[There was a video here]

Pete Hoekstra, Senate candidate and tweeting disaster Twitter Pete, aired a campaign ad during the Super Bowl targeted at his happily married opponent, Debbie Stabenow. The ad features a Chinese woman biking through a backdrop of rice fields and uh, recognizable music, thanking "Debbie Spenditnow" for giving all the money to "us."

The woman, wearing a straw hat (because, you know, Chinapeople and their little hats), rides up on her bicycle and delivers the following in broken English :

Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spend so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow.

Hoekestra continues on to say that you, the good Super Bowl-watching people of Michigan, should refrain from voting Debbie Spenditnow and instead vote for Pete "Spend It Not." Oh, perfect. Yep, no problems here. Nothing to see but a pretty ad that is in no way offensive to a group and/or groups of people whatsoever. The video is also available at Hoekstra's website, along with the image of Stabenow's face printed on a fan, Chinese characters, dragons, yen, and a pot of tea preceded by the words, "Debbie's pouring American dollars into the Chinese economy."

The ad is insensitive, racist, xenophobic, and fundamentally incorrect in every way. It is offensive for so many reasons, but perhaps it is just the sheer dumbness of it that offends me the most. Pete Spend It Not? Get your head in the game, Pete. What does that even mean? It means that you should think about who you pay to helm your ad campaigns before you can even begin to discuss others' spending. Also, we're pretty sure you are racist now. Why not go the easy route and attack Stabenow's creepy husband?

I hope Ricky Gervais comes to Pete Hoekstra's house, knocks on his door, thrusts him from the cover of his Midwestern comfort zone and forces him to experience the horrors of strange and foreign lands at the cost of his own dignity and humiliation.

[Via Eclectablog]