Ad from pro-Paul PAC attacks Huntsman as "Manchurian Candidate" because he adopted a Chinese orphan

A New Hampshire PAC supporting Rep. Ron Paul (R-Utopia Planitia) is running a web ad showing Jon Huntsman's adopted daughters Gracie (who was born in China) and Asha (who was born in India), asking "American values- or Chinese?" It concludes with a picture of Huntsman dressed as the late Chinese dictator and mass murderer Mao Zedong.

Labeling the former special assistant to President Reagan, U.S. trade representative, three-time U.S. ambassador (most recently to China) and governor of Utah "the Manchurian candidate," the ad implies that there is something suspicious about the fact that Huntsman, who speaks fluent Manderin, has a daughter who was born in China. And this from a PAC supporting a candidate who makes excuses for al Queda and insists that 9/11 was somehow America's fault.

"If someone wants to poke fun at me, that's OK," Huntsman responded. "What I object to is bringing forward pictures and videos of my adopted daughters and suggesting there's something sinister there."

Abby Huntsman Livingston, the second oldest of Huntsman's seven children, said, "It is unfortunate that the political conversation has become this vile. In our family, we put ourselves on the national stage and we expect to get everything and anything. Unfortunately, I think this video goes a bit far. My two little sisters are the love of my dad's life."

Gracie was found abandoned in a Chinese vegetable market when she was six months old and is jokingly referred to by Huntsman as "our senior foreign policy advisor." She is now twelve. Asha, now six, was abandoned in a field the day she was born.

Paul himself disavows the ad, just as he disavowed the extreme and blatantly racist newsletter he paid for, profited from, and listed himself as editor of for ten years. Paul claimed to be unaware of the contents of that newsletter, and says that he also hasn't seen the ad.

This is especially disturbing because this is just the sort of thing the most deeply twisted and bigotted of Paul's supporters go in for. There is a pattern here, and it's reasonable to ask why such people are attracted in such numbers to the Paul campaign. This isn't "guilt by association," as some Paul supporters charge; it's simply the noting of an empirically obvious phenomenon which calls for an explanation.

A video of Gov. Huntsman and Gracie Mei at her 12th birthday celebration can be found here.