http://www.ky3.com/home/video/Billboard-buyer-shares-why-he-brought-Vote-Obama-sign-to-the-Ozarks-101850443.htmlOZARK, Mo. -- When it comes to politics, there may be as many opinions as cars cruising down U.S. 65. So, naturally, there are different reactions to a billboard south of Ozark that says "Voted Obama? Embarrassed yet?"
"I know the president didn't win down here, but there were a lot of people down here that voted for him, and I think I can speak for them and say we are not embarrassed yet," Matthew Patterson, executive director of the Greene County Democratic Central Committee, said in a telephone interview on Sunday.
"My partner and I felt lots of frustration here lately, and we liked that sign and we thought that was a reasonable question to ask," Steve Critchfield said in a telephone interview on Monday.
Critchfield and his business partner from Commercial One Brokers, a real estate firm in Branson, saw a similar sign online, bought it, and brought it to the Ozarks.
"I've certainly voted for people I'm embarrassed to say I've voted for," he said. "We're not naïve enough to think that we wouldn't get someone to be upset. I'm just surprised how upset people are."
Critchfield says he's received death threats due to the sign; people accuse him of hate speech and racism. He insists the billboard was for something more American in the name of discourse, conversation, and old-fashioned debate.
"If everybody thinks [President Obama's] done a great job and they're very happy," he said, "then I guess they'd be buying billboards saying 'I'm proud to have voted for him.' That's what makes America great, isn't it?"
