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Mysterious ‘George W. Bush : Our leader...Didn’t Saddam Hussein have his picture up everywhere?

by Open-Publishing - Sunday 28 November 2004
18 comments

Edito Media-Network Governments USA

Mysterious ‘George W. Bush: Our leader’ Clear Channel political public service billboard graces Orlando freeway

By John Byrne

A billboard recently put up in Orlando bearing a smiling photograph of President Bush with the words “Our Leader” is raising eyebrows among progressives who feel the poster is akin to that of propaganda used by tyrannical regimes.

RAW STORY confirmed the billboard’s existence Monday evening. The billboard pictured, which is on I-4, says that it is a “political public service message brought to you by Clear Channel Outdoor.”

A second billboard bearing the same image along the same route says it was paid for by Charles W. Clayton Jr. Clayton’s firm, Charles Clayton Construction, said he was traveling this week and couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Clear Channel-sponsored billboard was not lit up for drivers Monday evening. The Clayton billboard was.

In response to inquiries from RAW STORY and the Associated Press, Clear Channel Outdoor issued a statement asserting that the billboard’s content was the product of the local office of the company, and not a corporate decision.

It appeared to confirm that Clear Channel did indeed place the billboard in question.

“Clear Channel Outdoor markets are operated locally,” Tony Alwin, Senior Vice President, Creative for Clear Channel Outdoor, said. “Local managers determine what copy to use when a location has time that is not sold to an advertiser.”

Clear Channel Outdoor Orlando said they could not respond to requests for comment this week because their press person was “away.” They referred calls to their San Antonio corporate parent, which did not return two messages for comment.

The Orlando Associated Press bureau said they had seen at least one sign but didn’t plan a story. They suggested that the signs would only become a story were there a public response to the billboards, and that the county in which they were situated would probably meet the signs with “a warm response.”

One Orlando resident penned a concerned letter to the (registration-restricted) Orlando Sentinel on Saturday about the billboard. As the site is restricted to members, the letter appears below.

“The first thing I thought was, when was the last time I have seen a president on a billboard?” wrote resident Dianna Lawson. “Didn’t Saddam Hussein have his picture up everywhere? What next, a statue?”

Orlando Sentinel Letters Editor Dixie Tate said they wouldn’t have printed the letter were it false. Other reporters at the Sentinel told RAW STORY they’d also seen the billboard.

Others said they’d seen a similar sign in Jacksonville along I-95.

“We don’t do political advertising,” said Jacksonville Clear Channel sales representative Brad Parsons. He said the photograph was probably bogus.

A second Jacksonville rep acknowledged the company did political advertising but only when paid for by a third party. When asked if he would look at the picture for verification, he declined to give out his email address.

Common Cause, the public interest advocacy group, said the billboard probably wasn’t a violation of campaign finance regulations, but expressed concern about Clear Channel’s history and their use of billboard space to support the Administration.

“I think it sort of exemplifies the fact that big media companies are going to do all they can to stay on the good side of the administration because they’re very concerned about any efforts in Congress to challenge their ownership,” Common Cause Vice President for Advocacy Celia Wexler said Tuesday.

“Clear Channel has a history of weighing in in controversial ways that don’t respect the diversity of opinion,” she added. “It is in keeping with Clear Channel’s vision of the world which is to not take seriously an effort to serve the public interest or be non-partisan.”

The posted was first noticed by the liberal forum Democratic Underground

The letter in the Orlando Sentinel:

Billboard message

On my way to work Wednesday morning, I looked up and saw a giant billboard with a picture of George W. Bush and the words “OUR LEADER” under it. The first thing I thought was, when was the last time I have seen a president on a billboard? What is going on? Didn’t Saddam Hussein have his picture up everywhere? What next, a statue?

I am so concerned with our country and the division. I still stand by my vote, which was for John Kerry. George W. Bush has a lot of work to do to change the way I feel. Putting him up on a billboard does not make him a better president. His actions speak louder than words.

I wonder if anyone else finds the president’s picture on a billboard odd? I’m sorry, but it reminds me of countries with dictators, and it seems people are making him out to be the messiah, the savior of our world.

Fear, fear, fear. I’m tired of being afraid.

Dianna Lawson
Orlando

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=442

Forum posts

  • wellcome to fascist america! democracy as we have known it, is over.

  • Heres a better picture

    http://bellaciao.org/images2/BushBinLaden.jpg

  • Yep, so long for freedom and democracy...

  • It’s too bad nobody can hang a sign below saying, "Our Beloved National Queen!" After all, the voting American voices of "morality" brag about how much of an expert their ’girlie Bush’ is regarding gayness and marital affairs! American relations with Europe, and maybe even the rest of the world, may improve if ’W’ is more reverently referred to as "Queen George"!

  • Why is this fascist? The article doesn’t mention the government putting that up, it was the billboard company; they hadn’t sold the billboard space so they put in a filler in the meantime.

    • Maybe so but it was the truth. America is not free. It is sad but true that a lot of people would rather live in the dark ages when priests told them they would go to hell and they couldn’t read the Bible to find out if that was true or not. The church got rich. Tammy and Jimmy had it right. Do what you want and tell people they will go to heaven if you listen to them and then watch the money roll in.

    • mussolini said fascism should be called corporatism: the joining of state and corporate power...that’s what america, inc. has been starting shortly after the ’civil war’ up to this very day. and it got very bad when the reaganites started the de regulation affair in the 80’s that pertains to clear channel specifically. bush has longstanding financial ties with the boys at c.c. and c.c. has, because of deregulation, over 1200 radio stations (covering every market) dozens of t.v. outlets and, of course, the billboards.

    • All that it lacks is Mussolini’s old slogan: "BELIEVE, OBEY, FIGHT!"

    • Regardless, the sign should be taken down for traffic safety, since it causes so many drivers a sudden urge to vomit.

  • Here’s a picture of Bush as Hitler.

    By the way, Bush has a disease that causes erratic behavior, according to the article:

    http://www.cmaq.net/fr/node.php?id=19113

  • I agree that a picture of the President should not be posted along the freeways or highways.

    • As grim as it appears to be getting, you’ve got to see the humour in this. It’s so decidedly cultist in flavour it’s like a rip-off from the Simpsons Cartoon or Orwellian science fiction (Hail the Leader!).

      Haven’t these types of people any sense or irony?

      Thought-speak is here and ’1984’ happened in the 70’s they reckon.

  • No surprises there! After all, this is media marketing in Flordia! What should one expect, his brother is governor, right? Remember the last election! Get a grip and move on! LOL!

  • !!!!!!!!! BUSH ABDUCTED BY ALIENS !!!!!!!!

    This is the reason he has such control over the American people.

    Hurry, put Aluminum foil on your head so he can’t read your mind!!!!!

  • SHAME ON US
    THAT THIS CAN HAPPEN
    IT IS SPOOKY AND WEIRD

  • So, when is someone going to buy billboards suggesting Bush and his administration be charged with war crimes. I see many similarities with the Nazi party. Hitler, an Austrian Catholic, took the German Lutheran Chruch, and turned it into the Nazi party. While they went about exterminating Jews, the approach parallels what is going on in America.

    Hitler did 9 months in prison for attempting to overthrow the German government before he came to power. Imagine even attempting an overthrow in the U.S.A. - even though the Constitutions affords the people that very right and power!-

    I rignt-wing, fundament Christian-based group of zealots are creating a coalition and politcal force based on a very selfish value proposition of Jesus Christ. They do not want to heal the sick, feed the hungry, or shelter the homelsss - they simply want to be like Dr. Zuess characters, ahve starts emblazed on their bellies, and pretend to be a better class of people than others.

    Meanwhile, they have killed more Iraqi people than Saddam did in 25 years, and they are sending brainwashed young people over to Iraq to protect our need for oil. Sadly, these are sona and daughters of all of us being used like disposable pawns. Today, we learn that the military is actually going to start protecting these baess on foreign soil better. Guess, we’ve learned nothing from all the previous attacks. Personally, I feel that it must be frustrating to be a solider under this regime. You take an oath to uphold the Constitution and the order of the Commander-in-Chief.

    The Constitution supersedes the Chief, so what would one do. If the soldiers "considered" attacking Washington and taking back the country for the people - would they be wrong under the Constitutuion?

    Hasn’t anyone told these munchkins that the combustible engine was outdated nearly 50 years ago!

    Let’s move forward with progress.

    But first, turn off Fox News, and all of the propaganda information deluge. Read, listen to a variety of input - then go get signatures, and get these people out of office. They do not represent what America is about.