i just have to wonder why the actress agreed to play this role.

Wow. Hoekstra certainly has the privileged yet victimized old white straight male shtick down letter perfect. It's almost life-like. Hey, Pete! Do your Shylock next!

Hoard the money and let the people starve is not what I would have though to be a big winner in a political campaign by a d00d who is one of those responsible for the deregulation that causes economic meltdown.

I just did a search on twitter for Debbiespenditnow and it's striking to see the people jumping to his defense are a couple of white power accounts. *sigh* I'm with Emily, it's surprising that the actress would play this part.

That is the stupidest ad. It does not convince me to vote for Hoekstra. On the contrary, it convinces me to vote for Stabenow. The one who gave our money for companies to move overseas was Bush. He gave OUR MONEY AWAY IN SUBSIDIES. Those companies who moved, did not give any money back. The profits they made where distributed to only their share holders. The tax payers did not get anything. Those companies now are multinationals who GET A REFUND FOR PAYING TAXES ABROAD.

That ad reminds me MORE OF WHAT BUSH DID.

It's a typical GOP distraction technique. Every news cycle spent on this is a news cycle that his record isn't being examined. If he can play out the clock with crap like this - he will.

Wish the media wouldn't bite - the more crap he throws at Stabenow, the closer his record should be examined.

Anyone know if he was against the GM bailout?

He's nothing but a corrupt GOP toadie, he gives old white guys a bad name.

I have had all the teacher,policemen,firemen cutting, union busting, social services cutting for children, big business tax cutting that I can handle. I hope every Republican will never be seen or heard from again

So can we hoist this guy with his own petard, and start calling him Pete "Huckster"?

This moron will not give up! Pete Hokestra and the Republican Party do not seem to understand that the outrage over this despicable ad is because it is blatantly racist, xenophobic, and completely un-American. If this is what the GOP stands for and is willing to defend, no wonder they are a dying political establishment set to lose their grip on Congress and lose again to Obama. Hoekstra needs to apologize -- and then drop out of this race. http://www.sunstateactivist.org

I worked with the D-bag for five years in private industry and he's no genius. Dead ended at corporate, so he ran for office on a platform of "Term Limits". Then he spent 18 years in Congress, lost a bid for Governor, so now he's unemployed, I presume. So, he needs to run for Senate. He's acting like he didn't spend the past 18 years on Capitol Hill, already. Makes me want to throw up! PS - the local Dutch Reform, Christian conservative newspaper is nothing to brag about. Starting today, they went to three day a week delivery, because they're dying on the vine. I cancelled my subscription a while ago. The people here are real yahoos.

I am so tired of bottom-feeders like Hoekstra. That is all.

Dear Maddow Crew: Well, you did it again. Another show I do not want to erase. My DVR is bulging!! **Did you know, you can get a 250 year mortgage in Japan ? Yes. It is a little weird at the loan office. Getting the toe print of your baby as co-signer on the contract is normal. And I thought my 30 year mortgage was to long and complicated.

Well this makes voting a lot easier. All I got to remember is flip the big easy straight “ D “ leveler at the top !! I can not trust any of these poor GOP folk. Everyone knows GOP policies is why the jobs when to China in the first place. What a dip-stick. !! …Signed: Michigan voter.

The GOP is finally coming out of the closet about their own racist attitudes.

This addvert reminded me of the Frankenstein movies where the crowd is armed with pitch forks and burning torches.

In the time of the Roman Empire actors were considered in the same level as prostitutes. They weren't very far off the mark. It doesn't surprise me that the woman agreed to play the part.

I believe you mean Fronkenstein, Yes ? Burning torches ? Ah, for the GOP that would be the “ Good Old Days “. It is time for a good senseless lynching The less information the better. Just do it.

Anyone have an opponent on the sci-fi Serenity ??

But we shall never forget the Turtle Fence episode!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qizNQKzatXA

The fact that China is holding the biggest off-shore I.O.U. paper against the USA has little to do with government spending. The American Middleclass has been sold-down-the-river in order to cut company health cost responsibilities and other human liabilities. It’s the reason so many 1980 businesses changed the name of it’s Personnel Department , to human resources. To a corporation, you are no longer a person, you are now a human resource. Like, Natural Resources, Mineral Resources, human resources ? Oh, I get it !! The reason our top executives pay is so high is, he has the hard job of cutting the throats of his fellow corporate workers, figuratively specking. You know, you would have to pay me a lot, as well.

This ad could have some interesting repercussions and offshoots.

First, is Hoekstra suggesting that it's wrong for American corporations to offshore jobs to China in an effort to reduce costs and increase profits? He's clearly saying that spending forces us to borrow money from China, thus strengthening their economy and weakening ours. However, the Chinese economy is clearly strengthened (a very bad thing, based on this ad) when businesses shift production to China. Free market conservatives might not be terribly happy with that message.

Second, watch the ad again, substituting the words "Wal-Mart" for "Debbie SpendItNow." The evils Hoekstra rails against occur in that context, as well. I wonder how Wal-Mart and other multinationals whose names could be substituted therein would feel about THAT message?

It is high time the GOP got the hell out of Michigan,the party may have started here and they can fade into obscurity like the WHIGS somewhere else.Considering Hoekstra is a immigrant himself this racist ad is not without irony.Its just too bad I am moving to Indiana this month so I can't vote against him.But we have our work cut out for us in the Hoosier state as well!

In all the (justifiable) hubbub over the xenophobic/racist nature of the spot, is anyone examining his claims of Stabenow=SpenditNow and Hoekstra=SpenditNot.

anyone mentioning the basically fact-less nature of the charges and content of the ad?

basically the same old "tax and spend Democrats" BS the GOP always fall back on. while the reality is more like "borrow and spend, spend, spend GOP."

I think that when we focus on the racist overtones, we enable the same old GOP whine of "those Liberals, always playing the race card" meme and thus serve their using that as a diversion from the real issue and covering the underlying Big Lie. its crap too, but it plays to their audience. (who are never ever going to believe what we try to tell them anyhow) so basically it works both ways. the RW base hear us crying "racism" so they think 'wow Pete must be telling the truth about spending/debt, if they're falling back on that.'

Perhaps we would be better off telling the truth (to those americans who might actually listen) about Republican spending and Republican policies and the deficit and our Chinese debt?

Perhaps Rachel might devote a segment to showing how and where that debt actually came from?

You keep doing this stuff, Right-Wingers, and you put the election right in obama's hands.

There are a lot of lockstep GOPers in Michigan who swallow this racist junk whole. No need to examine this ad for facts, what's on the surface is all that's there; racism, xenophobia, assuming the mantle of jingoistic arrogance as an easy fix for complicated problems, etc. The guy's a dullard, in the mold of Sarah Palin, only less successful. Hopefully he'll be completely unsuccessful, especially since I live here!!

Sadly, the controversy from this crummy and poorly produced ad is giving him more face time than he'd ever get otherwise or ever deserve. I believe the phrase is "You can't pay for this kind of publicity." Lucky him. Hopefully, it'll burn out before the election.

Hoekstra calls himself Pete Spenditnot Hoekstra, but I read that he supported subsidies to Big Oil. So, in his own spirit of middle-school name calling, why don't we call him Pete Give-it-away Hoaxtra?

There's a whole different take on this ad that no one has noticed. Since this is so far down the thread, which is a long way down the blog, I've posted over in The Last Word blog. Check it out, and think.