Hoekstra Disappears Ad Down Memory Hole

February 26, 2012 by 8 Comments

Only a couple weeks after debuting a racist campaign commercial during the Super Bowl and then adamantly defending it to anyone who would listen, Pete Hoekstra is now quietly trying to erase that ad from all of his web and social networking sites.

Hoekstra, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, has scrubbed all mention of the adfeaturing an actress portraying a Chinese woman speaking in broken English from his campaign Facebook page and YouTube account. Back on Feb 5, when the ad ran during the Michigan broadcast of the Super Bowl, Hoekstra posted it in both places. Then as the controversy kicked up, he used his YouTube account to post clips of him vehemently defending the spot on Fox News.

Now the ad is gone from his Facebook page (as captured in this screenshot, which shows all entries from Feb. removed) as well as his YouTube account. More interestingly, Hoekstra’s defense of the ad has also been scrubbed from YouTube (as this screenshot shows).

What a shock.

Filed Under: Politics 8 Comments
About Ed Brayton

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

  • theskeptical

    I cannot say that I find this very surprising. Rug lifted, and broom in action.

  • Phillip IV

    This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent… Let’s give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.

    — former U.S. Senator George Allen

  • wheatdogg

    Nothing can be erased from the Internet. Clearly, this boob doesn’t know that.

    I haven’t seen the ad, but I’m guessing Hoekstra isn’t worried about losing Asian-American voters.

  • Drolfe

    Aw what a shame… now this post has lost a bit of context. Even with the video pulled, it can still be followed by its ripples, there was a lot of talk about it.

  • http://rockstarramblings.blogspot.com/ Bronze Dog

    Knowing the internet, someone will have a copy of it, some will have screenshots of the ad being on his sites, and with enough determination, that commercial will haunt him for the rest of his life.

  • http://umlud.blogspot.com umlud

    The actress isn’t Chinese. She’s American. It’s like saying, “Ed Brayton, an Englishman, is a blogger.”

    Or (since the quote isn’t Ed’s) it would more accurately be, “The Scottish-Italian reporter/blogger McMorris-Santoro wrote…”

    (Now, I have no evidence that McMorris-Santoro doesn’t hold a British nor an Italian passport, but there IS a difference between calling someone an American and calling them something else. Can we at least understand that?)

  • anandine

    Hey, this is progress for him. At least he understands now that other people don’t like it.

  • doktorzoom

    We have always been at war with Hoekstrasia