Huntsman Condemns Ad Targeting His Adopted Daughters
Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman on Friday responded to an advertisement apparently made by supporters of rival Ron Paul targeting his adopted daughters from China and India, calling it “stupid” and “nonsense.”
The former U.S. ambassador to China criticized the video uploaded on YouTube which includes footage of Huntsman’s adopted daughters, asking, “American values. Or Chinese?” and urging viewers to “Vote Ron Paul.”
“If someone wants to poke fun at me, that’s OK,” Reuters quoted Huntsman as saying at the New England College Convention in Concord, N.H., where he is campaigning ahead of the state’s primary Tuesday. “What I object to is bringing forward pictures and videos of my adopted daughters and suggesting there’s something sinister there.”
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Huntsman has seven children, including Gracie Mei Huntsman, now 12, who was found abandoned at a Chinese vegetable market when she was just two months old, and Asha, now 6, who was found on a roadside in India the day she was born.
Targeting particularly Gracie, the ad, entitled “Jon Huntsman’s Values,” calls the presidential hopeful “the Manchurian Candidate” and shows a picture of him dressed as China’s former communist leader Mao Zedong. “Weak on China? Wonder why?” asks the video uploaded on Thursday. It goes on to show Huntsman with his daughters Gracie and Asha Bharati.
Huntsman termed the ad "just stupid" and "political campaign nonsense."
Paul disowned the ad but not entirely, saying he was not responsible for the actions of all his supporters. “I couldn’t even hear it, haven’t looked at it, but people do that, and they do it in all campaigns,” he told CNN during an interview Friday.
Paul’s New Hampshire spokeswoman Kate Schackai pleaded ignorance, saying she was not aware who created the ad posted by “NHLiberty4Paul.” “The video was utterly distasteful and no one who actually supports Dr. Paul’s principles would have made it,” The Associated Press quoted her as saying Friday.
NHLiberty4Paul did not respond to queries by most newspapers. However, The Huffington Post received a reply, which only said, “Sorry, campaign has asked me not to speak to reporters.”
In the wake of the ad controversy, the Boston Globe endorsed Huntsman. “With a strong record as governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China, arguably the most important overseas diplomatic post, Huntsman’s credentials match those of anyone in the field,” the daily said in its editorial Friday. “He would be the best candidate to seize this moment in GOP history, and the best-prepared to be president.”
Huntsman did not participate in last week’s Iowa caucuses and has concentrated on New Hampshire.
According to Suffolk University’s latest tracking poll of likely Republican voters released Friday, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney is leading with 40 percent, followed by Paul with 17 percent. The poll shows former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum having the support of 11 percent while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stands at nine percent, Huntsman at eight percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at just one percent.
“Rick Santorum is the only Republican candidate moving up in New Hampshire,” said David Paleologos, director of the school’s Political Research Center in Boston. “He has cleared the Gingrich and Huntsman hurdles for third place and is only 6 points away from second place. Watch out Ron Paul.”
