Elizabeth Dole Tries To Name AIDS Bill After Jesse Helms

Republican Senator Dole introduced an amendment to name an HIV/AIDS relief bill after the recently deceased Jesse Helms. Helms, of course, was a strident foe of HIV/AIDS prevention, research and treatment. The blog Joe.My.God recalls some of Helms' notable moments in AIDS relief:

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1987 described AIDS prevention literature as "so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1988 vigorously opposed the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS research bill, saying, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1995 said (in opposition to refunding the Ryan White Act) that the government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 2002 announced that he'd changed his mind about AIDS funding for Africa, but not for American gays, because homosexuality "is the primary cause of the doubling and redoubling of AIDS cases in the United States."

In fact, in 1991 seven activists from the group ACT UP put a giant condom on Helms' Arlington home that said "Helms Is Deadlier Than A Virus."

***UPDATED 9:30pm ET July 16, 2008***

The bill passed, without Helms' name. Read the entire story here.

Comments

[JTyroler]

06:17 PM on 07/17/2008

Maybe Dole can help finance the Strom Thurmond Scholarship at Spellman....

[BassMent]

02:30 PM on 07/17/2008

Hmmm. Libby Dole proposing a Jesse Helms AIDS bill? McCain surrogates calling a possible Obama presidency "Four more years of Bush"?

Maybe they're at the point where they're hoping that if they totally invert reality on a daily basis, people will be so dizzy and confused come 11/4 that they'll go into the voting booth and just pick the guy who has the easier name to pronounce. Cuz that's about the only chance McCain has.

The rethuglicans are truly losing their grip.

[ramal]

11:14 AM on 07/17/2008

These people live in a strange and confused world of "1984" in that every lie must be held up as the truth. Hence: "The Clear Skies Act": "The Death Tax"; "The Defense of Marriage Act." and so on and so on. In America today truly "War is Peace" and "Ignorance is Strength." In five years time look for the "George W. Bush Peace and Prosperity Award" to be given to newest arising Republican Star who exhibits Karl Rove qualities.

[Apov]

10:51 AM on 07/17/2008

Republican fantasy.
Republican dishonesty.
Rebublican bush it.

[Gma11]

10:44 AM on 07/17/2008

Was she trying to pander to the right in North Carolina? I've heard her race is tighter than she expected.

[afgail]

01:57 PM on 07/17/2008

Looks like the whole gang of incompetent Republican elites is on the road to oblivion. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch. With any luck the South will rise again once they have broken free the shackles of the politics of racism, fear and smear.

[timregler]

09:00 AM on 07/17/2008

I think it's a great idea, we can put it between The Jessie Helms Center For African American Studies, and The Jessie Helms Institute For Sensitivity Training. Yeah, that's the ticket!

[VOTER]

07:31 AM on 07/17/2008

Lizzy Dole campaigns to lose her re-election.

It is working! : - /

[totaldisbelief]

07:00 AM on 07/17/2008

maybe it's just her twisted sense of humor

[raker]

06:24 AM on 07/17/2008

That's as illogical as naming a library after Bush.

[ZimboChick]

04:03 AM on 07/17/2008

one word - laughable

[SimonNZ]

03:03 AM on 07/17/2008

Why not give Helms a memorial AIDS Bill? He would have truly hated it and I can't think of a better way to honour his memory. What about the Helms-Craig AIDS Bill? A true monument to Republican hypocrisy.....

[MGhamma]

02:33 AM on 07/17/2008

I don't think that Jesse is off the mark on this one.

[InfosolutionWiz]

01:29 PM on 07/17/2008

DON'T THINK JESSE is OFF THE MARK ON THIS ONE???

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1988 vigorously opposed the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS research bill, saying, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."
------------------------------------------------
Jesse Helms, the man who in 2002 announced that he'd changed his mind about AIDS funding for Africa, but not for American gays, because homosexuality "is the primary cause of the doubling and redoubling of AIDS cases in the United States."
------------------------------------------------

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1995 said that the government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."

IN THE WORDS of Hillary Clinton, GET REAL!!!!!

[watcher269]

02:20 AM on 07/17/2008

Does she really eat what she shovels?

[cinemabon]

01:54 AM on 07/17/2008

Being from North Carolina, I completely disown the remarks of that woman. She does not speak for the vast majority of open minded progressive citizens of this state. I pray that come November, she will no longer be a senator.

[Rog49Thomas]

10:00 AM on 07/17/2008

While the set you describe (open minded progressive citizens of NC) may not be the "null set", it's pretty close.

[NTO08]

01:49 AM on 07/17/2008

Libby has really flipped her wig.