Idaho billboard compares Obama to James Holmes

A billboard created by an Idaho libertarian group compares the foreign policy of President Obama with the violence of the alleged Aurora theater.

/ KBOI

(CBS News) An electronic billboard in Caldwell, Idaho, that compares President Obama to Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooter James Holmes is drawing sharp criticism from Americans nationwide.

Displaying side-by-side images of Holmes - the suspected shooter who killed 12 and wounded 58 others by firing weapons inside a packed midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" - and the president, the billboard says of Holmes: "Kills 12 in a movie theater with assault rifle, everyone freaks out." Of Mr. Obama, it says: "Kills thousands with foreign policy, wins Nobel Peace Prize."

"Repulsive," "disgusting," and "bypassing tasteless," are just some opinions of the billboard left in the comments section of local news reports.

Maurice Clements, a spokesman for the Ralph Smeed Foundation - the ultra-libertarian group that owns the billboard boasting the slogan, "Making Statism Unpopular" - admitted to the Idaho Statesman that the provocative content is "a technique of trying to make a point, and maybe it was poorly done."

Still, Clements stood by the billboard's message, which was that Americans are "all outraged over that killing in Aurora, Colo., but we're not outraged over the boys killed in Afghanistan."

"We're not saying that Obama is a lunatic," Clements added.

Not everyone who weighed in online was against the ad - some backed the group's right to free speech, and some supported the sentiment. One commenter wrote there is "zero wrong with the board."

[wildemanne]

conservative crack heads er crackpots trying to over run the American system at any cost

[jonnyooh]

Republicans are responsible for the brain death of millions of American morons who watch Fox News. It is a form of legalized slavery.

[Man_ofreason]

Not asleep. Simply eight years with a cranial/rectal inversion.

[thetruthwillout]

Some people will stop at nothing to make a point. Where were the billboards when GB invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11? How many American lives were lost for nothing? Obama is a saint compared to GB and his cronies!

[marti21866]

Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria are the countries he is stalling the Muslim Brotherhood as leaders. So far Assad's not giving in.

[marti21866]

I love billboards!!

[rpugh20009]

What all this extremism comes down to is that Obama is black and the Republicans in Congress have hit a raw nerve with the extreme base and we've had 4 years of Obama bashing. Quit beating around the bush(no pun intended) and call him the N word, after all, that is what you are all saying in private. You people are disgusting.

[marti21866]

You are disgusting, dumb and ignorant!!! Libs are the ones that are racist. No one cares about his color. I am black but I would never vote for Obama. He's a liar, he's arrogant, he's lazy, he's a blamer of everyone but himself for his pitiful performance as POTUS.

[Man_ofreason]

I recently received an email entitled "The Great Renigger" about how Obama reneged on promises. The sender swore up and down that nothing racist was ever meant. However, I had worked with this cat many years ago and knew him as a racist then, and know his spots haven't changed, only his feeble denials.

[pryme40]

What do you expect,Idaho is a redneck state. Inbred bigots their just like in those southern states.Anything too try and swing the election,pitiful!!

[TimeToEvolve]

The people who like this are the same people who think the failed Republicon Party has a legitimate point of view. They actually think that ignorance and fear should be rewarded.

[MIO42]

Nice