FLINT (WJRT) -
(02/06/12) - Super Bowl commercials were the topic of discussion Monday. And one ad for a U.S. Senate candidate that ran only in Michigan was no exception. In fact, several community groups are calling on the creator of that ad to apologize.
The ad was put out by former Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra, who's now running against Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow. It features a woman of Chinese decent who speaks broken English, and calls the senator "Debbie Spend-It-Now."
Hoekstra says his new political ad, which began airing during the Super Bowl, has a clear message.
"Under President Obama and Debbie Stabenow, spending has absolutely gone out of control," he said. "The ad clearly lays out that the Chinese benefit from the recklessness of U.S. spending and U.S. economic policy."
But Asian-American and black groups say the commercial wrongly plays on Asian stereotypes, and they want Hoekstra to apologize. Hoekstra stands by his ad.
"It doesn't criticize the Chinese at all," Hoekstra said. "The ad is only insensitive to Debbie Stabenow and her spending."
Sen. Stabenow responded, "I think that Pete Hoekstra should be very embarrassed about his ad and its divisiveness."
But when reporters asked Stabenow to explain what she thought was divisive about it, she did not elaborate.
"I don't want to make it more divisive," she said.
Reporters also asked the senator if she thought Hoekstra's ad was misleading.
"It's certainly not true about my record, and I'm just going to leave it at that," Stabenow said.
This story has a lot of people talking on our Facebook page. Tysha wanted to know how much Hoekstra spent on his ad. The answer is $150,000 for a two-week run across the state.
A Hoekstra spokesman said, "In typical fashion for Pete, the campaign stretched every penny for maximum effect, buying mostly pre-game in the major markets. This is an instance of sensible spending as it helps to get an important message across, unlike Debbie Stabenow's reckless government spending that stifles growth and hurts our economy."
UPDATE:
Senator Debbie Stabenow is taking to Twitter to gather up support after a controversial political ad. She tweeted the link to an online petition saying if you agree that Michigan is better than this ad-- sign it and spread the word. Here's a link to that online petition.
