A political billboard in St. Cloud, Florida reads "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat" over an image of the burning World Trade Center. Businessman Mike Meehan, who paid for the ad, says he's "only trying to help Republicans." The billboard also carries a link for Meehan's website, TheRepublicanSong.com, at which he says, "I claim to be a man of God" and promotes his political song and video.
Meehan's song, which appears to have racist overtones, begins, "The Democrat secular progressive move, political correctness is killing us too. They want to take the money from the hard working man, and give it to the lazy folks that don't give a damn."
Even Republicans have found the billboard "inappropriate," and many residents want it to come down. "I'm thinking about the Twin Towers, all the families that were killed there," one woman told local TV affliate WFTV.
Another local was more accepting, saying, "They can have their opinion. It's a free country, you want to pay for the ad."
However, the posters at right-wing site Lucianne.com were enthusiastic about the billboard. "Why isn't Mike Meehan the Republican presidential candidate?" asked one. "Liberals get abjectly hysterical whenever the truth about them is pointed out," wrote another. "People who refer to the terrorist attack as a tragedy are morons," added a third.
The company which owns the billboard says it's a free speech issue and has no plans to take Meehan's ad down before the election.
The full story can be read here.
This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast July 15, 2008.