A Michigan campaign ad first shown during the Super Bowl has people buzzing about Pete Hoekstra, a Republican former congressman from Holland who wants to unseat second-term U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
He mocks her as "Debbie SpendItNow" in the half-minute spot, but that's not what provokes talk locally and nationally. His half-minute ad, which opens with the sound of a gong and other traditionally Asian tones, features an Asian-American actress speaking broken English as she claims "Debbie spends so much American money ... we take your jobs."
Several Detroit pastors issued a statement urging Hoekstra to drop the ad, which is scheduled to run statewide for two weeks on cable TV. The Michigan chapter of a group called Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote says in a three–paragraph statement: "It is very disturbing that Mr. Hoekstra's campaign chose to use harmful negative stereotypes that intrinsically encourage anti-Asian sentiment."
Hoekstra (pronounced HOOK-strah) defends his commercial. "We knew we were taking an aggressive approach," he told reporters Monday in a conference call quoted by Huffington Post. "But this is a time where the people in Michigan and across the country are fed up with the spending, and we wanted to capture that frustration."
Republican consultant Nick De Leeuw of Fowlerville, MI, calls it "appalling" on his Facebook page. "Racism and xenophobia aren't any way to get things done," he adds. And former GOP consultant Mike Murphy of Los Angeles says in a tweet: "Pete Hoekstra Superbowl TV ad in MI Senate race really, really dumb. I mean really."
Obama supporter - great. he's the head of her party. what else would you expect? Tax increase supporter - great. 66% of the public supports tax increases on the wealthy Unrealistic fuel economy supporter - what's unrealistic? the big 3 helped develop them and support the standards. You know something they don't? False concept of global warming supporer - uh huh. No one, I repeat, no one disputes that the earth is getting warmer. The dispute is over whether it's caused by man. Supports Obama care - great. It's got a lot of very good things about it. Supports agricultural subsidies - fine. to some extent we need them. especially for small farmers. Supports ethanol subsidies - yesterday's news. subsidies expired last month "Absolutely no accomplishments" - generalize much? For one, she authored Cash for Clunkers
* "I would hope that in this day in age, especially from a California company [the ad agency], we were beyond the use of caricatures in political advertisements," -- U.S. Sen. Leland Yee, D-CA * "Of course some parts of southern China look the way this ad does, with rice paddies, palm trees, no big buildings, people wearing conical straw hats and bicycling along dike tops. But this is nothing like how the typical big-factory zone looks in China, or the huge cities that would exemplify Chinese wealth and the country's rise -- ie, the subjects of this ad. So why this rural setting? I think it's because it offers a kind of visual dog-whistle for those Americans who, either through experience or through Apocalypse Now-style imagery, associate smiling-but-deceptive Asians in a rice-paddy setting with previous American sorrow.. . . . Its images are about -- 'Nam!!" -- James Fallows, author/blogger who has reported extensively from China
I agree with Stan to a certain extent... You can't just say "I'm to going to spend money" because that is disingenuous. How is he going to spend the money differently?
You basically called Brian a brown-shirt. Which, for those of you following along at home, is a Nazi. Janet called someone with political opinions that about half of this country agree with - a Nazi. A Nazi. Wow. That's insulting on multiple fronts, but that's what passes for political discourse nowadays. She also called him anti-American, and anti-Christian for his views. Honestly, anti-American? Wow. Just wow. He has reasonable, mainstream views, which happen to differ from yours, and that's somehow anti-American? He wants America to fail. Honestly? That's really what you think? Wow. Just wow. And Stabenow is a "tyrant". Suggest you google tyrant. The "we" is you, Janet.
Keep up the good fight Janet. Your speaking facts. The earth has been cooling since 1997. The liberals speak in opinions and lies.
Here's Hoekstra's site: http://www.debbiespenditnow.com/
Former Michigan GOP Rep. Pete Hoekstra is being castigated by both Democrats and Republicans for a controversial television ad that, while attacking Sen. Debbie Stabenow for her record on jobs, also caricatures Asian stereotypes. While Hoekstra's ad contains an underlying theme that has the potential to resonate with working-class voters, the delivery of the ad ensures that its presentation will overshadow its policy message. And that's bad news for Hoekstra.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/05/the-worst-political-ad-of-2012/ Usually when you see a title like this, you expect to see something coming from the Democrats. But lending credence to the theory that “Dumb Happens” in all segments of society, we find this advertisement which is allegedly slated to run this evening during the Super Bowl. It’s brought to us by Pete Hoekstra, running against Sen. Debbie Stabenow. It seeks to drive home the message of reckless Washington spending and the dangers of borrowing too much money from foreign governments. Unfortunately, as you will see, the method employed misses the mark of solid common sense in campaign advertising by a fair bit. 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. Particularly since the actress in question apparently doesn’t even have an accent. Watch for yourself. This seems destined to jump into the history books alongside, “I’m not a witch.”