Marjorie Reilly Smith, April 17, 1943 (Washington, D.C.) -
VP candidate for Independent (aka Independent Republican) (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Randall Allen Terry (b. 1959)
Popular vote: 9,284 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Randall Terry was well known by 2012 as an anti-abortion activist who had been arrested scores of times in acts of civil disobedience. He also opposed all forms of birth control aside from abstinence, as well as working against the right-to-die concept (e.g. Terri Schavio). Prior to 2012 he had run for US Congress and the Florida Senate first as a member of the Right to Life Party and then a Republican. He announced his Presidential run in Jan. 2011.
RationalWiki has gathered some of Terry's earlier quotations to help set the stage--
"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called on by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."
—The News Sentinel, (Fort Wayne, Indiana), August 16, 1993.
"What this is coming down to is who runs the country. It's us against them. It's the good guys versus the bad guys. It's the God-fearing people against the pagans, and some of the pagans are going to church."
—Speech in Jackson, Mississippi, April 1992
"The next step, if at all humanly possible (and in 90% of the cases it is), it is to get our children out of the humanistic, brainwashing institution called public education. Frankly, it is a mixture of insanity and irresponsibility to turn our children over to our adversaries and their curriculum in a God-less education system (i.e., a system that teaches history and science without God)."
—Why Does a Nice Guy Like Me Keep Getting Thrown in Jail? (1993)
"America is under the judgment of God. And if we are ever going to rebuild this country, it must be under God's law. Our goal must be simple: We must have a Christian nation built on God's law, on the Ten Commandments. No apologies."
—Speech to "Cities of Refuge" campaign, Willoughby Hills, Ohio, July, 1993.
In 2012 he ran in the Democratic primaries for President, telling one reporter, "I want to pummel Obama. I despise this presidency. He is the arch child killer of the Western Hemisphere, so I'm going to go head-to-head with him." After basically being shown the door by the Democrats, he continued to run as an Independent. He was simultaneously running for a Florida position in US Congress as an Independent at the same time, which was interesting since he was a resident of West Virginia.
His campaign gained national attention for two events. First, he attempted (and failed) to show gruesome photos of aborted fetuses on his televised ads during the Superbowl but apparently was successful in other venues. Second, during a debate in Dec. 2011, Vermin Supreme glitterbombed Terry.
Critics pointed out that Terry's personal life was contrary to and hypocritical with his Christian family values rhetoric. Shortly after the election he was inducted into the Encyclopedia of American Loons.
Terry did not speak kindly about his major party opponents. On Obama: "He's a hybrid of a Marxist, a socialist, and a fascist." On Romney: "Obama with white skin ... He caved in to his state supreme court to give homosexual marriage. His policies are socialistic and fascist. Fascism being the wedding of big government and big business."
Terry's positions included--
-Making abortion illegal.
-Oppose corporate bailouts.
-Global warming is hoax.
-Build a wall to keep Mexicans out.
-Anti-Islam to the point of destroying the Quran in front of the White House in public protest.
-In favor of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
-"The solution for the health needs of the poor rests with the Church."
-Cut the defense budget.
-Support the death penalty, "There are some people who I would offer to pull the switch. (I also believe that executions should be public, and that young men who are in trouble with the law should be required to view the execution.)"
-"Same sex marriage" is an affront to God and man. It violates Natural Law, and well as the Laws of God. Beyond that, it seeks to legitimize a sinful, self-destructive lifestyle. We cannot legitimize nor normalize that which is against the Laws of Heaven and Nature, and a behavior that is self-destructive."
-Pro gun culture.
-"We have plenty of regulations to protect our water and our air. The current 'green movement' is often driven by those who are anti-human (Malthusian) or anti-American (communists and socialists.)"
-Increase domestic oil drilling.
-Repeal the Patriot Act.
-Expand nuclear energy.
-"I think everyone who loves freedom should drive a great big, safe, SUV...and everyone who wants us to be slaves to the socialist state should drive an itty-bitty Hyundai."
-"I cannot say enough, nor say it strongly enough. Social Security is a scam. It is immoral; it is theft and compulsion driven, generational transfer of wealth. It is a Ponzi scheme. And it needs to be ended."
-"End the federal income tax now. The government has NO RIGHT to know what we make. Moreover, the graduated income tax is Marxist...straight out of the Communist Manifesto. Get rid of the income tax, and replace it with a federal income taxon ALL retail purchases."
Terry had two running-mates: In Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska she was Marjorie "Missy" Reilly Smith, and in Ohio she was Cathy Lewis. No VP was listed for Indiana or West Virginia. He was listed on the ballot in Kentucky, Nebraska, and West Virginia. He was a registered write-in in Colorado, Indiana, and Ohio.
Smith, an ardent anti-abortion activist who called the Democrats "the party of death," had run for the position of District of Columbia Delegate in 2010 as a Republican with Terry's support and advice. Some accounts say he was her campaign manager and the 2010 race was a trial run for the national 2012 contest. Her graphic television ads did get her a lot of attention, but not the elected position. She appeared to be the official VP while Lewis was a stand-in.
During the announcement of Smith's selection in late May, 2012, Terry said--
Missy Smith is articulate, unflinching, and beautiful. Her heartrending honesty about killing two of her own children makes her doubly formidable -- a true threat to the child killers and pandering politicians.
I know that her witness for the babies as a vice presidential candidate will reach millions of Americans, and hopefully be instrumental in causing Obama to lose several swing states. I thank her with all my heart for joining me in this campaign. If we are successful in our mission, Missy will go down in history as an American Joan of Arc.
Smith added--
It is a great honor and privilege to accept the invitation of Randall Terry to be his Vice Presidential running mate in the general election. In my opinion, Randall is the greatest 'Warrior for Life' in American history, and a brilliant media strategist.
I killed two of my babies by abortion, and I know the private hell that millions of women live in day after day because of their 'safe legal abortion.' Abortion is murder, and I will do everything in my power to make it illegal.
No other person in our nation's history has done more to cause the killing of children as well as attack the Church and exploit women than Obama. The goal of our campaign is to cause a crisis of conscience in Catholic and Evangelical voters by showing pictures of babies slaughtered by abortion so that they refuse to vote for Obama. I know we can achieve this goal by using graphic pictures in our television ads in certain swing states, and hopefully cause Obama's defeat.
Nationally Terry finished in 9th place with 13,108 (0.01%) popular votes. The Terry/Missy Smith ticket finished with 4 write-in votes in Colorado, 4th place in Kentucky (0.38%), and 4th place out of 4 in Nebraska (0.30%).
Election history:
2010 - District of Columbia Delegate (Republican) - defeated
Other occupations: real estate, author, editor, publisher, public speaker, founder of WAKEUP (Women Against the Killing and Exploitation of Unprotected Persons), radio talk show host
Notes:
Supported Trump in 2016 and 2020.
