Pete Hoekstra Gets Asshole of the Week Award for Racist Ad

Yeah, I will call it racist.  I will call it what it is:  a nasty racial hate piece of film.  This doesn’t qualify as an ad when it portrays the Chinese as working in a rice paddy, affecting an accent, and stumping for the white man.  Gross.  For his full support of this “ad/quasi hate speech,” Hoekstra gets the Asshole of the Week Award.

Hoekstra’s comments about the ad seem to relegate him even further into the asshole realm; it sounds to me like he is willing to use racism to poke at his opponents and feels it’s appropriate:

On Facebook, Hoekstra added: “[Those] trying to make this an issue of race demonstrates their total ignorance of job creation policies.”

During a conference call with reporters later Monday, Hoekstra continued to stand by the ad.

“We knew we were taking an aggressive approach on this, but this is a time when the people of Michigan and across the country are fed up with the spending,” he told reporters.  “It hits Debbie smack dab between the eyes where she is vulnerable with the voters of Michigan.”

Aggressive isn’t the word I would use to describe racist.  This doesn’t hit Debbie Stabenow between the eyes; it just makes Hoekstra look bad. If the issue wasn’t about race, why set the ad in China?  Why not just point to a map?  Why use a woman who looks as if she could be of Chinese descent? Why not have Hoekstra himself standing in the rice fields? Oh, and at what point does this “ad” move from a grossly racist political statement to a hate crime or hate speech meant to instigate racism against the Chinese?

 

Related articles

• Is Pete Hoekstra’s ad racist? (politico.com)
• Prosey BUTTONS!: Pete Hoekstra Defends Racist Political Ad – http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/pete-hoekstra-defends-racist-political-ad (friendfeed.com)
• Michigan Senate Candidate Pete Hoekstra Tries To Explain Racist Political Ad (mediaite.com)
• Pete Hoekstra Doubles Down On Claims His Campaign Ad Was Not Racist (chicagoist.com)