Texas billboard raises eyebrows
A highway sign in north Texas is gaining a lot of attention for what some describe as a call to arms against the president.
Picture this: two Navy SEALS in full dress with machine guns alongside the slogan "The SEALS removed one threat to America, remove the other in November."
It’s similar to an ad in northwest Indiana that sparked protests this summer. And some like Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Lane Lewis call the I-35 billboard near Gainesville a hate ad.
"I think it's incredibly divisive, and borderline treasonous to suggest using military force to remove a sitting president," says Lewis. "To imply that is should be the military's responsibility to remove a threat some guy in north Texas deems as a threat, I'm sure the Secret Service will get involved if they feel like it, they've gotten involved in less."
Thomas Schad is the man who has been paying for the ad since mid-July after receiving the picture in an email. He's received all sorts of feedback; even had some tell local media he is an angry veteran who beats his wife. A claim he denies.
Schad insists he is not into politics, not part of some Mitt Romney Super PAC, just an average American upset with the current administration.
"Of course we're not threatening the president, we're making a statement," says Schad. "Some of this goes back to when the SEALs took out Osama bin Laden, and then the president stands up there and acts like he led the charge. He needs to learn the two-letter word 'we' instead of the one-letter word 'I.'"
“I haven’t been involved with one party or the other,” he tells KTRH News. “About the most politics I’ve ever been involved in is I was on the prison board once, and that was enough. I just kind of got pissed off.”
Schad says he'll keep the ad up through November's election.
We reached out to some of our military friends, and former JAG lawyer Geoffrey Corn responded that he “thinks the ad exploits the Navy SEALS image, but says the photos are in the public domain and open for such use.”
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