The Helms Legacy

One fascinating thing about the death of Jesse Helms is the conservative reaction. One might expect that Helms' death would prompt from conservatives the sorts of things that I might say if, say, Al Sharpton died -- that he and I had some overlapping beliefs and I don't regard him as the world-historical villain that the right does, but that he's a problematic guy and I regard him and his methods as pretty marginal to American liberalism. But instead conservatives are taking a line that I might have regarded as an unfair smear just a week ago, and saying that Helms is a brilliant exemplar of the American conservative movement.

And if that's what the Heritage Foundation and National Review and the other key pillars of American conservatism want me to believe, then I'm happy to believe it. But it reflects just absolutely horribly on them and their movement that this is how they want to be seen -- as best exemplified by bigotry, lunatic notions about foreign policy, and tobacco subsidies.

Comments

And if that's what the Heritage Foundation and National Review and the other key pillars of American conservatism want me to believe, then I'm happy to believe it.

What's sad is that it took this for you to believe it.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | July 5, 2008 1:45 PM

Those of us who grew up surrounded by genuine white supremacy as an ideology (I'm under 35, btw) know perfectly well that this is the beating heart of the conservative movement. Moreover, while there's no *necessary* connection between the Religious Right and Helms-esque bigotry, and correlation is certainly not causation, boy oh boy are the two often united under one roof.

I often wonder whether the pro-business wing doesn't know or doesn't care about how deeply in bed they are with bigotry. Some of each, I suspect.

Matt's upbringing makes him a little less likely to understand how deeply representative Helms is of a broad swathe of the American public, but there are lots of us who know Helms was and is the most representative (which is not to say the most influential or most powerful - GW Bush, for all of his numerous sins, is no bigot) of our conservative brothers and sisters - or in my case, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors....

Posted by Harvey Lobster | July 5, 2008 1:46 PM

What view did Helms hold that was bigoted? Just saying the word bigot over and over proves nothing.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 1:58 PM

Al Sharpton's not a very good example, as he *is* margin figure in the liberal movement (such as it is), while Helms actually was a terrific exemplar ("brilliant," in its common meaning, is certainly stretching it) of the modern conservative ideology, and an important figure within the movement.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra | July 5, 2008 1:58 PM

Go read the comments at Screaming Fucking Harpy Malkin's place or at Red State and they complain about how liberals are dancing and spitting on Helm's grave and how the Right was nothing but class when Kennedy was diagnosed with cancer. Which, to a certain extent, is correct - there is much more Snoopy dancing on Helms' grave by us than there was on the part of the Right on Kennedy's. The difference is - Helms richly deserves it. Because, when the day is done, I would be proud to defend Kennedy's political legacy (although, certainly not his personal legacy) while anyone who attempts to defend Helms' legacy is unmasked as a monster.

And that is a simple fact.

Given George W Bush's and the NRO's laudatory eulogy, we can infer how they feel about raping Central American nuns, dropping dissidents from Chilean Army helicopters and committing genocide against the fags.

Posted by calipygian | July 5, 2008 2:00 PM

USAPatriot - he was a white supremacist and a virulent homophobe, who was, strictly as an example, a bulwark of support for apartheid-era South Africa. Read some of Matt's other posts on Helms for a few relevant links.

Here's a link to David Broder, of all people, providing a rundown of some egregious examples:

http://www.racematters.org/jessehelmswhiteracist.htm

As Broder points out, he was an open bigot long after *Strom Thurmond* had at least ambiguously seen the error of his former ways.

Posted by Harvey Lobster | July 5, 2008 2:08 PM

Harvey,

So you don't have any examples then? Being opposed to race-based affirmative action is not the least bit bigoted.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 2:14 PM

The liberal reaction to Helms' death is unique because of the remarkable extent of his bigotry. One of the mutants on NRO tried to compare the "liberal smears" of Helms at his death to those of St. William F. Buckley, which is funny because the liberal response to Buckley's death was largely respectful while expressing disagreement with his ideas. Similarly, if, say, Tom DeLay were to pass away, we would probably eulogize him as a criminal and a hapless attack dog. We would also probably note that he was important to 1990s conservatism, and not celebrate the fact that he was dead. Even moreso than ideological disagreement or ethical failings, a visceral line is clearly drawn at bigotry, where we cannot remember its promoters with any degree of fondness or respect.

Who else would liberals celebrate the death of? You can continue the dialogue right here on this website.

Posted by Tom Wilson, Chairman of Allstate | July 5, 2008 2:17 PM

"What view did Helms hold that was bigoted? Just saying the word bigot over and over proves nothing."

While working on the primary campaign against Frank Porter Graham, Helms helped create an ad that read, "White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races." Another ad featured photographs Helms doctored to illustrate the allegation that Graham's wife had danced with a black man. Helms worked on the unsuccessful 1960 Democratic primary gubernatorial campaign of I. Beverly Lake, Sr., who ran as a supporter of racial segregation. He opposed the Martin Luther King Day bill in 1983.

Helms opposed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Care (CARE) Act on the grounds that AIDS patients were to blame for their disease. Helms had declared homosexuality "degenerate," and homosexuals "weak, morally sick wretches."

Helms had close ties to the rightist Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson and was considered a main sponsor of D'Aubuisson's political party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance. When confronted with evidence that D'Aubuisson ran death squads that systematically murdered civilians, he replied that "[a]ll I know, is that D'Aubuisson is a free enterprise man and deeply religious."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Helms

Posted by Joel | July 5, 2008 2:17 PM

And how is Al Sharpton a marginal figure in the Democratic Party, the party of Jim Crow?

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 2:19 PM

Don't feed the troll folks. Pity him for being too stupid to understand or for being a bigot who's time is passing.

Posted by T. Paine | July 5, 2008 2:22 PM

Opposing some legislation preferred by the left is not bigotry. Opposing the Democrats' support for communist domination of Central America is not bigotry. Next.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 2:25 PM

Looking beyond (below?) Heritage & Review:
Whatever Jesse's actual relationship to the Klan was or wasn't, they shared a history and a world - and a very dark vision, they on-the-ground & he in the Senate.
'Twas ever thus. The Klan was born as the arm's-length para-military arm of the anti-Reconstruction movement in Tennessee. The night-riders did the dirty work that facilitated the work undertaken at the electoral level.
When I was growing up Back Home, it was locker-room conventional wisdom that "KKK" stood for, or better, against (you can figure out the hate-words yourself):
African Americans
Jews
Catholics
As the years went on, you would sometimes see painted on barns, overpasses, billboards, etc, not 3 but 4 or 5 or more K's, standing for, in addition to the above:
Communists (which would include liberals...)
Women (as they began to speak out)
Gays & Lesbians (ditto)
The physically and mentally challenged (ditto)
And I'm told there were others (more sad ditto)
No doubt the Klan lost much traction and influence - but The Thing remains, by whatever name.
And things are better than they were - no thanks to Jesse.
And "respectable" conservatism need not equal reaction, and reaction obviously need not equal physical or even verbal terrorism...it's just that sometimes the lines seem less clear than ought to be the case.

Posted by gsk+ | July 5, 2008 2:27 PM

T. Paine called me names. How liberal of him. *L*

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 2:28 PM

USAPatriot - That *is* an example, although Broder has other ones, and it should also be obvious that supporting apartheid-era South Africa demanded at least the deep acceptance of racism, at best. But anyway, The assumption that the "white hands" ad works on, obviously, is that the "white hands" are naturally superior to the "minority" -- that only affirmative action could ever explain why the white man wasn't hired. It's also blatantly racist to create an advertisement that is *only* targetted at white people - no non-schizophrenic minority observer would ever respond positively to it.

If you don't care about the difference (that is, between a policy disagreement and a blatant attempt to open and exploit racial differences for political gain, regardless of any consequences), then shame on you.

And Al Sharpton is marginal; the notion of him as a leader is more a conservative creation than anything (because they need a black man to rally the forces against). If he was powerful, he'd be a senator or congressmen or presidential candidate or something; instead, he's a minor self-created media figure these days - nothing to compare with the likes of Rush or Hannity.

Posted by Harvey Lobster | July 5, 2008 2:29 PM

The question, of course, is not whether he was a segregationist in the 1950s, but whether he was a bigot in the modern era. So posting comments he made in the 1950s before he left the party of Jim Crow is of no use.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 2:33 PM

"Opposing some legislation preferred by the left is not bigotry."

No. But creating racist ads, campaigning for segregations and opposing the MKL holiday are.

"Opposing the Democrats' support for communist domination of Central America is not bigotry."

No. But supporting a Central American death squad leader is.

Smarter trolls, please.

Posted by Joel | July 5, 2008 2:38 PM

Stop feeding the idiot. Please.

Posted by bcvbn | July 5, 2008 2:40 PM

But it reflects just absolutely horribly on them and their movement that this is how they want to be seen -- as best exemplified by bigotry, lunatic notions about foreign policy, and tobacco subsidies.

You're looking at it from the wrong side. Right now, anything that any 'average' white american does or says can be swept under the carpet as a minor fact. Helms and the rest of the post-64 white failures were good at only one thing: acting like assholes and then demanding that nobody take the assholery seriously. If you can pull this off and cover it with basic lies about great America, then you are untouchabe. The whole Christian Right /Values/Patriot fuckfest that conservatives have used since is basically one giant dare to those who know better to call all of America on it.

Now the establishment conservative movement has no other direction to go other than the absolute end of assholes and incomprehension of the world. If you can sell it to the rubes like Helms or Bush did, you are a hero. The fact that liberals are able to dig back in history (!) to find out what someone once did or said just is icing on the cake, as far as their concerned.

Posted by modulomyself | July 5, 2008 2:41 PM

"The question, of course, is not whether he was a segregationist in the 1950s, but whether he was a bigot in the modern era. So posting comments he made in the 1950s before he left the party of Jim Crow is of no use."

LOL! Moving the goalposts, eh, USAP?

The question you actually asked was: "What view did Helms hold that was bigoted?"

You said nothing about the 1950s or the "modern era."

Smarter trolls, please.

Posted by Joel | July 5, 2008 2:43 PM

Re USAPatriot

Mr. USAPatriot is about as patriotic as Don Black and Fred Phelps.

Posted by SLC | July 5, 2008 2:43 PM

Harvey,

You provided no evidence he supported apartheid in South Africa.

The assumption of the white hands ad was that race-based affirmative action is wrong. There's nothing at all bigoted about that view. It's ironic to say the least for a liberal to argue that it's racist to show white hands in an ad, but just fine to target hiring based on race. How ridiculously illogical.

And conservatives did not make Sharpton host a Democratic primary debate in 2000, or make him a Democratic candidate for president, or make Democratic candidates for high office routinely meet with him. Give me a break. And where exactly do Sharpton and Obama, or Sharpton and Clinton, or Sharpton and Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy... differ?

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 2:45 PM

I, for one, will celebrate when DeLay dies. I'm pretty sure that he's still breaking the law and undermining democracy, and will continue until he's unable.

Posted by Luke | July 5, 2008 2:53 PM

USAPatriot,

In no ways. Obama's cadres are going to invade your home, turn your wife into a lesbian, cancel your cable and replace it with new Black Panther Channel (BPC) and then they're going to take your children and give them a progressive reeducation, complete with menus of organic food and forced same-sex back rubs.

Posted by modulomyself | July 5, 2008 2:57 PM

Matt,

I was surprised by the defense as well, but it's the logical result of Nixon's Southern Strategy, isn't it?

Consider that the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and, much later, the party of Eisenhower. Just as Lincoln ended slavery, it was Eisenhower's administration that began the dismantlement of Jim Crow. Earl Warren was a Republican, Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to enforce desegregation.

The movement that started with Nixon's Southern Strategy and was coalesced with St. Ronald Reagan's election, and brought to the height of its political power with the election of George W. Bush, is one of defending racist views and institutions. It is demonstrably not about small government, fiscal responsibility, morality or ethics, but about using the power of every branch of government to make America safe for its original sin.

In 50 short years the party that was founded on the moral principle that slavery is wrong, the party that first declared that segregation is wrong, can be counted on today to defend racism with the vigor that they defend the indecency of torture.

That's a really sad development for America.

Posted by west coast | July 5, 2008 3:04 PM

"The movement that started with Nixon's Southern Strategy and was coalesced with St. Ronald Reagan's election, and brought to the height of its political power with the election of George W. Bush, is one of defending racist views and institutions."

This is total nonsense. That's the sort of irrational hatred that can be called bigotry.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 3:19 PM

Maybe Jesse Helms got mugged by a black thug at a young age, and that accounts for his views. Maybe it was just his taste in fashion: he didn't like gold teeth and pants that keep falling down.

Posted by ncer | July 5, 2008 3:19 PM

Maybe Jesse Helms got mugged by a black thug at a young age, and that accounts for his views. Maybe it was just his taste in fashion: he didn't like gold teeth and pants that keep falling down.

Posted by ncer | July 5, 2008 3:25 PM

Mr. USAPatriot is about as patriotic as Don Black and Fred Phelps.

I, for one, will celebrate when DeLay dies. I'm pretty sure that he's still breaking the law and undermining democracy, and will continue until he's unable.

This is just the sort of intellectual heft, maturity, and tolerance one expects from the left today. Pitiful.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 3:27 PM

Irrational hatred?

Nixon's Southern Strategy won him an office that he'd lost when he first ran against Kennedy. Nixon won, but faced a Democratic Congress.

Reagan inherited the Southern Strategy coalition, even launched his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with an appeal to "State's Rights," the very term used to defend Jim Crow 25 years earlier. Reagan's coattails elected the first Republican Senate since 1954, but he faced a Democratic House.

George W. Bush ran a campaign, designed by Karl Rove, that was focused on increasing turnout among "movement conservatives" and decreasing it among moderates and liberals. Bush won, and carried both houses with him. The GOP lost control of the Senate for a brief time by its treatment of Jim Jeffords.

That's the plain history of things, there's no emotion involved. If you find that plain history hateful, take it up with the movement conservatives who created it, not me.

Posted by west coast | July 5, 2008 3:34 PM

True American Patriots don't support Pinochet, support death squads, support apartheid or support tobacco subsidies.

Posted by calipygian | July 5, 2008 3:40 PM

"Reagan inherited the Southern Strategy coalition, even launched his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with an appeal to "State's Rights," the very term used to defend Jim Crow 25 years earlier."

Right, because no one can possibly support the constitutional model of federalism except for racist reasons.

"George W. Bush ran a campaign, designed by Karl Rove, that was focused on increasing turnout among "movement conservatives" and decreasing it among moderates and liberals."

Oh MY! A Republican candidate tried to increase turnout among conservative voters!!?!?! How scandalous!!!

So even when it has nothing to do with race, it's all about race, in the left-wing mind. But that's entirely rational. *L*

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 3:43 PM

Of course calling thr University of North Carolina the University of Niggers and
communists shows a broad-based and inclusive intellect. No, he was a racsist, homophobic bigot.

Posted by Orpha | July 5, 2008 3:47 PM

USAPatriot -

You are an evil little fucking shit. You are objectively pro-nun raping, pro-dissident execution, pro-apartheid and pro-genocide of homosexuals.

Fuck you and go troll somewhere else, Michelle Malkin.

Posted by calipygian | July 5, 2008 3:47 PM

Speaking of Central America, open-minded readers will want to read Mona Charen's excellent book, "Useful Idiots", to learn about the Democrats' sorry record of support for the attempted communist takeover of the region.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 3:47 PM

Usually I abhor scare politics and the skewed results it brings, however, with Helms I felt for years the Democrats and liberals in general missed the point. Helms was and always will be a facist. Plain and simple. I firmly beieve had a Dem "atwater" type stayed on message with that and linked the man sraight to facism's most reviled figure Hitler and done it in a relentless and consistent manner Helms would have been out of the political arena sharpish.

The man was nothing less than a vile bigot and the only way to undermine him was to use every ounce of his prejudice and bigotry against him. If that meant nasty fear ongering sobeit.

Posted by jesse | July 5, 2008 3:48 PM

Usually I abhor scare politics and the skewed results it brings, however, with Helms I felt for years the Democrats and liberals in general missed the point. Helms was and always will be a facist. Plain and simple. I firmly beieve had a Dem "atwater" type stayed on message with that and linked the man sraight to facism's most reviled figure Hitler and done it in a relentless and consistent manner Helms would have been out of the political arena sharpish.

The man was nothing less than a vile bigot and the only way to undermine him was to use every ounce of his prejudice and bigotry against him. If that meant nasty fear mongering sobeit.

Posted by jesse | July 5, 2008 3:49 PM

Usually I abhor scare politics and the skewed results it brings, however, with Helms I felt for years the Democrats and liberals in general missed the point. Helms was and always will be a facist. Plain and simple. I firmly beieve had a Dem "atwater" type stayed on message with that and linked the man sraight to facism's most reviled figure Hitler and done it in a relentless and consistent manner Helms would have been out of the political arena sharpish.

The man was nothing less than a vile bigot and the only way to undermine him was to use every ounce of his prejudice and bigotry against him. If that meant nasty fear mongering sobeit.

Posted by jesse | July 5, 2008 3:49 PM

I'm taking back my good name, for I am an American patriot. Jesse Helms was the enemy of America, and all its stood for. He was a goddamned traitor, who worked tirelessly to undermine our finest ideals. May he experience the afterlife he so richly deserves.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 3:49 PM

But it reflects just absolutely horribly on them and their movement that this is how they want to be seen -- as best exemplified by bigotry, lunatic notions about foreign policy, and tobacco subsidies.

I try to listen to right-wing talk radio to check on their latest agit-prop and I am not at all surprised that Helms is regarded as a great conservative.

Movement conservatives love extremists because they are extremists!

Posted by Steve J. | July 5, 2008 3:50 PM

Speaking of Central America, open-minded readers will want to read Mona Charen's excellent book, "Useful Idiots", to learn about the Democrats' sorry record of support for the attempted communist takeover of the region.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 4:00 PM

Jesse needs to read "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg, so he can learn what fascism is.

calipygian just needs to grow up.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 4:03 PM

Re USA Patriot

Gee, Mona Charon, what a reliable source of information. How about the aforementioned Don Black?

By the way, scumbag columnist Robert Novak, loyal member of Opus Dei and confident of traitor Robert Hansson, once pronounced cocksucker Helms the best member of the Senate.

Posted by SLC | July 5, 2008 4:08 PM

But it reflects just absolutely horribly on them and their movement that this is how they want to be seen -- as best exemplified by bigotry, lunatic notions about foreign policy, and tobacco subsidies.

I try to listen to right-wing talk radio to check on their latest agit-prop and I am not at all surprised that Helms is regarded as a great conservative.

Movement conservatives love extremists because they are extremists!

Posted by Steve J. | July 5, 2008 4:09 PM

But it reflects just absolutely horribly on them and their movement that this is how they want to be seen -- as best exemplified by bigotry, lunatic notions about foreign policy, and tobacco subsidies.

I try to listen to right-wing talk radio to check on their latest agit-prop and I am not at all surprised that Helms is regarded as a great conservative.

Movement conservatives love extremists because they are extremists!

Posted by Steve J. | July 5, 2008 4:10 PM

And there you go.

What was decried a moment ago as "irrational hatred" is now acknowledged fact, and so what makes it hatred is the act of remembering.

But if you'd like to sponsor a discussion of "the constitutional model of federalism" you could begin by dissecting the views of Adams and Jefferson. The former was a Federalist, the latter a Democratic-Republican, and they frequently clashed on just what our Constitution meant on this front. As a nation we've vacillated between their two views, making your assumption that there's only a definitive "constitutional model' pretty entertaining.

Posted by west coast | July 5, 2008 4:17 PM

Maybe Jesse Helms got mugged by a black thug at a young age, and that accounts for his views. Maybe it was just his taste in fashion: he didn't like gold teeth and pants that keep falling down.

Posted by ncer | July 5, 2008 3:25 PM

Maybe you're an idiot who, like most conservatives, is still learning how to use the "internets" and can't help but double post several minutes apart due to your incompetence.

And hey, USAPatriot? Just you wait. When Obama's elected, he's going to send you to a "reparations" camp, and force any of your children to gay-marry a black person.

Posted by Ted | July 5, 2008 4:18 PM

It is a fact that Reagan used the term "states rights". It is also a fact that hating him for using it is completely irrational.

The founders had different views on the extent of federal power, that is true enough, but they all believed in a very limited federal government. All would have been appalled by the unconstitutional socialism pushed by the modern left.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 4:24 PM

Conservatives don't speak ill of the dead, but their policies create mountains of bodies.

Posted by skylights | July 5, 2008 4:26 PM

Ted,

I am a black person, as far as you know, you racist.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 4:26 PM

The founders had different views on the extent of federal power, that is true enough, but they all believed in a very limited federal government. All would have been appalled by the unconstitutional socialism pushed by the modern left.

Not that the founders would have even been familiar with the term "socialism", douchebag, but I'm the Founders DO have a lot to say about providing for the common defense and promoting the general welfare.

I'm sure that they would have a lot to say about the violence done to the application of Habeas Corpus and the eviceration of the First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments as well as the Vice Presidents assertion that he constitutes a Fourth Branch of government.

I'm sure the Founders would also note that they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their liberty to fight against the King of England, the powers of which Dumbya has so insolently and treasonously attempted to seize for himself.

Plus, I don't think socialism means what you think it means.

Better trolling, fuckwad.

Posted by calipygian | July 5, 2008 4:37 PM

Liberals speak ill of the dead, and their policies create mountains of bodies.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 4:38 PM

USAShitriot writes: "I am a black person, as far as you know, you racist."

Of course you are.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | July 5, 2008 4:46 PM

I am the product of an incestuous relationship.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 4:49 PM

"Liberals speak ill of the dead, and their policies create mountains of bodies."

Wow. I didn't know "Commander Guy" Shrub was a stinkin' liberal....

Posted by inahandbasket | July 5, 2008 4:52 PM

Ted,

I am a black person, as far as you know, you racist.

Since you're a conservative, that's statistically very unlikely. You moron.

Posted by Ted | July 5, 2008 4:54 PM

"I am the product of an incestuous relationship."

Well, that explains everything.

Posted by inahandbasket | July 5, 2008 4:55 PM

Reagan launched his campaign with an appeal to states rights, with the specific intent of making sure that racists knew he was one of them. That's a matter of fact, not opinion, and I don't hate him for it any more than I hate my grandfather for his racism. Facts are stubborn things, that this fact is inconvenient to those who would deify Reagan isn't my concern.

Again, I think you should read both Adams and Jefferson before you expound on the notion that everyone wanted a limited federal government.

As for the "unconstitutional socialism pushed by the modern left," that's a movement that has been waning since the 1970s. Today our daily life is far more affected by the unconstitutional grant of such broad commander-in-chief powers to a "unitary executive" that the president now has the power to intercept and read every iota of personal data from any citizen at will, to detain without due process, and to order torture. As we remember this Independence Day weekend our founders started an armed revolution over much less egregious behavior by another George.

By focusing on the overreaches of the left you're looking in the wrong direction for what's destroying our nation. That's not patriotic, it's myopic.

Posted by west coast | July 5, 2008 4:59 PM

I generally frown upon ugly comments directed towards the recently deceased. I'll make an exception for the former Senator from my state of residence:

Good bye, and good riddance. You harmed my GLBT brothers and sisters in ways that are still playing out. You wished us in prison, or dead, and you did all that you could to put us in prison...or a casket. You are a lingering shame on our proud Republican Party that I have belonged to my entire adult life, and you will be seen for the ugly, hateful little man that you were. Maybe you started to change. I hope so. Maybe you now have the clarity that was so lacking in your years of public mis-service. I cannot judge that. I can see your deeds, and a tree will be known by its' fruit.

Indeed.

Posted by celticdragon | July 5, 2008 5:00 PM

I generally frown upon ugly comments directed towards the recently deceased. I'll make an exception for the former Senator from my state of residence:

Good bye, and good riddance. You harmed my GLBT brothers and sisters in ways that are still playing out. You wished us in prison, or dead, and you did all that you could to put us in prison...or a casket. You are a lingering shame on our proud Republican Party that I have belonged to my entire adult life, and you will be seen for the ugly, hateful little man that you were. Maybe you started to change. I hope so. Maybe you now have the clarity that was so lacking in your years of public mis-service. I cannot judge that. I can see your deeds, and a tree will be known by its' fruit.

Indeed.

Posted by celticdragon | July 5, 2008 5:03 PM

The best part of my 4th was Jesse Helms dying. How beautiful that an enemy of freedom died on Independence Day. Very fitting indeed.

I had respect for Buckley. Didn't celebrate when he died. Unfortunately I wasn't old enough to have a party when Nixon died. Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, Yoo, Addison, Rumsfeld, Frum, Dobson, Donahue... the list could go on forever. This list is, of course, people whose deaths will result in wild debauched partying.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 5:06 PM

I generally frown upon ugly comments directed towards the recently deceased. I'll make an exception for the former Senator from my state of residence:

Good bye, and good riddance. You harmed my GLBT brothers and sisters in ways that are still playing out. You wished us in prison, or dead, and you did all that you could to put us in prison...or a casket. You are a lingering shame on our proud Republican Party that I have belonged to my entire adult life, and you will be seen for the ugly, hateful little man that you were. Maybe you started to change. I hope so. Maybe you now have the clarity that was so lacking in your years of public mis-service. I cannot judge that. I can see your deeds, and a tree will be known by its' fruit.

Indeed.

Posted by celticdragon | July 5, 2008 5:06 PM

celticdragon writes: "You harmed my GLBT brothers and sisters in ways that are still playing out. You wished us in prison, or dead, and you did all that you could to put us in prison...or a casket. You are a lingering shame on our proud Republican Party that I have belonged to my entire adult life, and you will be seen for the ugly, hateful little man that you were."

Maybe you should find a better party, or go independent. Take a look at what Helms' fellow asshole Dumbya Bush had to say in eulogizing the old bastard. It should make you very proud of the Grotesque Old Pricks.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | July 5, 2008 5:07 PM

I generally frown upon ugly comments directed towards the recently deceased. I'll make an exception for the former Senator from my state of residence:

Good bye, and good riddance. You harmed my GLBT brothers and sisters in ways that are still playing out. You wished us in prison, or dead, and you did all that you could to put us in prison...or a casket. You are a lingering shame on our proud Republican Party that I have belonged to my entire adult life, and you will be seen for the ugly, hateful little man that you were. Maybe you started to change. I hope so. Maybe you now have the clarity that was so lacking in your years of public mis-service. I cannot judge that. I can see your deeds, and a tree will be known by its' fruit.

Indeed.

Posted by celticdragon | July 5, 2008 5:08 PM

Sorry about the multiple posts. Some sort of internal server error.

Posted by celticdragon | July 5, 2008 5:10 PM

Sorry, "Addison" should have been "Addington," as in David. That prick should get waterboarded before he goes. That goes for all the current torturers that populate our "government."

Sadly, celticdragon can't find a better party. The Democrats are too busy cutting off their balls and voting to spy on Americans. Pussies.

Posted by USAPatriot | July 5, 2008 5:18 PM

News flash for USAPatriot: Red Dawn was not a documentary.

Posted by Chris D | July 5, 2008 5:20 PM

My fellow American progressives,

The mistake that we make is equating someone like Sharpton who has no where near the power of Helms, if any, who has never advocate supremacy of any kind, violence or segregation w/ an unrepentant bigot. A clear example of the Gulf of power and moral compass is the fact that progressives are happy to use Sharpton as an example of "fringe" "extreme" and worst "racist," while conservative defend a real fringe, extremist and racist w/o hesitation. I may not be part of their movement but at least they are bold. That's why they win...they set the standard and bounds of each moral argument, while we try to find someone on our side to disparage to show our enlightenment and our intellectual consistency. Sad. Sad. Sad. Wake up.

Posted by flagpinpatriot | July 5, 2008 5:37 PM

My fellow American progressives,

The mistake that we make is equating someone like Sharpton who has no where near the power of Helms, if any, who has never advocate supremacy of any kind, violence or segregation w/ an unrepentant bigot. A clear example of the Gulf of power and moral compass is the fact that progressives are happy to use Sharpton as an example of "fringe" "extreme" and worst "racist," while conservative defend a real fringe, extremist and racist w/o hesitation. I may not be part of their movement but at least they are bold. That's why they win...they set the standard and bounds of each moral argument, while we try to find someone on our side to disparage to show our enlightenment and our intellectual consistency. Sad. Sad. Sad. Wake up.

Posted by flagpinpatriot | July 5, 2008 5:37 PM

My fellow American progressives,

The mistake that we make is equating someone like Sharpton who has no where near the power of Helms, if any, who has never advocate supremacy of any kind, violence or segregation w/ an unrepentant bigot. A clear example of the Gulf of power and moral compass is the fact that progressives are happy to use Sharpton as an example of "fringe" "extreme" and worst "racist," while conservative defend a real fringe, extremist and racist w/o hesitation. I may not be part of their movement but at least they are bold. That's why they win...they set the standard and bounds of each moral argument, while we try to find someone on our side to disparage to show our enlightenment and our intellectual consistency. Sad. Sad. Sad. Wake up.

Posted by flagpinpatriot | July 5, 2008 5:38 PM

Flagpinpatriot is right. The right wins because no matter what the extreme, they're willing to defend it to the very last. The other week, I listened to some talking head on AM radio talk about how Joseph McCarthy had been right, and how "communists" had unjustly slimed him.

Now to me, and many other reasonable people, this is insanity. But to them, it's how they move the center. Right or wrong, no matter how crazy or corrupt, they go to bat for one another. And no facts are ever settled and no fight ended until conventional wisdom agrees with their position. Just look at our own USAPatriot (by the way, don't feed the trolls).

The problem for them is when the "center" realizes they're full of shit, the whole lot of them go down. That's what's happening right now, and they're feeling it.

Posted by dannity | July 5, 2008 6:59 PM

Having grown up in the American South at the end of apartheid, I recognize the dull-witted and transparent rationalizations of USAP. MLK a "communist." LOL! Nobody actually believed, even then, that MLK wanted America to abandon ownership of private property and live as a giant commune, sharing everything in common.

Calling MLK a communist and claiming that "states rights" was the protection of "federalism" was a phony code that everyone understood legitimized old fashioned racism. Nobody actually believed this propaganda. To read it here in the 21st century is simply anachronism.

Posted by Joel | July 5, 2008 7:54 PM

Oh, by the way, I agree with those saying that Sharpton is a bad liberal counterpoint for Helms. Really the only thing that probably put him in your mind was the fact that you were looking for a "problematic" person on the left, and since you were dealing with the racial legacy of Jesse Helms, Sharpton popped up in your mind.

The problem is, Sharpton doesn't have anywhere near the cache with the left that Helms had on the right. Jesse Helms, like him or not, had serious influence over his party's policies. Sharpton has never enjoyed anywhere Helm's level of power to support his causes.

I'd say that Ted Kennedy would be a much better counter to Helms. As a Democratic Senator, he has say in many issues that the right consider anathema. Whether we're talking labor unions or immigration (or Chappaquiddick), Kennedy has plenty of issues that get the hard right's blood boiling.

Sharpton was a bit of a cop-out. I'm surprised at you, Matt.

Posted by dannity | July 5, 2008 8:16 PM

I'd say that Ted Kennedy would be a much better counter to Helms. As a Democratic Senator, he has say in many issues that the right consider anathema. Whether we're talking labor unions or immigration (or Chappaquiddick), Kennedy has plenty of issues that get the hard right's blood boiling.

I would be happy to defend any of Kennedy's policy positions, except for his opposition to wind power in Nantucket Sound.

Any right winger want to defend Helms' support for Apartheid, tobacco subsidies or for killing AIDS patients?

I didn't think so.

Posted by calipygian | July 5, 2008 8:25 PM

"Jesse Helms, like him or not, had serious influence over his party's policies. Sharpton has never enjoyed anywhere Helm's level of power to support his causes."

Well, duh. Sharpton, unlike Helms or Kennedy, has never held elective office. That's what trolls like USAP would like you to forget, by trying to draw a phony parallel between Al Sharpton and Democratic politicians who have, over and over, been elected by their constinuents.

Why does USAP hate democracy?

Why does USAP hate the American way?

Why, oh why, can't we get smarter trolls here?

Posted by Joel | July 5, 2008 8:35 PM

That's the last straw!

When dubya speciously claims that Helms was "an unwavering champion for those struggling for liberty" - the camel's back broke.

But since my devout Mother ingrained in me that I should only speak good of the dead, I'll limit my comments to:

GOOD! HE'S DEAD!!!

Posted by dmhlt | July 5, 2008 8:38 PM

That's the last straw!

When dubya speciously claims that Helms was "an unwavering champion for those struggling for liberty" - the camel's back broke.

But since my devout Mother ingrained in me that I should only speak good of the dead, I'll limit my comments to:

GOOD! HE'S DEAD!!!

Posted by dmhlt | July 5, 2008 8:43 PM

That's the last straw!

When dubya speciously claims that Helms was "an unwavering champion for those struggling for liberty" - the camel's back broke.

But since my devout Mother ingrained in me that I should only speak good of the dead, I'll limit my comments to:

GOOD! HE'S DEAD!!!

Posted by dmhlt | July 5, 2008 8:43 PM

"Jesse Helms, like him or not, had serious influence over his party's policies. Sharpton has never enjoyed anywhere Helm's level of power to support his causes."

Well, duh. Sharpton, unlike Helms or Kennedy, has never held elective office. That's what trolls like USAP would like you to forget, by trying to draw a phony parallel between Al Sharpton and Democratic politicians who have, over and over, been elected by their constinuents.

Why does USAP hate democracy?

Why does USAP hate the American way?

Why, oh why, can't we get smarter trolls here?

Posted by Joel | July 5, 2008 8:44 PM

We can only hope for a video tribute to Helms at the GOP convention.

Of course, at that point Brian Williams will likely be pulling away to analyze Obama's troubling lapel pin. You know, the kind of thing MY says has little impact on elections.

Posted by Andruw | July 5, 2008 9:01 PM

That's the last straw!

When dubya speciously claims that Helms was "an unwavering champion for those struggling for liberty" - the camel's back broke.

But since my devout Mother ingrained in me that I should only speak good of the dead, I'll limit my comments to:

GOOD! HE'S DEAD!!!

Posted by dmhlt | July 5, 2008 9:03 PM

Unlike liberals, conservatives have a need to deify their significant dead.

Thus, noted draft-dodger and informant Marion "John Wayne" Morrison has his name plastered on an Orange County airport, instead of a Victoria's Secret.

Similarly, Taliban co-founder Ronald Reagan was honored with being the namesake of several large objects that resulted from the expenditure of taxpayer dollars.

Contrast this behavior with the liberals' treatment of Bill Clinton, which can loosely be summarized as, "What? He's a sleaze? No shit, sherlock! It could be worse."

And immediately thereafter, it did get worse.

Posted by Aslan | July 5, 2008 9:53 PM

The Helms legacy still festers. Charlie Black, a Helms advisor in the racially charged 1984 and 1990 NC Senate campaigns (the latter featuring the notorious "white hands" spot), is chief strategist in the McCain campaign:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/The_connection_is_Charlie_.html

Posted by allbetsareoff | July 5, 2008 10:29 PM

If this man, who represented himself as a Christian, is emblamatic of the religion, then Christianity itself is bankrupt. Nothing could be further away from the teachings of Jesus than the utterances of this mean-spirited bigot. It's time for real Christians to get out from under the right wing talking points of racism, homophobia and just plain stupidity.

Posted by Orpha | July 5, 2008 10:29 PM

Sorry about the multiple posts. Some sort of internal server error.

Posted by celticdragon | July 5, 2008 10:41 PM

And keep in mind that Helms sided with the Argentina over Britain in the Falklands War of 1982. When faced with a choice between backing a democracy and backing a ruthless fascist state, Helms chose the latter.

Posted by Arthur | July 5, 2008 10:43 PM

And keep in mind that Helms sided with the Argentina over Britain in the Falklands War of 1982. When faced with a choice between backing a democracy and backing a ruthless fascist state, Helms chose the latter.

Posted by Arthur | July 5, 2008 10:44 PM

I think I recognize "USAPatriot" from BeliefNet.org. He was very unpopular there too. It makes one wonder what the record is for the number of boards one can get banned from.

Posted by Nuada | July 5, 2008 10:53 PM

Matt--when are you going to take some responsibility for fostering a more productive dialogue in your comments section? You know the IP address USA"Patriot" is posting from--you could just delete his posts. This is why I don't visit your blog regularly.

Posted by Greg | July 6, 2008 4:57 AM

Before he was ever elected to public office, Jesse Helms decided to end his membership in Raleigh's First Baptist Church to another Baptist church in the city. Their offense? They voted to admit a black member. Helms believed that blacks and whites shouldn't worship together.

But of course that doesn't mean he was racist.

Posted by John | July 6, 2008 8:00 AM

USAPat's position - that Helms wasn't a-ok , is indefensible. But, as a lurker, I have to say that all the comments directed at him were a bit over the top. The problem with feeding the troll is that, as the conversation gets heated, you can make the troll sympathetic. And that's what he he was trying to do.

Posted by zeeb | July 6, 2008 8:21 AM

I don't really buy the Sharpton-Helms comparison. Sharpton never won an election, and Helms won repeatedly.

But I do agree with the gist of the point, which is that the Republicans need better heroes. The decent ones among them--Hagel, for example--get vilified for making common sense points.

(And in the upside down world of the wingnuts, a decorated veteran like Hegel is a turncoat and a five-time deferment queen like Cheney is a military hero.)

If I were a rank-and-file Republican, I would hate the yahoos on the right--Instarube, the children at NRO--who champion the worst points and promulgate the worst arguments. I would also completely reject the truly crazy people--like Malkin and Coulter--who create a Democrat with every word that comes out of their mouths.

Pathetically, the Atlantic is party to this. The magazine of Hawthorne, of Whitman, and hundreds of the greatest writers in American history, now has the lighter-than-air, fact-free ditz McArdle in its pages, and even recently had an article by Instarube himself. How the mighty have fallen.

Posted by Charles Giacometti | July 6, 2008 11:00 AM

Do not feed the trolls!

Posted by Joel | July 6, 2008 1:24 PM

WHY I WILL NOT BE ATTENDING THE HELMS FUNERAL

Richard Barrett

There is something to be said of "carrying on" and "passing the
torch." But, if the torch-bearer, himself, had dropped or extinguished
the flame, it is better to rekindle the flame, apart, or spark it, again,
elsewhere. Jesse Helms had a dramatic and personal impact on
my life. He "gave me a start" on his television-station, when, as
a young and struggling orator, I aspired to reach and motivate
people, the same as he did. The segregationist-vote was already
potent and organized, by way of George Wallace, and Senator
Helms energized it and carried it on, as well he should.

There was no pretense. Senator Helms was as ardent a segregationist
as Wallace, forged from the mold of Eugene Talmadge, Harry Byrd,
James Eastland, Meldrim Thomson and Huey Long. He fought King
Day, the Civil Rights Bill and the Voting Rights Act. He warred against
every enemy of the American way-of-life, including homosexuals,
foreign-lobbies and Communists. But, at the end, he was hailed as a
"conservative." Only the leftist, Negro and Communist elements
mentioned that he had been a segregationist, although I had, also,
memorialized him as a "segregationist ahead of his time."

Aged and infirm, three years before he passed away, Senator Helms
published a ghosted memoir, in which he was attributed to have
said that he was "not the least bit racist." He, also, had stated, in
reversing his stance against funding AIDS-treatment, that "I was
wrong." It would be easy to whisk such words aside as mere
"semantics." Senator Helms would have been justified in noting that
the "R-word" was Marxist-instigated, a "buzz-word," as I call it,
which was too loaded with emotion and too problematical for
dispassionate discussion. Some Helms-apologists have agreed.

However, Lester Maddox had come across quite differently. When I
asked Governor Maddox if he had "changed," he replied sharply
that he had not and that he would "do it all over again." When queried
by a reporter if he was still a segregationist, Governor Maddox
struck back that "I am a segregationist. I've told you that I am a
segregationist. How many times do I have to tell you?" I attended the
Maddox-funeral, because I felt comfortable that the principles of
such a statesman were worthy of being carried on, which is why I,
also, attended the funeral of Senator Eastland.

I, purposely, declined to attend the funerals of Strom Thurmond
and Governor Wallace, however, because both had repudiated
their segregationist-views and, in effect, trashed their previous,
illustrious careers. Senator Helms and I would correspond and,
on occasion, when I would conduct an event, he would send his
well-wishes. But, if the firebrand had, indeed, become "luke warm," I
had a duty to "spew him out." Was he simply denying the "R-word,"
because he found the word inappr