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That’s Mason City, Iowa, of course, where a new controversy over President Obama has erupted near Music Man Square, a downtown landmark in the birthplace of Meredith Willson of “Music Man” fame and his legendary “76 trombones.”
A billboard in the downtown area compared Mr. Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin, with a message declaring: “Radical Leaders Prey on the Fearful & Naïve.” The sign depicts the three men who are labeled with the words “National Socialism, Democrat Socialism, Marxist Socialism.”
The North Iowa Tea Party purchased the sign, with organizers hoping to spread a critical message about the Obama administration. Instead, the billboard itself became the subject of intense controversy, including among Tea Party activists, some of whom said it was offensive, ineffective and a waste of money.
“The purpose of the billboard was to draw attention to the socialism,” Bob Johnson, co-founder of the North Iowa Tea Party, told reporters in Iowa on Tuesday. “The pictures overwhelmed the message. The message is socialism.”
The billboard created a considerable stir in Mason City, an area of Democratic strength in northern Iowa. Mr. Obama carried the county by 21 percentage points over Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential race. In the Iowa caucus campaign, Mr. Obama passed through the area again and again as he crisscrossed the state, often drawing large crowds in Mason City. Two years later, Mr. Obama’s approval rating has fallen in the state, but even some of his critics turned against the billboard.
out of their minds
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