I’m not sure what offends me more about this ad for Pete Hoekstra’s Michigan Senate campaign… the ham-handedness of it (Debbie “Spend it Now”… really?) or the fact that the stereotype for Chinese people used in this spot looks like something out of the 1950’s.

James Fallows has an excellent dressing down of this ad. Pointing out that most of China doesn’t look like what’s depicted in the ad.

I’m not even sure what the main point of this ad is supposed to be? That Democrats in general and Debbie “Spend it Now” are funneling money to a country full of Chinese women in rice paddies? I can get too scared about some 1950’s depiction of China? Shouldn’t you be showing Chinese engineers in factories or Chinese mega-cities?

But of course if you did that, it would undercut the idea of American exceptionalism. Central to the idea of a “yellow peril” is that Asians use guile and deceit to achieve their ends. And that Asian women secretly want to be taken by virile American men. So it’s no accident that there’s a “come hither” aspect to this ad. I mean, what’s with the accent? Who thinks this is the way Chinese people speak English? It’s as if they are trying to conjure up the hooker in Full Metal Jacket.

I’m not sure that ham-handed appeals like this work in our political climate. Ads like this are typically run by losing campaigns. If you look at the Real Clear Politics run down of the polls for this race, Stabenow has a decent lead. I don’t see it shrinking based on this ad.

HT: Mike Frieda