There's been some controversy over Peter Hoekstra's Superbowl TV advertisement aired in Michigan in his campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow:
I've talked to many Chinese people. Rarely do they ever talk like this in reality. Except in stereotypes. Coincidentally, I watched the movie "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" before I watched the Superbowl this past weekend.
Mickey Rooney
Contained in the movie are numerous references to the racism that Bruce Lee encountered, including Mickey Rooney's turn as a fake Japanese man in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. The woman in the Hoekstra ad has the same sort of stereotypical accent.
Hoekstra can do better in other ways. The whole "Debbie Spenditnow" name befits someone making up playground insults, not a mature adult involved in the serious craft of governance and legislation. Sorry, Pete, this is amateurish and not ready for prime time.
He could have made this ad a lot better by having the Chinese woman speak in proper English, as so many do. That would have zeroed out any possibility of anti-racist reaction to this ad. Which would have still left the problem of not having much of a message and being focused on a 3rd grade level recess insult.
Besides, Pete's main point is blunted when one realizes the fact that he voted for the $800 million dollar TARP handout to the big banks (something most Republicans opposed). I wonder if he can come up with a juvenile name for himself to denote his own massive record-level spending voting record?
What a very strange commercial! This is not my area, so I'm not familiar with these people. It does seem juvenile and not the smartest move on the choice of tactics.
I loved Rooney in "Requiem for a Heavyweight". He totally nailed that role of the trainer, I think.............As for the ad in question, yeah, the broken English component was pretty loathsome, a throwback to the "yellow peril" era almost.
7 comments:
What a very strange commercial! This is not my area, so I'm not familiar with these people. It does seem juvenile and not the smartest move on the choice of tactics.
I've seen other stuff from Pete over the years, and heard a lot of radio interviews. He's usually a lot better than this.
I agree with SB, that was odd. Most people of different ethnic backgrounds do not have accents, I am one of them.
Mickey Rooney sure looks like Kim
Jong Il in that photo...what an
actor.
I loved Rooney in "Requiem for a Heavyweight". He totally nailed that role of the trainer, I think.............As for the ad in question, yeah, the broken English component was pretty loathsome, a throwback to the "yellow peril" era almost.
I bet Lou Dobbs loved it though.
I'd say probably, too.
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