When Terry ran for Congress in upstate New York, he advocated the stoning to death of rebellious teenagers. Oh, yes. And he said on videotape. I wrote about it for Front Lines Research in a 1995 piece edited by Talk to Action's Frederick Clarkson, published by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. And then David Corn cited my piece in a profile of Terry that he wrote for The Nation, published September 28, 1998.

Corn wrote:

Then there was a private meeting in 1995 at which he said that striking or cursing a parent is a "capital offense." What did he mean by that? Terry is outraged by the question: "I was quoting the Torah.... Are you asking me do I think that teenage rebels should be stoned today? The answer is no.... I was a rebel teenager." It is unfair, he maintains, to "take a speech, a sermon in a church about the Law of Moses and try to implicate me on a policy level." There is Terry the Bible-believing preacher, and there is Terry the politician with policy proposals. The roles, he claims, are distinct. The remark about rebellious teens, he protests, is unrelated to his attempt to become a lawmaker.

But according to a videotape obtained by researcher Jonathan Hutson, this is what Terry said about teenage rapscallions: "Our enemies would throw the tough cases up in our face...and say, `Do you actually mean that you would support the stoning of a rebellious teenager?' Well, you know what? I might not understand everything, but I know that God is perfect. And if God spoke those words out loud, audibly, to Moses, so that Moses could write them down--which God did--who am I to say that God is unjust? I fear God, and I think that we would have a heck of a lot fewer rebellious teenagers if a law like that existed in America today." The remark suggests that Terry's advocacy of "Law" is relevant in considering how he might behave as a civil lawmaker. "There were liberties that 1 was able to take before that I cannot take now," he concedes. "I have a lot of baggage."

Corn told me that he followed Terry for days on the campaign trail. Terry patiently answered all his questions, and never seemed perturbed by anything -- until Corn asked Terry about calling for teens to be stoned to death. Terry denied it. Corn said he had my article, and the videotape to back it up. Terry just lost it: blew up. Then he admitted it, and told Corn he had "a lot of baggage."

Ahhh... Good times. And hey, Terry, I'm happy to help you carry those bags -- to every voter household in your district, if necessary.