Hoekstra Campaign: “So solly, Charlie. We no want pull ad. Ad gone biral.”

by P.D. Lesko

Michigan’s Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (APAAC) and a state diversity group have been pressuring Michigan Republican Senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra (below, right) to pull his controversial Super Bowl advertisement. The ad depicts an Asian-actress biking across what appears to be a rice field. She is wearing a wide-brimmed hat-wearing talking in broken English. She refers to Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow as Debbie “SpendItNow.” The ad, whch cost Hoekstra $144,000 to run in selected Michigan markets during the February 5, 2012 Super Bowl, has been slammed by bloggers, pundits and mainstream political analysts from across the political spectrum as being racially insensitive. Yet, the ad and corresponding web site, www.DebbieSpenditNow.com, have brought Hoekstra’s campaign financial contributions—money which could end up more than paying for the initial $144,000 ad buy.

In response to the intense criticism from Asians and similarly outraged white people — most of whom have Tweeted and blogged that “some of their best friends are Asian, and that they have never, ever, ever pretended to speak like an Asian in broken English,”—Hoekstra’s campaign issued this statement: “So solly, Charlie. Us no pull ad. Make big splash on YouTube. Ad gone biral.”

At the moment the ad has had more than 200,000 YouTube views, and gotten a write-up in nearly nearly every major national media outlet. Slate Tweeted this to its 308,000 Twitter followers: “Pete Hoekstra’s ‘China ad’ is stupid and blatantly xenophobic to an embarrassing degree. WATCH.” At Slate, of course, page views are money. The link goes to a Slate piece by David Weigel who calls the ad “stupid.”

The ad has gone viral, with more than a hundred articles and blog posts written on the ad nationwide. FOX News ran a pair of segments on the  and commentator Lou Dobbs praising Hoekstra as “doing a terrific job.” Here in Washtenaw County, County Commissioner Alicia Ping withdrew her support of Hoekstra thanks to the ad. Ping, however, has never commented on the behavior of her sister, former County Commissioner Jessica Ping, who took $5,003 in reimbursements and per diem money that she was not entitled to take, left office, and has never repaid county taxpayers the money. Theft of public money, evidently, rankles Alicia Ping’s sensibilities less than racism.

Pete Hoekstra’s campaign is, for the moment, a bad news buffet that is enjoying millions of dollars in free publicity.

APAAC Chair Sook Wilkinson said she’s “deeply saddened” by the negative use of Asian Americans by the state’s politicians. She was referring to ads run by Dick DeVos in his 2006 run for the governor’s office, and Rick Snyder during his 2010 campaign. Snyder’s ad, coincidentally, was the brainchild of the same Hollywood company that helped Hoekstra’s campaign.

Wilkinson told the media: “We’re trying to make Michigan a welcoming place to live and work and this kind of ad can do a lot of damage,” she said. “I understand this is going viral. People in other countries are watching this. I would like him to stop airing this advertisement immediately and offer an apology,” Wilkinson said.

Sources within Hoekstra’ campaign have said there is no chance that the ad will be pulled. Political analysts expected the Michigan senatorial campaign between Stabenow and her challengers to be aggressive. Senator Stabenow has a campaign war chest that tops $6 million dollars, and any Republican hoping to unseat the two-term Democrat would need to garner national attention and attract money from outside of Michigan into the race.

On a conference call with reporters Senator Stabenow took questions about the Hoekstra ad.

At one point she said, in answer to a question: “I think that Pete should be embarrassed by his ad and its divisiveness.”

Asked a follow-up question about how the ad was divisive, Stabenow replied, “Others have spoken about what their concerns are, and I’m not going to get into it because I don’t want to make it more divisive.”

“Let’s send a message to Pete Hoekstra that in Michigan we reject divisive, hypocritical attack ads like these,” wrote Stabenow Campaign Manager Dan Farough in an email to reporters.

Meanwhile, Hoekstra claims that his ad has elicited “positive” feedback: “We have gotten overwhelmingly positive response to the ad,” he said. “It’s because what we’ve said is what Americans feel and know and experience every day. They’re experiencing eight to nine percent unemployment. They see Chinese economic growth. They know these decisions are hurting job creation in America and they’re glad someone is finally pointing it out.”

Whether he is referring to positive responses from his own family, campaign staffers or from employees of the company paid to produce the ad is unclear.

Hoekstra’s primary opponent, Clark Durant, whose name few Michigan voters can remember at the moment, has said the media is focusing on the racial aspects of the ad. Durant suggests this is “exactly what Pete wanted.” Durant went on to try to change the subject: “Hoekstra crippled our country through excessive spending as a Congressman. To cover it up, he runs an ad that gets everyone talking about the ad’s racist character race rather than his own hypocrisy and dishonesty about his record.  Pete even voted for the Wall Street Bailout . . . costing nearly $1 trillion . . . while Debbie did not.”

After Hoekstra’s ad aired, Durant wrote a letter to Governor Rick Snyder and all Republican Precinct Delegates, County and District Chairs, and elected officials asking them whether “Pete Hoekstra is now the strongest candidate to defeat Debbie Stabenow?”

Durant, alas, has received few replies to his question.

Meanwhile on Twitter, Senator Stabenow’s campaign is circulating a link to a petition titled “Tell Pete Hoekstra Michigan is Better Than This.” In the 14 hours since the petition was posted, slightly under 1,000 people have signed it.

Hoekstra sent out a fundraising pitch to piggyback on the ad’s “popularity.”

Here we go again. We dared to take on Debbie Stabenow and China, and the liberals are doing what they always do—crying racism. Yesterday we launched our new ad, “Debbie Spenditnow.” The ad is only insensitive to Debbie Stabenow and her spending. The Left and the media think you’re not supposed to say that Debbie Stabenow’s reckless spending has strengthened China and weakened America… The Democrats will stop at nothing to change the subject from Debbie’s big spending, job killing record. That’s why she’s got her people doing what liberals always do when things get tough—calling me a racist.

David Weigel writes: “Here’s where Hoekstra loses me — the poor-little-candidate act. He’s not a racist, and only the slowest critics are saying he is. He’s a Senate candidate looking for a way to stir up voter anger about the debt (which, according to exit polling in GOP primaries, is fading somewhat as an issue), and doing so with… an ad in which a smug Chinese lady brags about how she’s going to bury us. (Is this going to happen before or after her ride on a hastily-built high-speed train?) He knows that a lot of Americans worry about this, possibly unreasonably so. And he’s taking advantage of that.”

It was an ad buy that Lansing, Michigan political consultant Joe DiSano told the media was “silly.” Interestingly, on DiSano’s Twitter account, while others suggest the ad has torpedoed Hoekstra’s campaign, DiSano has not repeated comments he made to the media prior to the ad’s debut.

On March 14, 2011 A2Politico posted a piece titled: “The Politics of the Plan: The Michigan Republican Wish List Starts With Stabenow’s Senate Seat.”

A February 28, 2011 poll of likely voters by EPIC/MRA showed Stabenow with an approval rating of just 47 percent. Politico.com reported that the results of the poll, “reinforces Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s vulnerability in 2012.” In a December 2010 piece published in the Washington Examiner, Stabenow was referred to as one of the nine “most vulnerable Senate Democrats.”

Pete Hoekstra just hijacked the debate with his “stupid,” “racist”  Super Bowl ad. What remains to be seen is whether Michigan residents will vote with their Lizard-Brains, as they did when Snyder ran his say-nothing “One Tough Nerd” Super Bowl ad, or use some form of higher reasoning.