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Subscribe to RSSU.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra has been accused of racism for a campaign ad against Michigan's incumbent senator, Debbie Stabenow. The ad features a young Asian woman riding a bicycle through a rice paddy – speaking broken English – and mocking Stabenow. Politico's Maggie Haberman reports.
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra's campaign came under scrutiny Monday for a controversial Super Bowl ad targeting Democratic opponent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Hoekstra's campaign aired an ad on Sunday depicting an Asian woman speaking in broken English, facetiously thanking Stabenow for encouraging federal spending.
Hold Debbie Stabenow accountable for her reckless spending.
"Thank you Michigan Sen. Debbie Spend-it-now. Debbie spends so much American money -- you borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak; ours get very good. We take your jobs," the woman says in the ad.
The backdrop is meant to evoke China. In a statement announcing the ad, Hoekstra decried "our reliance on foreign countries like China," a top buyer of American debt.
Hoekstra, a former Republican congressman who unsuccessfully pursued his party's gubernatorial nomination in 2010, appears at the end of the ad to tout his own fiscal hawkishness. The ad additionally directs viewers to a website featuring a variety of generic Asian imagery in connection to Stabenow.
The website includes Chinese script -- "Xianzai Daibi Hua" -- that roughly translates into "Now Debbie Spend."
RELATED: Chinese shrug at Super Bowl ad
Hoekstra's campaign paid $75,000 to air the ad in markets throughout Michigan during the Super Bowl, according to an Associated Press report on Sunday. It is his first ad in the Senate race.
The Michigan chapter of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote said in a statement that the ad "plays on harmful stereotypes of Asians speaking broken English and has stereotypical Chinese music playing in the background."
An Asian woman is speaking in Pete Hoekstra's campaign ad that aired on Super Bowl Sunday, facetiously thanking Stabenow for encouraging federal spending.
"It is very disturbing that Mr. Hoekstra’s campaign chose to use harmful and negative stereotypes that intrinsically encourage anti-Asian sentiment," the group said Sunday.
The ad faced additional criticism from both Democrats and Republicans alike.
"Pete Hoekstra had a wardrobe malfunction this Super Bowl weekend and it was not pretty," said Shripal Shah, a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman.
Republican consultant Mike Murphy, meanwhile, wrote on Twitter: "Pete Hoekstra Superbowl TV ad in MI Senate race really, really dumb. I mean really."
A primary challenger's of Hoekstra also called the ad "disappointing," accusing Hoekstra's record of undermining the message of the ad.
"The team is describing it as satire, but there’s absolutely no way this doesn’t just fan the flames and come off as racist," wrote Jazz Shaw on the prominent conservative blog Hot Air.
Comments on the YouTube page for the ad have been disabled in the meanwhile. Spokespeople for Hoekstra didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
NBC's John Bailey contributed.
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Must a slow news day.........can't wait to see Rachel try to blow this out of proportion also........"if there is no news lets try to make some up"........MSNBC's motto. Put your PC BS where the sun don't shine.
This isn't made up. It's real.
The best part was Lou Dobbs and Megyn Kelly on Fox News today, trying to defend this indefensible ad.
yeah......its really nothing.......slow news day. Just heard him on FOX do a good job defending himself. This is news while OWS and Holder not cooperating with Congress's investigation goes without notice........ Not a slow news day.....just a slow/biased news outlet.
Huh???
Now I understand why I belong to neither party. When the GOP is in they blame the Dems. When the Dems are in they blame the GOP. The 2 parties have 2 things in common. NO ACCOUNTABILITY. Neither party wants to find a common ground. They want it their way.
As if a 3rd Party would do anything else? Libertarians refuse do separate themselves from the right wing
As far as accountability goes, yes it's always a big problem ---- However when every fact says our economy has been improving & the recession ended last year, you really have to question the accountability of the right wing who says it's worse
You have to question the "accountability" of every candidate,,,, Especially when they refuse to tell us how they are going to accomplish anything other than more of the same old dishes or rhetoric
cbo has announced unemployment will rise and the economy will slow to 1% growth. Now what say you?
Sounds logical, It always does after recessions. If you've ever taken a class in economics you would understand why
Of course that's another "FACT" that conservatives are grossly corrupting into something that isn't
Conservatives are still dishonorably exploiting the lack of education of their followers playing them for total undereducated fools
And it works like a charm Jim. See mmac.
MMAC -- Ask that when/if it happens. Forecasts are cheap and quickly forgotten.
Is it really that hard to find a real immigrant asian in Michigan to speak in broken english?
You could clearly tell the woman in this ad speaks very good english and has to try to make herself sound bad...
Personally speaking you can;
Shove this obama instigated racism up your azz!!
you can shove obama's green sh_t up your azz!!
and while I am at it Peta shove it up your azz!!!
My My My - Your Prozac must have worn off.
Fun watching him go all hysterical though. "Conservatives" are imploding before our very eyes and their followers are on the verge of mass strokes they are so hysterical.
I do agree that Obama seems to have brought out some deeply held racism in some people.
GOOD AD!
WHY are we still giving Italy, Greece , Spain, etc. Foreign Aide?
Why do we continue to invest in Luxury Foreign Bases?
Americans gave away too much! I remember each surrender to foreign products. Some citizens were very proud to own foreign and were known to brag about it. The American people stopped supporting American made labels as this nation began, (circa the 1970's), to give away too much of itself. More and more foreign made products found their way to the shelves of Sears's, JC Penny's, Montgomery Wards and so on. Toyota inundated the American automotive industry and the highways, they were touted as being more dependable than the gas guzzlers GM, Ford and Chrysler allowed to roll off their assembly lines. Many Americans became quite proud and defensive of their foreign mistresses, "Hell yes, I own a Subaru and damn proud of it! If America wants my money, let'em build a better car, damn it!" And so it went. Slowly but surely we lost the automotive industry.
The Chinese, Japanese, the French, (the Renault), the German's; every country on the planet made better product for less and we were determine to punish America for her impotence. How dare we Americans think that its citizenry had its back? I stayed true to the red, white and blue and even though it cost a little more, I continued to support the union label. China was almost like a third world country and every nation wanted to be like the Americans; I was so proud of that fact, but I could see it all slipping away. Sad. Blue jeans, tennis shoes, TV/electronics, cheap steel from China, home improvement and everything else was owned by Sony, Samsung and Toshiba! Now we must borrow from these same countries. Is it too late to turn things around? I don't know. I do know that if we don't, America will never return to her once greatness and nobody can blame that on Pres Obama. Any FOOL knows that if you don't support the nation that you live in, any nation, no matter how great; will fall to moral decadence and systematic decay! This latest effort by the GOP to get rid/bust the unions will spell the doom of the already severely injured working class! Anybody seen my grasses, I can no see without my grasses! Joking about such things may become a way of life if we don't wake up and smell the new car scent of Mitsubishi/Honda/Isuzu!!!
Geez - And I thought Michigan was above the Mason-Dixon line.
At risk of sounding insensitive, ANYONE who thinks this is a racist commercial is a moron and completely missed the point of the ad. Stop deflecting the issues please and think for yourselves instead of thinking what the news media and politicians want you to think.
I thought about it...turns out it's racist.
And I suppose that you don't think for a moment this ad will cause negative reactions toward Asian Americans? Most Americans are not smart enough to differentiate between Chinese from China and tax-paying Americans whom happen to be of Chinese descent. You do realize, of course, that Asian Americans are some of the most well-educated Americans, not to mention the least likely to commit crimes? (crimes committed by Asians is statistically lower than any other ethnic group in the United States, even when measured per capita). Asian-Americans also tend to vote for the GOP more than African-Americans and Hispanics, not to mention that many of them are very devout Christians. But I guess none of that actually matters to the GOP because of their skin color, which is what the GOP seems to be obsessed with.
The reason for making an ad is so that you will think what the sponsor wants you to think, whether he makes beer or racist political messages.
Great example of a Repub being stupid not only for the racism, but for turning on a minority that in many states tends to vote more conservative than other minorities. Sort of like "I shot myself in the foot to show everyone what a threat you are"...
Can't these people just get themselves an education and just start tackling our problems with a bit of logic? We've raised an entire generation to be anti-intellectual and believe that all they need to know comes from Fox News...this country is devolving into thuggery.
A typical racist, bigoted, lying Republican. If your not rich or white, you mean nothing. I am not rich, but am white, and a Democrat. The Republicans are the ones who ran our economy in the ground, spending money on a trumped up war. And putting foxes in charge of the hen house. They screwed the housing market.
BLAME BUSH, CHENEY AND ALL THE REST OF THE GREEDY REPUBLICANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Typical right wingnuts at it again. What do you expect from a party that has dug a hole so deep they can't possibly climb out? Desperate, racially-tinged ads, whether it's Hoekstra, Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, Paul....you can go down the list. But you know what they say....payback's a bit--! Can't wait til November 7th so we can be rid of all these idiots. Obama/Biden, 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Give these idiots all the rope they want to hang themselves. Liberal sweep of the elections coming.
Huh???
Now come on! I'm a liberal and I don't think this is racist in any way. Anti China yes and I believe that China is game. I'm sure most of the people in China is black and speak perfect Redneck. Come on, the man is being true to life. Actually he is helping liberals because it's Tea-bagging Republicans that sent jobs over seas, anti minimum wage, anti poor, anti middle class, anti Black, anti poor Whites therefore they are Anti American.
The right wing thinks it's not racist because it's not black against white? --- They really need to do some homework
Although it's a stupid ad, it does demonstrate how using one nationality in a political campaign against another can easily & correctly be deemed "Racism"
Some the comments here are simply hysterical...A republican running for Congress puts out an off color ad..and it's Obama's fault? America..land of the free and home of the delusional! HA!
You missed the comment at the end of the commercial - "I'm Obama and I approved this ad." Very small letters written in Chinese. Also said, "Obama fault for everyting
Thanks for clearing that up for me abbynormal. It's really my fault. I decided to take the dance classes in grade school instead of Chinese. It's been an albatross around my neck ever since. lol
That's ok. I took up typewriter repair and am having trouble finding work.
Fact: While all Republicans are not racists, all racists are Republicans.
The world loans the US money at, in some cases, less than 0% (they pay us). No family can get a loan of 2% or less - fixed rate - and paid over ten years. Of course, the banks want this money, via the US treasury, to speculate. They don't want us spending on roads, electric grids, education etc.. As for China, they may make use of the 'free market' to buy up most US farm land and send all US grown food back home! ...class warfare, class warfare, if you protest!
So the GOP use racism to get white voters out in force. I guess when all else failed, you fall back on the oldest trick in the book, and for the GOP, that is playing on the racist phobia of white folks.
That's not racist. It's REAL. It's how it is. The ad's making a point that tons of american jobs are going to China. Now we have to be sensitive to the communist people who make the cheap crap products that are flooding our country? F... YOU!
I can't stand political correctness trying to make an issue out of nothing. Take it easy.
Problem with this ad is that it will provoke negative reactions toward tax-paying Americans of Asian descent, since few Americans can actually find a Chinese in China to vent out their frustrations. It's similar to the fact that most Americans can't tell the different between legal Mexican immigrants and illegal ones, so they just harass both groups.
Classic...uses the screen name RonJeremy and expects people to take him seriously....hubba hubba buddy!
Although I am no fan of Pete Hoekstra, (in fact, I'll vote for Debbie Stabenow again) I fail to see how this ad could be construed as racist? Because a chinese woman, in China, speaks with a chinese accent? While the ad is certainly Republican trash that resonates with the trash element in that party, it certainly isn't racsist.
Good points! And it is typical of Republican ads. When will they step up to the plate and give us specific's on how they'd fix this mess instead running smear ads.
To be fair ...if you want to attack the spend spend spend policies of your political opponent and tie that in with our growing debt with China - would you show a African person speaking Spanish with Beethoven playing in the background ?
Of course not - you would show a Chinese person speaking broken english (because the average chinese in china do not speak fluent english - many do - but not most average chinese) with Chinese music playing in the background.
I think this is a pointless controversy. I also don't think it is racist because it does not claim that chinese people are in any way inferior to anybody else.
I think right and left both are just looking for opportunities to catch the other side with its pants down and more often than not twist everything to fit their own narrative - objectivity be damned.
The average person in China, working as a peasant farmer, does not speak English.
Well..damnit..they should! lol
This is not racists, but the media attention given to this crap is.
It does demonstrate how using one nationality in a political campaign against another can easily & correctly be deemed "Racism"
We could call it "Racism Lite", but this is from Hoekstra & he's noted for quite a number of years for these types racists attacks
I guess I'm suppose to be glad Hoekstra didn't use cartoon rabbits with big ears and buck teeth. Imagine what would happen then.
I didn't find this ad racist. What I found more racist is when the Saints were in the Superbowl with all the fans yelling "Who dat?" Now, seriously, who talks that way? Happy Birffday!
Blacks.
It does demonstrate how using one nationality in a political campaign against another can easily & correctly be deemed "Racism"
Hoekstra has quite a long record of these types of ads
Well Ken, all those white people in NO, they talk that way. Sorry it hurt your illiterate white feelings . You should get out more. Redneck speak isn't universal either. But I bet you know that well.