Sick: Operation Rescue Founder Launches 'Defeat Sotomayor' Tour, Including Press Conference at Dr. Tiller Clinic

Posted by Ian Millhiser, Think Progress at 1:00 PM on July 6, 2009.

Randall Terry, founder of the right-wing extremist group Operation Rescue, has announced a twelve-city tour intended to convince senators that “[t]o refuse to filibuster [Sotomayor] is to bow in abject obedience to the Angel of Death.” The graphic depicted to the right is taken from a flier promoting the event, which claims:

“We must stop permitting this hypocrisy, cowardice, and treachery in our midst. Pro-life voters are calling on pro-life Senators to filibuster Sotomayor.

“A Senator cannot say, ‘I want to overturn Roe,’ and then vote to confirm a Supreme Court Judge that will uphold Roe. A vote to confirm Sotomayor is a vote to uphold Roe.

“Many senators use pro-life rhetoric to seduce us; they get our money, our volunteer labor, and our votes. But once an election is over, they discard us like an embarrassing mistress. . . . Whether they ‘have the votes’ to sustain a filibuster or not, they need to fight to stop her, for the sake of the babies who will die under her judicial reign.“

Sadly, such rhetoric is relatively tame by Terry’s extremist standards. Terry refused to condemn the recent killing of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, instead calling him a “mass-murderer” who “did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God.” Terry also once went on the radio to pray for a Colorado abortion provider to be executed; two days later, that doctor was found dead.

Tagged as: abortion, sam brownback, sonia sotomayor, george tiller, randall terry