Paul analysis floats Huntsman video link; spokesman rejects 'conspiracy theory'

Ron Paul supporters have pushed back furiously in the last 24 hours on the charge that one Paul backer posted an offensive video questioning Jon Huntsman’s national loyalty, and showing clips of Huntsman speaking Mandarin with his adopted Chinese daughter.

And in an analysis commissioned by Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, the web consulting firm CanDo.com presents a different hypothesis: that supporters of Huntsman’s campaign posted the video in an attempt to trigger a backlash against Paul.

It’s a charge Huntsman’s campaign flatly rejects, and Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller compared it to dabbling in 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Blasted Miller: “Their latest conspiracy theory is nothing more than an attempt to cover for one of their racist supporters. The Paul campaign has botched the response to this shameful video from the beginning. Had they simply condemned the video and their supporter, we would be discussing the important issues facing our country. Instead their ridiculous and easily debunked ‘commission report’ will continue to focus attention on this shameful video.”

But at the very least, there’s reason to doubt whether the video actually came from a Paul supporter. The YouTube account on which it was posted, NHLiberty4Paul, has no other videos attached to it and was created on the same day the video was posted. So was a corresponding Twitter account.

Paul fans also have seized on YouTube analytics that show Huntsman’s campaign site, jon2012.com, linked to the video a day before it was picked up on Facebook, Gawker, RedState and elsewhere.

The CanDo.com analysis addresses those points and concludes: “After researching the available evidence, we believe it is likely that the video came from a source within or closely tied to the Huntsman Campaign.”

The memo, which the Paul campaign requested due to concern over the video, specifically addresses the referral link from Huntsman’s campaign website:

Since no direct link to the video exists on Jon2012.com, how could YouTube show Jon2012.com as the referring site? Our best guess is that someone used a server on the Jon2012.com domain (such as webmail) to read an email that contained the link to the video. It is also likely that the first mobile views at that same time originated from links in emails. Clicking on a link from a webmail system on Jon2012.com would provide the needed headers for YouTube to record the link. … Based on the evidence above and the coincidental timing of the release and subsequent events, it seems likely that a party close to the Huntsman campaign posted and distributed this video impersonating a Ron Paul supporter in order to cast Ron Paul and his campaign in a negative light.

Miller categorically denied that the former Utah governor or his staff had any involvement in producing or posting the video, calling that suggestion “offensive.” He pointed out that the Huntsman campaign website has a page that aggregates tweets related to Huntsman; if a user had been reading that Twitter feed at the time the video was posted and the user clicked on it, that could explain the referral.

“It is offensive that Ron Paul’s allies would claim that Gov. Huntsman’s own family would create such a video that distracts from the important issues that this country faces,” said Miller, who explained the campaign became aware of the video “when a reporter emailed me about it.”

The controversy only took off when Huntsman was asked about the video at a campaign event Friday. Asked when Huntsman himself became aware of the attack, Miller said: “When it was written on, we briefed him.”