Bush ‘miss me’ billboard is real – but who paid for it?

George W Bush - &amp;#039;Miss Me Yet?&amp;#039; poster

published 9 February 2010

The American right is crowing over a mysterious billboard which has appeared in Minnesota. The advertisement, next to the I-35 near the town of Wyoming, Minnesota, shows George W Bush waving, opposite the line "Miss me yet?" So far, nobody seems to know who paid for it. Photos of the billboard in a snowy field have been passed around on the internet, with some speculating that it was a Photoshop cut-and-paste job. Now, though, its existence has been confirmed by an unimpeachable source: Minnesota Public Radio presenter Bob Collins. If the billboard is intended as irony, it's bone dry - and until its backer is identified most commentators are taking it as a pro-Bush statement. A popular right-wing website said the "clever GOP Photoshop" had upset "progressives and liberals", while one comment on the Fox News site read: "There should be one of these in every city across America."

Such excitement among conservatives recalls the 'guerilla' posters of Barack Obama as Batman's nemesis the Joker, which appeared mysteriously under concrete overpasses in Los Angeles last year.

Meanwhile back in Minnesota, Sheldon Anderson, the mayor of Wyoming, told reporters he was receiving calls every day about the Bush billboard. "Wish I could take credit for it," he said, adding: "If you find out, let me know."