The True Heart

Politico: "To many on the right, it was Helms, not Reagan, who was the true heart of the conservative movement."

Mitch McConnell: "Today we lost a senator whose stature in Congress had few equals, . . . Senator Jesse Helms was a leading voice and courageous champion for the many causes he believed in.”

Jesse Helms: "The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights."

Of course as tends to be the case with Helms' most repugnantly racist bile, he said that a good ways back in the past. But even at that time, most Americans managed not to be repugnant racists. But not Helms. And unlike a lot of people who did take the white supremacist line in the 1950s and 60s, Helms never apologized and, indeed, never backed down doing things like mounting a filibuster against making Martin Luther King Day into a federal holiday. Remarkably, mainstream American conservatives are eager to tell us that this man is their hero. Even more remarkably, you sometimes hear conservatives talk about reaching out to black voters.

Comments

The GOP can't reach out to black voters. They'd have to insult their cracker base, the southerners who lionize Helms for all that he was ... a believer in the supremacy of white, straight Christians above all others.

File the praise of Helms as one more shining example of the Republican ability to feel shame.

Posted by LFC | July 6, 2008 5:15 PM

Not that I've been looking all that hard, but most of the praise-filled conservative commentary has been long on generalities and short on "for example, he did X"--perhaps because he didn't actually do anything but be obstructive. This is a contrast with (for example) Reagan.

Posted by DCA | July 6, 2008 5:16 PM

It's going to be interesting to see if McCain attends the funeral in Raleigh.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | July 6, 2008 5:27 PM

Typo. "Republican INability to feel shame."

Posted by LFC | July 6, 2008 5:33 PM

What did John McCain have to say about Helms? Is he getting away with a 'no comment'?

You'd think one of his donut-girls could at least broach the subject. (If they're not too busy licking the sauce off his meat.)

Posted by lampwick | July 6, 2008 5:43 PM

But the democrats are the real racists!

Posted by right wing blogophere | July 6, 2008 5:45 PM

lampwick:

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said in a statement: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Senator Jesse Helms. At this time, let us remember a life dedicated to serving this nation."

I'm sure the creamy donut brigade will ask McCain whether he agreed with Helms on those issues the racebaiting fuckhead considered most important.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | July 6, 2008 5:53 PM

Worth recalling that McCain took the Helms line on MLK day, voting against.

Posted by bert | July 6, 2008 5:53 PM

The Mitch McConnell quote is entirely apt, and a perfect example of mixed praise.

Posted by Grumpy | July 6, 2008 6:06 PM

Here's a nice collection of quotes from Helms.

A lot of repeats but a few additional beauties can be read here.

What an asshat. His passing makes our great country just a little bit better.

Posted by LFC | July 6, 2008 6:25 PM

Jesus Christ, Matt! Enough with the Helms posts!

If you took as much interest in the upcoming war on Iran as you do in some old fucktard racist, this blog would be far more useful!

How about commenting on the blockade resolution now in Congress, about to be passed without comment or opposition, and which authorizes an act of war against Iran?

Does that meet your criteria for an important event?

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 6, 2008 6:39 PM

How is this Helms thing playing on the news networks? I don't have cable/satellite and can't get an over-the-air signal on my TV, so the net is all I've got.

Posted by socctty | July 6, 2008 7:06 PM

One thing you can say about Strom Thurmond and George Wallace is that the two of them were recalcitrant in their later years. Helms never, ever, ever showed any remorse, nor felt the need to ever reflect. And why should he, we now know his legacy.

Posted by debrazza | July 6, 2008 7:06 PM

'Conservative' has long been a euphemism for 'racist'. It's really that simple.

Posted by jimbo | July 6, 2008 7:12 PM

"Conservative" means "maintain the status quo", which in some circles still means "racist." Or the more preferable term, "nigger hater."

While one of the things that initially drew me to Obama was his stance against inciting knee-jerk false outrage in politics, I have to admit that I would just love to see someone take McConnell and Bush (and to an extent, McCain) to task on Helms.

Posted by socctty | July 6, 2008 7:22 PM

Interesting tidbit from Bob Dole, eulogizing Helms:

"if you were to ask the pages who do they like best of all the Republican senators, who was the nicest to them, it would be Jesse Helms every year. He had sit there and visit with them, talk about their parents, where they're from. Take them down and have ice cream."

Well then, looks like the Senator was Mark Foley before Mark Foley. That might help put his virulent homophobia in context...

(and, btw, Dole repeats something many on the right have said about Helms: he was "decent". Lets get something straight - Helms was most certainly *not* decent, he was the embodiment of indecency)

Posted by McKingford | July 6, 2008 7:22 PM

Interesting article in the NYT today trying to cast bipartisan blame for the energy fix we are in today. One of the focusses is on the lack of any change in CAFE standards since the 1970s - and talks about how it was a combination of Detroit and conservative Senators who blocked any attempt at meaningful reform of CAFE standards, specifically and repeatedly naming Jesse Helms as a leader in the fight (and so, partly to blame for the trouble today).

One of the first acts when the Repubicans took control of the Congress in 1995 (I'm pretty sure the Senate bill was S.2 - introduced on the first day of the Congress, and co-sponsered by virtually the entire Senate leadership including Trent Lott and Jesse Helms (showing it's importance in the scheme of things) - was a measure to ban the Clinton Adminsistration from raising CAFE standards (the article doesn't go into detail - just mentions the measure in passing, but this has been a private interest of mine for years - particularly after Spencer Abraham, Bush's first Energy Sec'y - and another co-sponser of the bill - in one of his first public statements - remember the California Enron crisis was going on at the time - railed against the Clinton Administration for not having an energy policy - never mentioning that the Republicans had cut off any attempt at making an energy policy by prohibiting rises in CAFE standards - but I digress...

The blame is "bipartisan" according to the NYT - because all of Michigan's politicians were almost required to cast votes protecting the auto industry - that would be a given, I suppose. But, as for Jesse Helms - I don't think of North Carolina as being a state with any auto plants where the need to protect the auto industry should determine public policy.

So as long as we're talking about Jesse Helms' accomplishments and his meaning to the conservative cause - let's pin the blame for the energy mess on him. Why should it get watered down as "bi-partisan" - those Democrats who supported it were only protecting the interests of their home state constituents - that's what they were elected to do. But conservative icons such as Jesse Helms had no such excuse - and as a nation today we're suffering because of his ideology.

Posted by Ethel-To-Tilly | July 6, 2008 7:45 PM

While Helms as a racist is of antiquarian interest, Helms as a enabler of mass murder is of much more current interest. Helms was the ace buddy of Roberto Daubuisson, whose policy was very consistent with that of al qaeda in Iraq - directing torture especially to the face (the victims, commie sympathizers according to Helms and D'aubisson, would often have a cross carved out on their face with a bayonet), and was so admired by the proto-fascist set in Washington, D.C. that the "Salvador option" has been one of the tactics most lovingly mentioned by the pro-war crowd.

In a broad sense, not only did Reagan's policy of financing Islamicist terrorist lead from Afghanistan to 9/11, but the love love love towards death squad tactics led directly to al qaeda's tactics in Iraq. The American right has been connected by ties of sadism and the same set of cultural neuroses to death squads world wide for a long time. They pretend to be horrified by al qaeda in Iraq, but, in truth, it is just the same thing they applauded in El Salvador in the 80s.

Posted by roger | July 6, 2008 8:10 PM

"if you were to ask the pages who do they like best of all the Republican senators, who was the nicest to them, it would be Jesse Helms every year. He had sit there and visit with them, talk about their parents, where they're from. Take them down and have ice cream."

The famous Chris Rock routine comes to mind: Jesse Helms was nice to the pages? You're supposed to be, you dumb motherfucker! What kind of ignorant shit is that? Jesse Helms would visit with them, talk about their parents, where they're from? What do you want, a cookie?! You're not supposed to be mean to the pages, you low-expectation-having motherfucker!"

Posted by Tyro | July 6, 2008 8:55 PM

Thank you Tyro @ 8:55. There are at least two humans on earth that think alike.

Posted by milo | July 6, 2008 9:14 PM

One thing you can say about Strom Thurmond and George Wallace is that the two of them were recalcitrant in their later years. Helms never, ever, ever showed any remorse, nor felt the need to ever reflect. And why should he, we now know his legacy.

I think this is a reflection of the difference between opportunism and true believing racism. Neither Thurmond nor Wallace was actually particularly personally racist. They both just used racism as a tool to win elections. Helms was just a straight out true believing racist, like James Eastland. It makes sense that the former would back down once overt racism became politically unpopular, and that the latter would not

Posted by John | July 6, 2008 9:15 PM

"you low-expectation-having motherfucker!"

The soft bigotry of low expectations.

Posted by Joel | July 6, 2008 9:47 PM

Thurmond only stopped being a racist when he stopped actually being a functioning human being and instead was used as a prop.

Posted by Rob | July 6, 2008 10:23 PM

Good riddance, thank God he's dead, and no wonder minorities, the poor and the disenfranchised vote Democrat - with despicable Conservative "leaders" like Helms, why would they ever vote Republican?

Posted by edsbowlingshoe | July 6, 2008 10:35 PM

Jesse Helms: "The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights."

Lest we forget, an agenda like Helms' is exactly the kind of terrorism and barbarism our party exists to oppose in this country.

It's been swept under the rug more and more since the '60s, but it hasn't gone away-- instead it's kept just barely out of sight.

Posted by Swan | July 6, 2008 10:41 PM

It really is embarassing Matthew, but then you are beyond embarassment, really arguing about
the essential fact of American independence; the
tenets of the Declaration; giving encouragement to World War 2 revisionists like Baker, giving 9/11 revisionist an open mike. Ignoring the stated positions of some one like the Senate Protemp: Robert Byrd, or a one time presidential
candidate and champion of 'massive resistance like Fritz Hollings. By the way, he's the one who put the Confederate standard on the flag around 1957; but he was never challenged on it.

"You'd find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva." -- Fritz Hollings (D, S.C.)

Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." -- Former Klansman and current US Senator Robert Byrd, a man who is referred to by many Democrats as the "conscience of the Senate", in a letter written in 1944, after he quit the KKK.

"I am a former kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County and the adjoining counties of the state .... The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia .... It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state of the Union. Will you please inform me as to the possibilities of rebuilding the Klan in the Realm of W. Va .... I hope that you will find it convenient to answer my letter in regards to future possibilities." -- Former Klansman and current US Senator Robert Byrd, a man who is referred to by many Democrats as the "conscience of the Senate", in a letter written in 1946, after he quit the KKK.

"These laws [segregation] are still constitutional and I promise you that until they are removed from the ordinance books of Birmingham and the statute books of Alabama, they will be enforced in Birmingham to the utmost of my ability and by all lawful means." -- Democrat Bull Connor (1957), Commissioner of Public Safety for Birmingham, Alabama

Posted by narciso | July 6, 2008 11:20 PM

narciso, it's 2008. Take your head out of your wingnut ass and buy a new calendar.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | July 6, 2008 11:41 PM

Look, Matt, I despise racism, right-wing Latin American tyrants, ultra-capitalism, and the rest of Jesse Helms' agenda more than most of us do. While the man was alived I cursed his name often. But please, can we have the grace to wait awhile before we dance on his grave? This isn't necessarily just a gesture of respect for Mr. Helms- it's a gesture of respect for our common humanity and for our common powerlessness in the face of death.

Posted by Hector | July 6, 2008 11:52 PM

Why didn't we have the decency to wait awhile before dancing on Nathan Bedford Forrest, Richard Speck, Timmy McVeigh, Richard Nixon's...grave?

Because their graves are where they belong and unfortunately they didn't get planted in them soonm enough.

Posted by Mark | July 7, 2008 12:13 AM

Look, Matt, I despise racism, right-wing Latin American tyrants, ultra-capitalism, and the rest of Jesse Helms' agenda more than most of us do. While the man was alived I cursed his name often. But please, can we have the grace to wait awhile before we dance on his grave? This isn't necessarily just a gesture of respect for Mr. Helms- it's a gesture of respect for our common humanity and for our common powerlessness in the face of death.

While I respect your opinion, I have to disagree. I don't think death deserves some kind of special treatment in our social dialog. I certainly don't think the sadness of the death of one man is more important than emphasizing the fact that there a lot of racists in the conservative party. That has real world consequences that have a substantial and widespread impact. Simply put, politics is important and I don't think the tragedy of Helm's death rises to a level that we should overlook this.

Posted by mpowell | July 7, 2008 12:14 AM

Because their graves are where they belong and unfortunately they didn't get planted in them soonm enough.

Agreed. Men like Jesse Helms are deserving of obituaries of the sort that Hunter S Thompson wrote for Richard Nixon.

Posted by jbryan | July 7, 2008 1:06 AM

Men like Jesse Helms are deserving of obituaries of the sort that Hunter S Thompson wrote for Richard Nixon.

Or the slightly more elegant send-off Byron penned for a particularly odious British politician:

Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler scene than this.
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh.
Stop, traveller, and piss.

Posted by sunsin | July 7, 2008 1:16 AM

Since suddenly it's all the rage to feign outrage that anyone would speak ill of the dead, let's take a look at how Jesse Helms spoke of some prominent dead people:

On victims of the AIDS epidemic: the people who got HIV deserved it because of their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct"

On MLK Jr: a "communist" and a "sex pervert"

I mean, who are we to talk ill at the death of such a decent man? Hell, he even comforted a mother who came to him asking for compassion for homosexuals after her gay son had died of AIDS:

"I wish he had not played Russian roulette with his sexual activities."

Posted by Zephyrus | July 7, 2008 1:17 AM

The Mitch McConnell quote is entirely apt, and a perfect example of mixed praise.

Not really. McConnell also said, "Obviously, Jesse Helms was not a racist." McConnell just toes the line.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | July 7, 2008 9:48 AM

Hm, narciso. A quote from '44, '46, and '57. Interesting. I feel like something happened between then and now. Something to do with race in the US, and the relationship of our major political parties to race and region. My memory is failing, though, and I can't quite put my finger on it. The... 'northern gamesmanship'? No, that's wrong. Hm.

Well, I'm sure it'll come to me.

Posted by NBarnes | July 8, 2008 2:36 AM