Idaho billboard sparks controversy, compares Obama with suspected gunman

AURORA, Colo. — Controversy is spreading across the country after a billboard in Idaho compares the accused Aurora shooter with President Obama and the nation’s policies on Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ad, which debuted less than a week after the deadly shooting, is the work of a libertarian group known as the Ralph Smeed Foundation near in Caldwell, Idaho.

The ad puts a picture of 24-year-old James Holmes next to President Obama.

The text by James Holmes’s photo reads, “Kills 12 in a movie theater, everyone freaks out.”

On the president’s photo, it reads, “Kills thousands with foreign policy, wins Nobel Peace Prize.”

On Saturday, the group’s current leader spoke to FOX 31 Denver by phone to discuss the billboard.

“What we’re trying to say there should be a lot more outrage that for all the men and women that are dying there in the Mideast,” said Maurice Clements, the current Chairman of the Smeed Foundation.

Outside the memorial the Idaho billboard is being reported by many to be insensitive to both the victims and survivors.

“I can’t believe they would compare a tragedy like this to something in politics,” said Desi Paine, who visited the memorial on a vacation from Louisiana.

Clements indicated during a phone interview the advertisement is not meant to be offensive to the Aurora community or survivors but for most the message is seen as inappropriate.

“I don’t care for the President myself but i’ve never seen anything like that, its just sick.” added one man outside the memorial.