On Thursday, the name of Rick Tyler, independent candidate for U.S. Congress from Tennessee’s 3rd District, spread across the country like an infectious disease via print, radio, television and the internet.
It, undoubtedly, was just what he wanted after scrutiny began into one of his campaign billboards that proclaimed “Make America White Again.”
The billboard, according to Tyler, was taken down Wednesday without his authorization. But by that time, his Polk County home, the 3rd District and the rest of the country, to steal a line from Ray Stevens’ 1974 novelty hit “The Streak,” had “already been incensed.”
A billboard which formerly featured a campaign sign for congressional candidate Rick Tyler that read “Make America White Again” is seen on Hwy. 411 on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, in Polk County, Tenn.
This WRCB photo shows Rick Tyler’s campaign sign off Highway 411 in Polk County.Even in an odd election year when the country has the most unpopular major party presidential candidates in history, such a blatant racist statement seems like an outlier and has no business in any campaign.
Tyler’s prospects in November, when he’ll face incumbent Chuck Fleischmann or one of two Republican primary opponents, one of three Democratic challengers and two other independents, are next to nil. So the billboard simply may have been an attention-getter for his campaign.