Michigan’s Hoekstra Strikes Racial Nerve

By

Michigan GOP U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra struck a nerve with his Super Bowl ad against current senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The ad portrays a Chinese woman speaking broken English, alluding to Stabenow’s investing in Chinese markets at the cost of U.S. jobs and tax payer debt. “Your economy get very weak,” the woman says, “ours get very good.”

The Associated Press writes that the Michigan chapter of Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote, a nonpartisan group, issued a statement: “It is very disturbing that Mr. Hoekstra’s campaign chose to use harmful negative stereotypes that intrinsically encourage anti-Asian sentiment.”

Hoekstra’s campaign established a website at DebbieSpendItNow.com, which features, among a surprisingly well designed interface, depictions of Chinese lanterns, dragons and characters. Stereotypically broken English quotes from the ad are littered throughout the page, along with infographics of past spending.

To counter these charges, Michigan Democrats launched the HoesktraHoax.com website. It charges Hoekstra with running on a false platform of reform, stating he works for a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm and would repeal Wall Street’s recent reforms, if elected to the Senate.

The ad is set to run for the next two weeks, according to the Associated Press story, on networks with high Republican viewership.

Tags: , , , ,