Randall Terry in Democratic primaries

Randall Terry in Democratic primaries?!?

Here's something to look forward to on TV; those Randall Terry stir-fried fetus ads, aired under the guise of protected campaign speech. The punchline? The Operation Rescue (sic in both senses) founder is looking to run for president in the Democratic primaries:

Terry added that his campaign had two goals: creating “a crisis of conscience for Americans regarding the slaughter of the unborn and thereby hastening the end of legalized child-killing” and attacking “President Obama’s agenda starting with child-killing, but also including our battle against socialism, our enslavement to debt, and more.”

So does the party have to open the door to everybody? Not necessarily. Parties control their own nomination process, as the Supreme Court settled in a fight between the Democratic National Committee and Wisconsin in the 80s. And the Democrats have used that power against fringe candidates before:

In the 1996 Democratic presidential primaries, LaRouche received enough votes in Louisiana and Virginia to get one delegate from each state. However, before the primaries began the Democratic National Committee chair, Donald Fowler, had determined that LaRouche was not a "bona fide Democrat" because of his "expressed political beliefs ... which are explicitly racist and anti-Semitic," and because of his "past activities including exploitation of and defrauding contributors and voters." Fowler instructed state parties to disregard votes for LaRouche.[123][124] LaRouche sued in federal court, claiming a violation of the Voting Rights Act. After losing in the district court, the case was appealed to the First District Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court's decision.

So we won't see Terry delegates at the convention. Not that we would anyway, as he'll probably finish behind Mike Gravel and Uncommitted. It's a topsy-turvy world, when Randall Terry, so pro-life that he wants the death penalty for abortion, is a Democrat, while the working class messenger who says "The Rent Is Too Damn High" will run as a Republican.



But the only barrier to seeing those ads during Super Bowl XLVI may be Terry's checkbook. Fortunately, the price of the Super Bowl ads is Too Damn High.

The Terry article name-checks Sargent Shriver, who died yesterday, as one of the last significant, presidential level anti-choice Democrats when he was George "Acid Amnesty and Abortion" McGovern's second running mate in the last presidential election before Roe v. Wade.