November 23, 2009 MSNBC The ED Show SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Take a look at this shocking billboard in Colorado, just 30 minutes outsid
November 24, 2009

November 23, 2009 MSNBC The ED Show

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.

Take a look at this shocking billboard in Colorado, just 30 minutes outside Denver, west of Denver, Colorado. At the top it says "President or jihad?" And shows a cartoon image of the president of the united states wearing a turbine. At the bottom it says, quote, "wake up, America, remember Ft. Hood."

Joining me now is a man behind this billboard, Mr. Phil Wolf. Mr. Wolf, good to have you with us tonight. Thank you for your time.

PHIL WOLF, POSTED ANTI-OBAMA BILLBOARD: Thank you, sir.

SCHULTZ: Why did you take out this billboard?

WOLF: I think this billboard's a combination of some frustrations on questions that haven't been answered by the president.

SCHULTZ: Such as?

WOLF: Let's start with where's he from? What's his background? Who is he? Is he American? What does he stand for?

SCHULTZ: Okay. So you obviously don't think that the president of the United States is an American citizen.

WOLF: I don't.

SCHULTZ: OK. What evidence do you have that he's not an American citizen?

WOLF: Well, I think the evidence has to be shown that he would be. That would seem to be the simplest thing to do, just to show that you are.

SCHULTZ: We missed this in the vetting process, though, all of this As a country, we screwed up?

WOLF: Very possible.

SCHULTZ: Possible. Jihad; what does jihad mean to you, Mr. Wolf?

WOLF: I think to me it means it's an extreme element of a struggle to overcome somebody. It can be interpreted probably some different ways. but to me it's-it's certainly not one of us. It's something other than what an American is, that I've been taught.

SCHULTZ: Jihad is religious war, is it not? The definition is religious war. You must have put that word up there for something. Do you think Barack Obama wants a religious war?

WOLF: I think it's definitely anti-Christian. Yes, I do.

SCHULTZ: Anti-Christian? We're a country that allows all types of faiths, do we not?

WOLF: We allow them, providing they abide by the same laws we all abide by, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, everything this country was found on when they put the republic together.

SCHULTZ: You're presenting the question that you're not sure if the president-you say president or jihad? Jihad is religious war. I mean, you're suggesting that the president of the united states wants a religious war on our soil?

WOLF: My statement up there on the sign has got a question mark behind it. And the question is-needs to be answered. When I see the cavalier attitude that's handled with Ft. Hood, when I see how someone who he holds close to him-you know, when he runs around the country and apologizes for who I am as an American, that disturbs me, sir.

SCHULTZ: Who did he apologize to?

WOLF: Well, same speeches you've been listening to. Every country he goes in to, Mr. Obama is telling the world we should be more tolerant, we should be more like them, in other words.

SCHULTZ: Does that make us weaker in your opinion?

WOLF: Yes, it does.

SCHULTZ: So if we're tolerant of other cultures, that makes us weaker as a country? Is that your belief?

WOLF: I believe that it is.

SCHULTZ: Let's talk about Ft. Hood. Why didn't the Bush administration catch this guy? Because there were plenty of signals long before President Obama took over the oval office.

WOLF: That's really a good question. I agree with you 100 percent.

SCHULTZ: How come you don't take a billboard out on that?

WOLF: You know what? It's just culminated with this issue on this particular president.

SCHULTZ: It's-what did you want President Obama to do about Ft. Hood? What should he do right now? There's people dead, people wounded. Throw all Muslims out of the military?

WOLF: Well, you know what? I think there's got to be some background checks with people that are in positions of leadership and authority. I don't see that that's being done. I know that in my businesses or in my family, if I have people that are involved that I think are harmful to me, I'm certainly going to do an investigation of that.

SCHULTZ: How did this guy slip through the cracks?

WOLF: That's not my question to answer. It's posed on the billboard--

SCHULTZ: You take it out on the president of the United States?

WOLF: Everything runs down hill, sir, and he's the top man.

SCHULTZ: Mr. Wolf, are you a racist?

WOLF: Absolutely not.

SCHULTZ: OK. So you think President Obama-his actions so far have brought you to the point where you think that he wants to commit religious war from the Oval Office? I mean, I find that amazing. And, you know, freedom of speech, America's a great country. What kind of response have you gotten to this?

WOLF: You know, other than the few dissenters that have threatened to fire bomb us and threaten to kill us, the overwhelming support has been-probably eight out of ten have been overwhelming. I think it's been pretty consistent with the local polls I've seen in Denver and around the country. Seven to eight out of ten have been very supportive of the same questions.

SCHULTZ: OK. You say you've been threatened? Your business has been threatened?

WOLF: The business has been threatened to be fire bombed. We have employees that left on Friday. Death threats.

SCHULTZ: Has law enforcement followed up on those?

WOLF: The city has been outstanding and they've been very helpful. Yes, they have everything that we've been given.

SCHULTZ: OK. So law enforcement is working on these threats that you've taken?

WOLF: We've given them everything we've had.

SCHULTZ: OK. You're paying for this billboard, correct?

WOLF: Yes, I did.

SCHULTZ: What do you do for a living? What is your business?

WOLF: This is a car dealership. This is what I do. We sell cars.

SCHULTZ: OK. Sales up because of this billboard?

WOLF: Yes. It's been very positive.

SCHULTZ: You've got people coming in buying cars based on what they've seen on the highway?

WOLF: What they have-what they have told us, to sum it up, is I will put off buying a car anywhere if I can go there and buy a car from you, because I appreciate that you stand for something. You ask the same questions that we've been asking around the water cooler. And now it's out on main street. I don't think the question has been answered.

SCHULTZ: What do you think we should do about Afghanistan?

WOLF: You know, I wish we weren't there.

SCHULTZ: Well, we are. Do you want the president to get out or put more troops in?

WOLF: Well, if they elect me, I'll deal with it. I'm not elected right now.

SCHULTZ: You don't-you have an opinion on the president about jihad but don't know what to do about Afghanistan?

WOLF: You probably wouldn't want to hear that opinion either.

SCHULTZ: I do want to hear it. I think we've had a good conversation. I mean, I'm curious as to how folks like you think in the middle of the country. What has Barack Obama done to you?

WOLF: Barack Obama, personally, hasn't done anything to me, but every time there's an event, whether it's George Bush or Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, it just seems like every president takes the failures or the deceptiveness of the previous one and they push it a little further. I think for me what Barack Obama has done for me is it's just-it's going down the drain as far as addressing what the common guy, the little guy, is all about. Nobody, you know, wants to answer these questions. I think they think the American people are stupid.

SCHULTZ: Mr. Wolf, thanks for your time tonight. You're going to take out more billboards? Quickly.

WOLF: You never know.

SCHULTZ: All right. Thank you for joining us.

WOLF: You bet.

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