The New York Times’ Richard Perez-Pena breaks the news of who Martin Eisenstadt really is. Or rather, who he’s not — an advisor to Sen. John McCain.
Instead, the duo behind the character that caused MSNBC’s David Shuster to report, albeit temporarily, a supposed source of Carl Cameron’s story about Gov. Sarah Palin are Eitan Gorlin and Dan Mirvish, two filmmakers who have created an elaborate hoax that has lasted for more than a year.
“To be very clear, no, we were not the source for Carl Cameron and never spoke to him,” Mirvish tells TVNewser. “We took credit for his anonymous sourcing. If they were going to be cowards, then we figured we may as well step in.”
How did they come up with the name Martin Eisenstadt? “All the neocons in the Bush administration had Jewish last names and Christian first names,” said Gorlin to the Times.
The reveal by the Times couldn’t have come on a better day for the hoaxers: A fake New York Times is circulating around the country today, ensuring the whole ruse can continue.