WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) wants the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to remove a controversial anti-health care reform advertisement from a Northern Virginia Metrorail station that bluntly says "Go to hell Barack."
As reported by Blue Virginia on Wednesday morning, the ad promotes the movie "Sick & Sicker" and reads "Barack Obama wants politicians and bureaucrats to control America's entire medical system" before declaring "Go to hell Barack."
ARLNow reports that the ad in the Clarendon station has already been vandalized: "That's President Obama to you!!"
Moran argues that the Metrorail ad is "deeply disrespectful."
In his letter to Metro General Manager Richard Sarles, the congressman wrote:
I accept that WMATA should display ads, including those of a political nature, in the Metro system in order to secure the revenue they provide. But minimum standards of decency must be maintained through a vetting process. I assume such a process exists, but surely this ad does not meet those standards. I call on you to remove this ad and any others like it from the system.
In promotional materials about the movie that examines the Canadian health care system, "Sick and Sicker" promises to put "ObamaCare on ice with cold hard facts from Canada."
A WMATA spokesman said Wednesday that the agency cannot remove the ad since it is protected speech, The Washington Post reports. Metro's advertising is managed by CBS Outdoor.
This post has been updated to include comment from WMATA