Sen. Charles Schumer — keeping a low profile after saying he would vote against President Obama’s nuke deal with Iran — will be basking in the bright lights of Broadway when a new video billboard thanking him goes live in Times Square.
The 29-by-56-foot digital billboard will debut as early as Tuesday on the facade of 1500 Broadway, a skyscraper at West 43rd Street also known as Times Square Plaza, one of the most visible buildings at the Crossroads of the World.
It’s sponsored by United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group co-founded in 2008 by Mark Wallace, a former US ambassador to the UN during the George W. Bush administration.
“We think it’s very important to run an education campaign to reveal the flaws in this deal. The bipartisan thesis ahead of time was that no deal was better than a bad deal,” Wallace told The Post on Monday.
“It’s in appreciation of Senator Schumer for his direct and brave statement opposing the Iran deal. Americans across the political spectrum have been craving politicians who act on principle. This message is designed to do that, to thank him for sticking to principle instead of party fealty,” said Wallace, who also worked on several of Jeb Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns.
Schumer made his first public appearance Monday since news of his decision broke.
“I believe we should go back and try to get a better deal,” he said at an unrelated event in upstate Greece, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. “This is a decision of conscience.”
Schumer had said in a lengthy explanation last week that the deal had no real teeth, that the Iranian government could not be trusted to abide by its terms, and that it would make it too easy for Tehran to build a bomb.
Meanwhile, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg posted a strongly worded column on his news service’s Web site chastising the Obama administration for its “intimidation” of critics of the agreement.
“This is one of the most important debates of our time, one with huge implications for our future and security and the stability of the world,” Bloomberg wrote. “Yet instead of attempting to persuade Americans on the merits, supporters of the deal are resorting to intimidation and demonization, while also grossly overstating their case.”