The rumors are true. Yes it was I, Martin Eisenstadt, who was behind the seemingly anti-Huntsman Manchurian Candidate ad. By insulting Huntsman as multilingual, respected abroad and compassionate to children, the ad actually served to discredit the Paul campaign and its supporters as petty and dirty while highlighting John Huntsman’s, my new boss, strengths. For those of you who’ve been following my career, you might notice a gnawing similarity between this ad and the one I produced and released in the 2008 election cycle on behalf of the Giuliani campaign about John McCain being a Manchurian candidate.
For those loyal fans who remember, if you look at page 32-36 in my best selling campaign memoir, I Am Martin Eisenstadt, available on Amazon, I have a whole chapter going into great detail explaining the trickster subterfuge that went into the dissemination of this groundbreaking ad. In fact, if you read my prior post, you’ll see that Huntsman (and his attractive daughters) are all long-time fans of my book, too. (hence his new “Country First” slogan). So to quote a former client, “Oops. I did it again”. What can I say? Marty Eisenstadt is back, as is Jon Huntsman who, mere weeks after hiring me to save his flailing campaign, has leapt from last place to third. And not that I hold grudges because I do, but if only my dear friend Newt had returned my calls, that could have been him placing third in New Hampshire.
(and for those of you who no longer have a hard copy on your bookcase, because you donated it to your local high school library - as Denny Hastert told me he did with his copy - then here’s a picture of the page in question….)
In gearing up for his third-place finish in New Hampshire, Jon Huntsman’s campaign appropriated the slogan “Country First” that I first coined. None other than the New York Times has reported that this is the slogan that Huntsman is running on, and his turtle-necked crowds are cheering. In fact, if you - like Huntsman - read my 2009 best selling campaign memoir I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (wildly inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans (Farrar, Straus, Giroux), you’d know that I was the one who first wrote that campaign slogan - initially for John McCain. To wit, in my Foreward, on page xvi, I wrote:
Because for me, “Country First” (a phrase I, by the way, came
up with, but let others take credit for—in the body of the book, I
will explain) is not just a slogan. It is a philosophy, a value system,
a moral ethic I live by. That’s why I offer no regrets in leaking to
the press (after the election, of course) that Governor Palin greeted
me in a skimpy, provocative towel and that she wasn’t sure whether
Africa is a continent or a country. In my humble opinion, America
needed to know, so I put country first.
Now, in theory, I like Jon Huntsman: He has a billionaire father and several attractive daughters. It doesn’t get any more American than that. But when his father refuses to pay Jon’s campaign bills and his daughters scorn the advances (I’m told) of certain campaign consultants, then I have to take pause, and withhold my judgement. Of course I’m flattered that Huntsman is a fan of my work. In fact, I remember signing my memoir for him when my book tour took me to Beijing (for a Mormon, I must say that he throws a hell of an embassy party). It’s great when third-place presidential candidates take my advice, but let’s just say that maybe if he’d paid me, he’d have gotten second.
Some of you have noticed I’ve been keeping a low profile during this primary campaign. (Perhaps because I’m doing stealth work for an unnamed candidate; perhaps because I’m out of the country.)
