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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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Obama has been working to eliminate tax breaks for job exporters. The GOP has fought that and most Obama proposals with all their power. The GOP and the National Association of Manufacturers have had a policy of exporting jobs to China to break the unions and increase profits. The rich conservatives and the GOP have shown no compunction in destroying American Manufacturing for political and monetary gain.
To put this behavior at the feet of Stabinow, who has been a constant friend of labor, is another clue as to how deep the GOP delusion goes. I have still seen no apology or new policies from the GOP to correct their absurd trickle down policies..
Every time I see an idiotic ad like this against the Senator, I am going to make a donation to her campaign, we have enough miscreants in the Senate, we cant afford anymore.
pssst...make your donations small. There may be quite a few, coming unfortunately.
This ad probably will fire up the 'We're against Obama' group. But could very well turn off many other groups. I'm sure his fund-rasing will increase in the next few days....but it'll be interesting to see if who, if any other repub, stands by his side to support/endorse him. Like your comment, many dems and indy's will be turned off by all of this.
Republicans still insist that their hatred of Obama has nothing to do with his race.
It would be a lot more convincing if they stopped using bigotry as a campaign strategy and had factually based reasons for hating him.
Unless Republicans start coming up with credible, fact based reasons for hating Obama, Democrats and Independents are left with no alternative but to conclude that Republicans hate Obama because of his race.
Actually, I could care less about his race it is his communism I am concerned about!!!
There you go again GARY K. Spouting hate and garbage. Gary is not here to learn or debate, he is here to inflame, ignore GaryK
LMAO I really pissed you off last night, eh? LMAO again!!!!
No, you don't piss me off. You are just a joke, You are only on here to inflame. You don't care about debating or learning anything. You are here for your entertainment spewing hate, and lies, try to inflame. I am just letting other posters know what you are about so they don't waste their time with you. Every chance I get I will inform people what you are about. This is my last response to you.
Your goals are commendable, I know how the rest of obama's troll's hang on your every word, again, LMFAO!!!
I am just pointing out how much I despise your messiah and all of his troll's, is that wrong, again LMFAO at you!!!!
See ya later!!!!
To..Gary""'
His communism.... Huh ?
Ya know, Maybe I have been unfair calling obama a communist?
Just because he currently has socialist/communist in his white house jarrett, stern, sunstein of course I can no longer include van jones. obama didn't know van jones is a communist?????
Side note van jones is currently guiding(?) obama's ows movement!!!
Then there is his cozy union relationship's with hoffa, trumpka, king, henry etc..
Maybe obama just has his own vision of America or maybe even the world. Maybe an obamazuela (pronounced oh bom ah zoo wale ah) kind of a chavez thing? obamaism, sorosism???
What ever obama is, you can be sure obama's vision amounts to the downfall of our military and our capitalism!!!
Obama troll's no need to read further; If you would like to verify any of my accusations regarding those mentioned and their relation to obama, the internet is full their writings, videos etc..
Now you may what to start your search with, frank marshall davis and don't forget george soros, bill ayres, bernadine vandorhn and you know ole rev. wright. It does look like obama is doing his best to Damn America.
Have a good day!
vote soros, van jones and obama OUT!!!!!
(crickets chirping)...good stuff, Gary. The Obama-zombies have gone silent...for now. LOL.
To Gary..."""
Silly ..you gotta step away from those right wing blogs ...they make you crazy
You too Roanoke..
quick 30 second search of the winger blogs echo chamber and I could write your posts for you..
Amunaka I though I lost you!!!
To difficult to do a little research on your own???
Gary,
notice there is no denial or even mention of Van Jones, Jarret, Sunstein, Stern, Trumka, Hoffa, Wright... NOTHING. Notice that Amunaka simply demonizes, rather than actually debate. This is the typical tactic of liberals when they have been backed into a corner with the facts...they lash out with "you gotta step away from those right wing blogs" or "a quick 30 second search of the winger blogs echo chamber and I could write your posts for you."---Notice, NO SUBSTANCE whatsoever. Just sarcasm and demonizing. Thanks Amunaka, for giving us the perfect example of classic liberal arguing tactics! LOL.
He and pdug will come back once the are convinced we're gone and make some profound comment like, "you don't even know what obamanist is"
I haven't dealt with amunaka but he appears to be a little calmer than pdug, lol!!!
See ya, Roanoke1!!!!
Harbinger, hey idiot. Don't just start babbling some straw-man defense of Obama's race on an ad about a Chinese girl talking about debt.
Irrelevant, imbecile. Stay on topic.
Typical Republican...G.O.P . GIMME OUR PAYMENTS ......The Republicans are President Obama's best campaigners. With all their stupidity, the country is realizing the President Obama is the only choice for 2012. The Republicans cannot connect with the 99% . They all think they are above anyone.
'Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.' ... Frank Zappa
they also stand for Racist, Rancid, Divisive, Angry, Traitorous, vicious and Pathetic. . .
they also stand for Hypocrites, Homophobe, Sexist, blissfully Ignorant and dis-ingenuous.
Shallow, hurtful, discriminatory and vengeful ...
Fact is , they are trudly the most disgussting thigs we have running around this country ... if we could put a lable on all things they want to control...ususlly people,,, Gays, blacks, women, minorities.. these are all people, who intheir book, aren't even real americans... youknow your dealing with down syndrome whenthey are STILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL asking for his Birth Certificate... and Donald trump must have some of the sill wig hair of his cought in his brain to be so arrogantly ignorant . .
LOL!! Dont the two of you have parks to be pooping in and cops to assault and tents to be living in and whining to do about what you dont have all while beating on the drums and doing drugs while holding up anti-semitic signs because you liberals hate Jews??? Get back to your park, fools!! OWS, the face of the Democrat party!! LOL!
Roanoke1 .. .. lloks like you're speechless again.. you can always tell a bafoon when you spell out a set of facts.. and the re-tort.. from a re-tard is something along the lines of pooping in a park ... thats becuase the GOP has shown themselves to be a vapid wasteland of Irrational Nonsense .. All hate and Bigotry ... smothered in Flags, Ribbons and Balloons
NewMoon,
I love how you simply spin away. I merely point out the base of your party, for what it is, and you get back to your demonizing and hate-tactics. Everything I said, unfortunately for you, was truthful, you intellectually challenged failure. You can google every single thing I said and you will get several articles on all such things occurring over and over at Occupy bitch-sessions all over the country. LOL! You guys really do take over a park, start living in tents, destroy the place with trash and sewage, do drugs, women have been raped, hundreds of cops assaulted, and all while beating on the drums, holding up anti-Semitic signs, and complaining. What about that isn't true? LOL! You can find videos all over the place online of every instance I pointed out. And this is the base, the lifeblood of your party? Truth hurts, eh? Yikes. But don't get mad at me for pointing out the truth. So, I guess I understand your knee-jerk reaction in instantly demonizing me for pointing that out. LOL. As for hate and bigotry...is that like the hate and bigotry the Democrats created when they formed the KKK? Or Jim Crowe Laws? Or Democrat imposed segregation? Or Democrats actively filibustering the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Or Al Gore Sr leading the filibuster? So blacks couldn't have equality? Against the Republican introduced Civil Rights Bill? And Democrats electing Robert Byrd over and over for decades, and he was in the KKK as a younger man, and he was actually fourth in line to the presidency until a few years ago? That kind of hate and bigotry? Yeah, Democrats know all about hate and bigotry. Now it's just more subtle. Now Dems just implement policies to intentionally create generation after generation of government-dependent people, thereby solidifying their political future, election after election after election after election...
Lol, there's absolutely nothing racist in this ad. The actor impersonating a Chinese girl actually speaks pretty good English. I've heard 100 Chinese try to speak English that did a much worse job.
Race-baiting Democratic scum are pathetic. Don't ever, ever vote for the politically correct sissies who make big deals out of stuff like this.
We're in bigger debt because of Debtocrats like Spend-it-Now up in Michigan. In debt to the dictatorial Chinese. Any attempt by Republicans to get the drivers of our debt like Medi-scare away from the 3 dollars spent for every 1 received current status, down to something radical like only 2.5 dollars spent on MS for every dollar received, is met with hysterical, deranged caterwauling from the Democrats, and phony "grandma off a cliff" ads even when grandma is unaffected by being over 55.
Racially tinged? Why do we ever allow leftists anywhere near any control-making body in the United States. These people are a joke.
Well, it seems to be appropriate to blame Obama for the "Chinese problem". After all, it was Nixon who opened up trade with and selling our debts to China, which has gone thru every President since then. And how many years has a Rep been the President vs a Democratic President since then???? Hmmm...yep...point all the blame on Obama and the Democrats...the Republicans are good at doing that...taking the problems they created and twisting them around....
The problem isnt borrowing money to cover a deficit, the problem is the crappy useless mammoth spending of money we dont have. $700 billion in shovel ready stimulus for instance, now we need a new tax to pay for 70 billion in payroll tax. duh.
I smell a lot of red herring in here.
The ad in question, while perhaps in bad taste, outlined the point quite well. We are in debt up to our eyeballs and Stabenow is, at minimum, culpable in helping to make that happen with the policies she supports.
Point made. The racist accusations are just an attempt to deflect the reader from the truth.
Exactly, 60's vet, the Dems aren't the ones seriously complaining about this ad. The Republicans are. Dems are laughing about it, all the way to the ballot box.
What makes this whole thing even sillier, is that I'm under the impression that Asian Americans are probably the only minority group still giving substantial support to the Republicans (other groups have long since completely written off the Republicans, to their credit).
Really bright move, Hoekstra. Brilliant.
By the way, it's worth contrasting this debacle of an ad with CAGW's infamous Chinese professor ad last year. The CAGW ad, which was superbly choreographed, with high production values, was no less about race-baiting and xenophobia than this one, but it was genuinely scary, as well as witty. It featured a Chinese professor speaking to well-heeled students in Beijing, 100 years in the future. The professor, in fluent English, lectures on the circumstances he claims led to America's fall (overspending) and China's ascent to supremacy.
That Republican ad was no less exploitative than this one, but it worked as propaganda. By contrast, this one is a pale joke. It deserves only mockery. That proof of this is the fact that the Chinese press, so far, just finds the Hoekstra ad hilarious. In the case of CAGW's ad, there was outrage and an official diplomatic protest from Beijing. At least the Chinese know good media when they see it.
Here's a hint to anyone, and I mean anyone running an ad in 2012. If you support big oil or the rich you'll lose, and if you use any type of negative or racist ad you'll lose. It doesn't matter how much money your Super-PAC has you'll lose. Also, and we have seen this phenom in California. Huge Corporations with billions of dollars, are ignored and basically asked to leave the state because we over tax them and kick their air polluting, earth destroying butts back to the Midwest where no one cares. Or they don't have environmentalists on their side to keep our air clean and drinking water safe. Obama-Biden 2012. Support the troops!! Our president is smart thank goodness.
Hmm I doesnt California lean liberal? Not really representative of the normal part of the nation.
Great ad, America sees it that way too. I mean c'mon... poor people do not create jobs in this country the last time I checked and certainly not Democrats.
Democrats want to tax and push away the people that do create jobs, over-regulate the companies they own, and increase the size of government and the poor's dependance on it. Sure Republicans want to keep the money they make, how else can they afford the to pay the middle class to work. Leave the economy to the people that don't take bribes for a living.
lol well keep repeating that. It reminds me of Dorothy clicking her shoes in the Wizard of Oz. Say it enough times....and you'll believe it lol.
PS: is Mitt your tin man? And Newt your straw guy? I guess Santorium would have to be the cowardly lion, then. Oooo, and Grover has to be the gutless wizard, behind the curtain. Maybe Paul could be the little doggie....always there but never understood.
Just thank me for feeding your family via the food stamps you receive or by keeping a roof over your head via the welfare benefits you get. No need to attack candidates or people that don't share the lazy, shiftless views you do. A pencil sharpener would make a better president and unlike you it actually works... Have a nice day!
My 2010 taxes > Your 2010 wages.
Hoekstra under fire for telling the truth.....hmmm.......imagine that.
We need a real President.......not a George Soros mouthpiece.
republican=racists
who gives a dam's opinion of people who disagree with him = silly
whogivesadamn= DOUCHEBAG.
Absolutely is this racist. Its also stupid. Asians spend a fortune sending their kids to American universities, going on vacation in the US, and shopping. Macy's and other retailers have lobbied President Obama to make it easier for Chinese to get tourist visas because they spend so much money shopping in Europe. Korean immigrants get virtually no welfare and start the most new businesses of any group. As for the Chinese buying our debt, we made the debt by cutting taxes and launching a $4 trillion dollar war under Bush. When Clinton left office there was a budget surplus.
the truth hurts ,,,, DONT IT