Paul campaign: Anti-Huntsman "Manchurian Candidate" video "disgusting"
Updated 5:21 p.m. Eastern Time
Ron Paul's campaign is calling on the person who put up a video deeming Jon Huntsman a "Manchurian candidate" to take the spot down, calling it "disgusting."
The video, posted to YouTube by someone identifying him- or herself as a Paul supporter (the username is "NHLiberty4Paul"), is at left. It shows Huntsman, the former U.S. ambassador to China, talking to his adopted daughter in Mandarin, deems him "The Manchurian Candidate" and asks "what's he hiding?" Over generic Chinese-themed music, it asks if "China Job's daughters" are "even adopted" and caricatures him as former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. The video ends with a call to vote for Paul.
"The video is disgusting," Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton told Hotsheet, adding that whoever "put that up should remove it immediately."
Paul's New Hampshire communications director Kate Schackai told RealClearPolitics and CBS News' Scott Conroy the Paul campaign had nothing to do with the spot.
Huntsman criticized the spot when asked about it Friday in New Hampshire.
"If somebody wants to poke fun at me for speaking Chinese, that's OK," said Huntsman, who has seven daughters, two of whom are adopted, one from China and one from India. "What I object to is bringing forward pictures and videos of my adopted daughters and suggesting there is some sinister motive there."
On Thursday night, the Huntsman campaign called on the Paul campaign to condemn the spot.
Huntsman, the former Utah governor, has spent months campaigning almost exclusively in New Hampshire in hopes of a stronger-than-expected showing in next Tuesday's primary. Polls show him with support hovering around 8-10 percent, far below Mitt Romney (who takes about 40 percent support) and Paul, who is polling around 17 percent.
Update: Though there is no evidence the Paul campaign is involved with the ad, Cindy McCain is criticizing Paul for it. On Twitter, she wrote: "I deeply resent the video made using the adopted daughters of@johnhuntsman. @ronpaul shame on you. This has shades of 2000 all over it."
McCain is married to 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain, who has endorsed Mitt Romney. The "shades of 2000" claim appears to be a reference to the whisper campaign against the McCain's in South Carolina in 2000, when then-presidential candidate John McCain was hampered by claims he had fathered an "illegitimate black child."
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