to force an unnecessary election or raise taxes on job creators.

They then flashed to a video clip of an animated Ignatieff shouting "Yes, yes, yes."

The clip was actually taken from a speech Ignatieff gave at a Liberal caucus retreat where he talked about how ready the Liberals were to serve Canadians.