VP candidate for Independent (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Randall Allen Terry (b. 1959)
Popular vote: 7 (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.
Lewis seems to have been a stand-in VP.
Nationally Terry finished in 9th place with 13,108 (0.01%) popular votes. In Ohio the Terry/Lewis ticket received 7 write-in votes.
Election history: ?
Other occupations: ?
Notes:
Another mystery VP. Possibly aka Katie Smith Lewis, wife of Terry associate in Ohio, David Lewis?
