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Randall Terry: "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God."

May 31, 2009 5:33 pm ET by Media Matters staff

The press release from radio host and anti-abortion rights activist Terry states:

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, led protests against George Tiller's late-term abortion clinic in Wichita in 1991.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue states, "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

"Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

On the February 2, 1992, edition of CBS' 60 Minutes (accessed from the Nexis database), Lesley Stahl reported:"While Terry insists he has never committed any violent acts himself, this footage, taped by the staff of the Boulder Abortion Clinic in Colorado, shows him asking his followers to pray for either the salvation or the death of the clinic's doctor." 60 Minutes then aired video of Terry stating "But pray that this family will either be converted to God or that calamity will strike him." Stahl added, "The doctor he's talking about is Warren Hern, who runs the clinic. He's been a major target of pro-life groups for years because he's one of only three doctors in the country who specialize in late-term abortions."

(h/t littlegreenfootballs.com)

Tags: Randall Terry

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- by phredicles (May 31, 2009 5:55 pm ET)
  3
  
  This represents the first major act of terrorism in the US since Obama took office. It will be worth keeping an eye on how close a watch is keep in anti-choice outfits and mouthpieces such as Terry in its wake.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by seeryer (June 01, 2009 9:59 am ET)
    5
    
    The Culture War is a hot war once again. Blood is on Bill O'Reilly's hands:
    From Gawker:
    In addition to dubbing him "Tiller the Baby-Killer," O'Reilly has referred to Tiller's clinic as a "death mill" and called his work "Nazi stuff" for which he has "blood on his hands."
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by magnolialover (June 01, 2009 10:47 am ET)
      2
      
      And to provide a link to O'reilly's crap (because someone will ask for it):
      
      O'Reilly's rantings
      
      Reply Report Abuse
  - by oscar the grouch (June 01, 2009 8:41 pm ET)
    
    And the second act would be the shooting of the Army boot camp graduates in Arkansas this morning by another "right wing" nut case.
    
    Reply Report Abuse
  - by lvbgsiz (June 01, 2009 8:46 pm ET)
    
    TOTALLY AGREE, THE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT REPORT IS SO TRUE AND THE RIGHT WING EXTREMIST ARE A DANGER. THEY MUST BE CAREFULLY WATCHED AND INFILTRATED.
    
    Reply Report Abuse
- by canaanxing9025 (May 31, 2009 6:00 pm ET)
  2
  
  This is frightening. When I heard of Willaim Hern's murder, I went to the Hannity WEB site. I was curious how the wingnuts would respond.
  
  There was a poster who wrote a long post about abortion. He was telling others on the forum to get out there and do something about these "baby killers." Evidently the post had been there for quite sometime because there were several responses.
  
  I tried to see if there was a way to contact the moderator. I didn't find any. I don't know how long the post remained up - Hannity's forum has a shelf life.
  
  Although the original post is gone, the discussion is still going on.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by canaanxing9025 (May 31, 2009 9:18 pm ET)
    3
    
    Meant to say George Tiller.
    
    A man is killed in cold blood, and all Randall Terry cares about is how Obama is going to react to this???????
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by ynotski2day (June 02, 2009 2:30 pm ET)
      
      WHAT A HIPPOCRITE! Killing 50,000,000 innocent babies per year isn't cold blood killing? You save the whales but kill the babies? You slaughter innocent blood every day for the sake of stem cell research and convenience and cry out for the loss of this mass-murderer and wonder why our country is in the shape it is? Wow....
      
      Reply Report Abuse
- by archae (May 31, 2009 6:03 pm ET)
  5
  
  I hope the family of Dr Tiller sues Terry and any other right-wing bomb-thrower like him. That includes Bull OhREALLY?.
  
  Just like the SPCLC has sued into oblivion many of these racist groups for what their followers did, so should Tiller's family sue BillDO, Terry, anyone else who advocated violence.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by fairliberal (June 01, 2009 2:42 am ET)
    7
    
    Can you support your claim that O'Reilly ever advocated violence, or did you just make it up?
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by jonwisby (June 01, 2009 8:05 am ET)
      5
      
      It is interesting where your values fall on this subject.
      
      Reply Report Abuse
      - by fairliberal (June 01, 2009 11:07 am ET)
        2 4
        
        I deplore and condemn the murder of this Doctor, but that does not change the fact that O'Reilly never suggested violence against him and to suggest he did is false.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
        
        by jonwisby (June 01, 2009 11:36 am ET)
        2
        
        'Talking Points Memo' has put together a nice montage of Billo's feelings toward Dr. Tiller.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
        
        by NiceguyEddie (June 01, 2009 11:58 am ET)
        5
        
        Yeah, that was big off him. (DUH!) If he HAD called for actual violence, he could be held crinimally liable for solicitation. So the fact that he didn't actually say "kill the bastard" demonstrates only that he possesses a self-preservatione instinct. The man fed hate fuel to hateful band of protester, knowing full well that many of them were prone to vilent acts and that there was ample precedent for violence acts against doctors who provide these services. (And that's exactly WHY he didn't dare call for actual violence, he KNEW someone would do it, and he KNEW that he'd be exposed to possible legal action.) Bottome line: He knew waht he was doing. If he doesn't feel guilty, if he doesn't feel that this man's blood is on his hands, it only shows that he has no soul. That you would defende him, even as pathetically as you have done here, says the same about you.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
        
        by mattcable250650 (June 01, 2009 12:39 pm ET)
        5 1
        
        Salon did a piece demonstrating that no, O'Reilly has never advocated violence against abortion providers, however, he has frequently compared Dr Tiller, by name, to Nazis and other killers.
        So it's one of those sort-of true accusations. O'Reilly has been very careful to cover his tracks legally, but he's morally guilty as %$#@.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
        
        by NiceguyEddie (June 01, 2009 2:39 pm ET)
        3 1
        
        Your're correct, but fairlib was lawyering up for Bill-O here, BIG TIME. Choosing your words carefully doesn't really save you here. It actually demonstrates an even deeper wickedness. As I said, He chose his words carefully specifically becasue he KNEW what would happen. And yet he fanned the flames anyway. He'd be far more defensible if he HAD said "I hope someone shoots him." Because then he could legitimately say "Well, I didn't think anyone actually WOULD!" But he's been so careful to avoid saying anything like that because he KNEW someone WOULD take him seriously. So he's given people the motivation to act without giving them explicit instructions. (Who really responsible for the house burning down - the guy with the lighter or the guy who piled up all those boxes of oily rags?)
        
        "Guilty as %$#@" is right!
        
        Reply Report Abuse
        
        by worrierking (June 01, 2009 5:36 pm ET)
        2
        
        The fact is that O'Reilly did not advocate violence against the doctor but he sure as hell suggested violence.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
    - by friedbergboy1422 (June 01, 2009 1:08 pm ET)
      3
      
      Judge for yourself:
      
      "If we allow this (Tiller), America will no longer be a noble nation — a country that stands for human rights and protection of the innocent.
      
      If we allow Dr. George Tiller and his acolytes to continue, we can no longer pass judgment on any behavior by anybody."
      
      http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,228628,00.html
      
      What do you think he means by "allow George Tiller and his acolytes to continue? He offers no solutions for getting Dr. Tiller to stop in his column.
      
      Here's another:
      
      "In the state of Kansas, there is a doctor, George Tiller, who will execute babies for $5,000 if the mother is depressed. And there are rapists impregnating 10-year-olds who are being protected by abortion clinics. It doesn't get worse than that. This is the absolute shame of America."
      
      http://www.billoreilly.com/blog?action=viewBlog&blogID=-115522592623938900
      
      Reply Report Abuse
    - by pearlene_scott1602 (June 01, 2009 5:42 pm ET)
      3
      
      O'Reilly didn't tell anyone to do anything violent, but he did put Tiller in the public eye, and help make him the focus of a movement with a history of violence against exactly these kinds of targets (including Tiller himself, who had already been shot). In those circumstances, flinging around words like "blood on their hands," "pardon," "country club" and "judgment day" was sensationally irresponsible. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/31/tiller/index.html
      
      Reply Report Abuse
- by paul8616 (May 31, 2009 7:00 pm ET)
  
  Gotta love when MMA gives the hat tip to littlegreenfootballs. :-)
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by eweston8542983 (May 31, 2009 9:36 pm ET)
    2
    
    They recently went against the wingnut grain a few weeks ago. Took a lot of abuse for it.
    
    Reply Report Abuse
- by pete592 (May 31, 2009 8:29 pm ET)
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  TERRY: "I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions."
  
  Actions like first-degree murder. Yeah, I think Obama might have a problem with that one.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
- by mk3872 (May 31, 2009 8:49 pm ET)
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  Isn't this just exactly the sort of thing that the DHS was warning against in their assessment of right-wing lunatic groups being incited by hate speech?
  
  Will McCain and McConnell now apologize to Napolitano because it seems me like DHS was RIGHT.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
- by MickD (May 31, 2009 10:10 pm ET)
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  Randall Terry will be in a pit of trouble himself when and if he meets his "god". Impersonating him while passing judgment is I believe one of the ten no-no's (thou shalt not have any other "god" before me).
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by webprogrammer (May 31, 2009 10:27 pm ET)
    4
    
    I've always thought that these people are finally going to realize what hell is when they get to heaven and discover that all the people they hated the most got there first -- and now they have to share.
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by thelittlethings (May 31, 2009 10:46 pm ET)
      3
      
      Interesting point about how the people they hated the most might get to Heaven first. A lot of the right-wing nuts might not even make it in. "Judge not, lest ye be judged." They always forget that one. They also forget "Love thy neighbor as you love yourself" and "love thine enemy." For a religion based on love, they sure do hate a lot of people and use their religion as an excuse for the hate.
      
      Reply Report Abuse
- by Craig (May 31, 2009 10:41 pm ET)
  4
  
  No surprises, the suspect is a member of Operation Rescue, and the Montana Freemen as well.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by mary59 (May 31, 2009 11:14 pm ET)
    6
    
    Oh Lord, rescue us from Operation Rescue and the Montana Freemen...
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by Col. Harlan Sanders (June 01, 2009 12:51 am ET)
      4
      
      Hi Mary,
      I just checked out a link to Redstate at Crooks & Liars.Check out this comment comparing the murderer to Rosa Parks.Sick.
      
      And I was just up in your neck of the woods for a couple of days, why the hell is it so hot in Portland? I was expecting a break and some cool weather! :)
      
      Reply Report Abuse
      - by thelittlethings (June 01, 2009 1:00 am ET)
        5
        
        That is so sad and sick. Did you read some of the comments too? Most of those comments are not that bad, but there are some where you're just like "Do you not even care that someone was murdered?" They're against abortion but for the murder of a full-grown adult. Jerks.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
      - by juliajayne1 (June 01, 2009 11:37 am ET)
        2
        
        Freaking incredible!
        
        Reply Report Abuse
- by fantagor (June 01, 2009 5:57 am ET)
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  Do these yahoos know why anyone would specialize in late-term abortions? Because they are the most dangerous to the life of the mother, who is only terminating because her life is in danger. There are no cases of late-term abortions being performed for frivolous reasons. It's criminal to colorize these women or the people who help them as anything but women in a bad situation being helped by people virtually fearless in the face of such an inglorious task.
  
  Randy
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by wookie (June 01, 2009 9:48 am ET)
    4
    
    It's much like the Terri Schiavo case where they weren't so much concerned with the medical facts but that it was "a great issue to excite the base"
    
    Reply Report Abuse
  - by Easy to refute wingnuts (June 01, 2009 9:57 am ET)
    6
    
    There are no cases of late-term abortions being performed for frivolous reasons.
    That is precisely correct. And it is why Bill O'Reilly should be at least charged with defamation of character, if not inciting to violence or even accessory to manslaughter.
    
    From today's Salon.com article on O'Reilly:
    
    Tiller, O'Reilly likes to say, "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000." He's guilty of "Nazi stuff," said O'Reilly on June 8, 2005; a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida, he suggested on March 15, 2006. "This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union," said O'Reilly on Nov. 9, 2006.
    Tiller's excuses for performing late-term abortions, O'Reilly suggested, were frou-frou, New Age, false ailments: The woman might have a headache or anxiety, or have been dumped by her boyfriend. She might be "depressed," scoffed O'Reilly, which he dismissed as "feeling a bit blue and carr[ying] a certified check."
    
    O'Reilly knew those were lies. He's been telling them for quite a while now:
    
    Tiller's name first appeared on "The Factor" on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O'Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as "Tiller the Baby Killer."
    A massive propaganda campaign, based upon telling a lie often enough that people start believing it. Josef Goebbels would be proud of Bill O'Reilly, his modern-day disciple.
    
    Reply Report Abuse
  - by fairliberal (June 01, 2009 8:25 pm ET)
    1
    
    Perhaps this is why many do not do the procedure...http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/pba/diagram.html
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by fairliberal (June 01, 2009 8:28 pm ET)
      1
      
      Or this might be the reason.....http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/pba/DEabortiongraphic.html
      
      Reply Report Abuse
      - by Easy to refute wingnuts (June 02, 2009 7:55 am ET)
        1
        
        Or, the reason may be armed, willfully ignorant, religiously superstitious right-wing nutbags who have no clue.
        
        Reply Report Abuse
- by pros2pros2940 (June 01, 2009 10:15 am ET)
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  I would suggest that those that advocate violence or incite violence in the name of religion, may find themselves in that special place called hell.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
- by pros2pros2940 (June 01, 2009 10:17 am ET)
  6
  
  Terrorism by any other name
  
  Yesterday’s “slaying of Dr. George Tiller in his Kansas church” was “part of a decades-long history of domestic terrorism aimed at abortion providers,” which has included bombings, butyric acid attacks, sniper shootings and letters filled with fake anthrax.
  
  The National Abortion Federation “has documented more than 6,100 acts of violence against abortion providers in the United States and Canada since 1977.”
  
  Reply Report Abuse
  - by ted92114 (June 01, 2009 6:24 pm ET)
    1
    
    How many acts of violence have abortionists commited?
    
    Reply Report Abuse
    - by Easy to refute wingnuts (June 02, 2009 7:59 am ET)
      1
      
      As defined by the laws of the United States of America?
      
      Exectly zero.
      
      Reply Report Abuse
- by bilbo_dies (June 01, 2009 5:10 pm ET)
  2
  
  We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God.
  
  It is sad that they are more concerned he didn't have time to prepare is soul, rather than being sad that his life was taken from him unjustly.
  And the way I was raised, you were judged in how you lived your life. That was how you prepared your soul, not at the last minute when you finally figured out that you were actually mortal.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
- by Daniel Barber (June 01, 2009 6:10 pm ET)
  1
  
  O'Lielly definitely has blood on his hands here. While he's carefully and deviously kept himself under check so as to avoid any real legal culpability, any objective person who listens to all the clips provided of his rantings about George Tiller would have to come to the conclusion that he's at least violated the spirit of the law in terms of inciting violence.
  
  Bill wanted this man killed, and is probably rejoicing right now that he was killed. O'Lielly is a monstrous Right-Wing Nazi, and has no compunction with someone being killed who he labels bad. While he will never say so publicly, I would wager my life he considers the guy who shot and killed Tiller a hero.
  
  Sad that so many sick people follow this guy's lead.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
- by jjamele2880 (June 01, 2009 7:05 pm ET)
  2
  
  That's right, Terry. Our major concern here should be that ANTI-ABORTION people will be "intimidated." Because a doctor who performed abortions was gunned down by one of you crackpots.
  
  What a dirtbag.
  
  Reply Report Abuse
- by lvbgsiz (June 01, 2009 8:42 pm ET)
  1
  
  Randall Terry and Bill O'Reilly and those of Operation Rescue are Terriost just as those of 911, and Oklahoma City. Those who commit terriosm against the Church and US Citizens are no better than those who promoted and committed 911. They are to be highly CONDEMED!
  
  Reply Report Abuse

Randall Terry: "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God."

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Randall Terry: "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God."

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