Washington Gadfly

MRFF ‘Jesus Is Commander-In-Chief’ Billboard Rejected For Obama Visit

Evan Gahr Investigative Journalist
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Military Religious Freedom Foundation president Mikey Weinstein says an advertising company, which this Friday abruptly rejected his proposed sign for Barack Obama’s expected motorcade route to his June 2 Air Force Academy commencement address, is guilty of “capitalistic cowardice.”

The billboard, for whatever reason — fear of Wempling up Obama’s speech or offending conservative Christians — clearly left company officials even more freaked out than the college students who recently stumbled upon, without even the courtesy of a trigger warning, “Trump 2016” chalked all over campus.

It said, “Welcome Mr. President to Our AF Academy, Why is Jesus Commander in Chief Here?”

Well, for Christians, isn’t he the commander-in-chief everywhere?

The billboard is the latest salvo against the Air Force Academy from Weinstein, an observant Jew with mostly Christian clients who Breitbart.com falsely calls an atheist. He contends that the hallowed school continually flouts both the establishment clause and military regulations by endorsing Christian fundamentalism.

Weinstein told the Washington Gadfly that Lamar Advertising abruptly informed his people today that the billboard was rejected for being factually incorrect.  With characteristic measured language he called the rationale a “bullshit” pretext, noting that they used other equally provocative billboards he bought to challenge the Air Force Academy but none named Obama. The company, which once rejected then accepted a pro-Obamacare billboard that criticized a Republican congressman, seems, like many Washington players, rather non-partisan throne sniffers.

Lamar executive Hal Kilshaw pulled a Marty Baron when reached for comment this afternoon, professing confusion about the identity of a reporter who just identified himself before angrily hanging up.

If Kilshaw is a non-cowardly capitalist he should let me buy a billboard for outside the Washington Post that says, “WaPo Exec Editor Marty Baron Covers Up Racial Purge Lawsuit.”

Evan Gahr