Sorry Mr. President, but Jesse Helms was NOT a "Kind, Decent, and Humble Man," nor a "Great Patriot."

Jesse Helms has passed, and what should we say? We can extend our condolences to the Helms family, who are not responsible for his misdeeds and odious views.

What else can you say? Here is one approach, according to my morning Tribune:

"Jesse Helms was a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called 'the Miracle of America.' So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the 4th of July," President George W. Bush said in a statement Friday.

Let's take a deep breath and re-read President Bush's statement.

Senator Helms was not a kind or decent man. I don't know how he treated close friends and immediate family, and I don't really care. In his public and political life, he was loathsome. Here is one story that, by itself, richly earns that label:

Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into [African-American Illinois Senator Carol] Moseley-Braun in a Capitol elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery to Moseley-Braun.

Dozens of other incidents make the same point. The only mildly surprising aspect of this one is the discovery that Orrin Hatch stood by during this ungentlemanly, in every way abominable display by his colleague and friend. I haven't even mentioned Helms's charming habit of refering to every African-American man, out of earshot, as "Fred."

The real "Miracle of America" is our glorious constitution, along with its accompanying imperfect effort to widen the circle of equality to include every American. The ranks of its passionate defenders do not include open segregationists.

More than anyone else, Helms openly opposed funding for HIV prevention and treatment because he regarded gays and lesbians -- presumably drug users, too -- as "disgusting people." He opposed academic research, the arts, foreign aid, the United Nations, domestic and international public health efforts, and of course affirmative action and the Martin Luther King holiday.

On the occasion of Helms' Senate retirement, courtly moderate David Broder wrote one of the very few personally ascerbic columns of his long newpaper career. Titled simply: "Jesse Helms, White Racist," Broder deserves enduring credit for saying what needed to be said. Broder sharply criticized his own paper for spending only two out of 54 paragraphs in a large retrospective noting Helms' racism. Reading the New York Times soft-pedaled obituary today, these words resonate.

I am amazed to see so many Conservatives and Republicans offer encomiums to this man today. [Postscript: The New York Times provides one example:

Edwin Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, the Washington-based conservative think tank, called Mr. Helms "one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century. Along with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he helped establish the conservative movement and became a powerful voice for free markets and free people."

The terrific blogger Hilzoy has compiled a dozen more jaw-droppers from leading conservative politicians and journalists issuing encomiums to this man. http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/07/conservatives-a.html]

Do these figures understand how such comments tarnish their legacies? Many call him a righteous and principled father of modern conservatism. I guess he was. He played a key role supporting Ronald Reagan and other national Republican leaders.

The only thing fitting about Helms' July 4 passing is that we note the passing of the last openly racist, blatantly un-Reconstructed southern politician.

So what do we say when an odious man passes from our midst? Here's my take: God bless his family, but good riddance to him.

Comments

[Pile]

I think the statement that Helms was a credit to conservatism doesn't tarnish the movement. It crystalizes what many of us have known about the underlying nature of the conservative agenda for quite some time.

[MamaBird62]

North Carolina could begin to redeem itself for inflicting Helms on us by going for Obama this fall.

[spiderbucket]

We WILL !!!

[fpie]

The Republican Party is built on a foundation of southern racism. It is the one thing they can always count on. They hardly worry that it will tarnish their legacy. It is their legacy.

[kvet]

Attn: AZRealProgressive !

Dont be SO Ignorant !

All Shall be Judged Accordingl­y......(Ev­eryone,,,I­ncluding Myself)

If it is as you say ?.....Then­,,,Nothing to worry about...If not ?,,,,,Then say a prayer for Him !....and Stop trying to Sell His Soul in Here....

Ever think about that ?

[Pile]

A spade is a spade.

and a foolish superstitious person is also a spade.

[AzRealProgressive]

I didn't sell anything to anybody. Read the post by batguano who was one of his constituents.

The man didn't care who you were. He tried.

Ignorance is belittling the dead bacuase they were of a different political persuasion and belief.

He was what he was.

[AzRealProgressive]

Read the post by mamabird 62 a couple posters down. As it says in the post, Republicans were unheard of in the south,

Honestly you can't have it both ways.

I

[MamaBird62]

He means since the 1980's, obviously.

[TPW]

Helms was a mean-spirited bigot and a legislative obstructionist. On cue, Bush leaves his t-ball match to heap praise on another republican. For a president who sought to establish 1-party rule, the rules are simple: scorn and obstruct all democrats and praise and enable all republicans.

[BadCompany]

I find it interesting that you think Orrin Hatch is somehow different from the pack he runs with.

[Sciguy]

Great article, thanks!

[onetiredcowboy]

Why should anyone be surprised that George Bush would praise Jesse Helms? Helms may be the last of the openly bigoted "white sheet" Republicans, but the catastrophic policies of Bush himself, from the incompetent response to Katrina, to a range of other horrors he has visited upon the poor and middle class in this country should be a reminder that Helms was just the visible tip of the iceberg. It's what lurks beneath the surface that ought to give thoughtful, decent folk sleepless nights.

[AzRealProgressive]

White sheet Republicans?

You are misinformed sir. The white sheet was created by the Democrats to counter the Repubs after the civil war.

Remember Hugo Black? Appointed by Franklin Roosevelt to the supreme court? He was a high KKK member.

Martin Luther King was aware of who created the KKK.

That is why Martin Luther King was a Republican.

Independents and Progressives will rule someday.

[MamaBird62]

You're repeating the false rumours started by the National Black Republican Association during the '06 campaign. Those work fairly well in the US, where so few people study their own history.
Republicans were unheard of in the Confederate South, and the Klan, which began in 1865, was never political, (they hated blacks and sympathetic whites of ALL parties!) and they certainly never identified with Democrats. No one ever tried to retroactively assert that the Klan was Republican, so it's very weird for Republicans 150 years later to try and link that hate group to modern day Democrats.
According to his biographers, MLK never stated a political affiliation. He was nonpartisan.

[Marshall Lucky]

Here's a joke from 1990:

Q: Do you know what the difference is between David Duke and Jesse Helms?

A: Neither do I.

[Alfannell]

Heck Jesse Helms openly supported David Duke when he ran for governor in Louisana.

[THEhillbilly]

This article accomplished a lot. Of what? It told people who never liked that asshole Helms that you didn't like him either. B.F.D.

Helpful hint:
Word processing programs and most e-mail editors have facilities that could help you with your cacography problem.

[MikeLicht]

The late senator deserves a fitting memorial -- http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/jesse-helms/

[Dustee]

"God bless his family, but good riddence to him."

His family - The fruit never falls far from the tree - they need prayer.

Jesse Helms died - he'll reap what he sowed.

[metsfan1]

Couldn't agree more. He was repulsive in life and just because he died doesn't make that fact any less so.

[kvet]

Man Shall be Judged According to Own His Deeds !!!!...

What He Sowed,,,,,He Shall Reap !!!.....Ten Fold.

[AzRealProgressive]

Remember folks, God does the judging not us.

God may judge Jesse as a humble servant worthy of the highest reward for his service, ten fold.

Ever think about that?

[kvet]

Attn AZRealProgressive:

Dont be SO Ignorant !

You dont have to try and Sell his Soul to me.....He along with everyone, including myself, will be Judged Accordingly.....

If youre SO worried about this mans Soul ?,,,,,Then Say A prayer For Him.....And If, everything goes the way you say ?,,,,,then No Worries.....Right ?

Ever think about that?

[standforpeace]

I am reminded of a moment a few weeks ago when McCain appeared on Ellen and characterized his opposition to her right to marry her same sex partner as "a respectful disagreement." No matter how courtly or how gentile the tone, there is nothing "respectful" about denying basic human rights to gay Americans today. And there was nothing "kind and decent" about the kind of hateful politics practiced by Jesse Helms. His was a politics that would criminalize homosexuality as well as maintaining a status not much better than slavery for Blacks under the banner of defending "states' rights." From where I sit we should use this event to celebrate the passing of Jesse's era, spend a moment contemplating how far we still need to go to make real the promise of true equality for all Americans, and then get busy working to that end.

[Jazz42]

I thought Jesse Helm's die years ago.
I was taught by mother and father. If I don't have anything to say about someone, don't say anything at all. I always thought that Orrin Hatch was a bigot, after reading thid article my suspicions were correct.

[ksyellowdog]

I'm a humanist, ans as such, I don't believe in the biblical heaven or hell. That said, I hope he finds the after-life just as uncomfortable as he made life so many in this life.

[AzRealProgressive]

The humanist manifesto dictates there is no afterlife. As a humanist you should know that.

Visit the link to the humanist manifesto, obviously you have not read it.

If you believe otherwise you are no humanist.

[laurinek]

Must we follow those rules too? I am a Humanist who does not have to follow any manifesto. Called a "freethinker". You actually are kind of mean.