Jesse Helms: Yankee Doodle Jesse

He's a Yankee Doodle Jesse
A Yankee Doodle do or die
A real live nephew of the Ku Klux Klan
Died on the Fourth of July...

"I hope what future generations learn about me will be based on the truth and not the deliberate inaccuracies those who disagreed with me took such delight in repeating." - Jesse Helms to the Associated Press in 2005.

Fair enough Jesse. I'll let you speak for yourself...

"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?" (1950)

"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." (1963)

"Crime rates and irresponsibility among Negroes are a fact of life which must be faced." (1981)

"The University of North Carolina (UNC)... the University of Negroes and Communists..." (1995)

"Blacks, gays and lesbians are responsible for the proliferation of AIDS"

"There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy." (1988)

"All Latins are volatile people." (1986)

"The New York Times and Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves. Just about every person down there is a homosexual or lesbian."

"The government should spend less money on people with AIDS because they got sick as a result of deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct." (1995)

"Mr. Clinton better watch out if he comes down here [Fort Bragg]. He'd better have a bodyguard. " (1994)

"What is really at stake is whether or not America will allow the cultural high ground in this nation to sink slowly into an abyss of slime to placate people who clearly seek or are willing to destroy the Judaic-Christian foundations of this republic." (1990)

"I've been portrayed as a caveman by some. That's not true. I'm a conservative progressive, and that means I think all men are equal, be they slants, beaners or niggers." (1985)

"I have tried at every point to seek God's wisdom on the decisions I made, and I made it my business to speak up on behalf of the things God tells us are important to Him."

Yankee
Pronunciation: \ˈyaŋ-kē\
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1758
1 a: a native or inhabitant of New England
1 b: a native or inhabitant of the northern United States
2: a native or inhabitant of the United States

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Comments

[mikie63]

I can't think of one thing GOOD about Mr. Jesse Helms. He was everything that our country hates, unless you are from the south and a republican, religious bigot. I know some great southern progressives who love their country and also the people of their country. Helms was sure not one of them.

[ObamAtomic]

Conservative Icon Former Senator Jesse Helms Dead At 86, article by WW
about Jesse Helms is not a real reflection of reality.
One who is the object of great attention and devotion < that the meaning of the word Icon.
How Jesse Helms be considered by you an Icon is very unwitty
the Iconus status given by you is *Babbling*,unless you tried to gain readers or dissenters,

[ObamAtomic]

Conservative Icon Former Senator Jesse Helms Dead At 86,WHITNEY WOODWARD aritcle

[BadCompany]

It's like Archie Bunker said that stuff!

Boy, the way Glenn Miller played songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made.
Those were the days.

Didn't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.

And you knew who you were then.
Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

People seemed to be content.
Fifty dollars paid the rent.
Freaks were in a circus tent.
Those were the days.

[ObamAtomic]

Herbert Hoover 75 years back , three generations ago,,,,,,McCain will be your savior .

[jsanglier]

Thank you Martin for once again pointing out to us ignoramuses over here in old Blighty someone of whom we had blissfully little or no knowledge.

Apart from wondering whether this chappy had any involvement with aspects of the Anglican movement, I have been amused to note that his father was proudly known as Big Jesse.

In Glasgow this is not exactly a term of endearment.

Toodle pip!

Joss

[CitizenE]

While his politics and public ravings were distasteful to put it mildly, I also find it a bit distasteful to speak ill of the newly dead, so I'll relate a story told me by a former college student, a Latino community organizer, who once worked as a Congressional assistant to a local Democratic congressman. Helms, he told me, for all his public perniciousness, treated Congressional assistants better than any other Congressman he had met, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender. He was generous with his time, helpful, and knew and referred to them all on a first name basis. This particular young man, who would be considered radical by most people's standards, said that in contrast to many quite well-known liberal Senators and Congresspeople who could have cared less about people like him, Helms always seemed to extend a southern family style hospitality to him and his coworkers. This is not to mitigate Helms' unforgiveable predilections, but of what utility is it to condemn a man in the hours immediately following his death?

[mediamarv]

Well, perhaps, Mr Manners, you can tell us how long is an appropriate time.

I vote for, oh, say, 30 seconds.

And i don't believe your little fable one bit.

[CitizenE]

I had a hard time believing it too. I called Helms a murderer to my student's face, but he swore up and down it was true. But Helms was alive when I said it; what kind of a coward needs to dance on someone's grave to prove a point, Marv?

[larry278]

Jessee Helms's supporters will soon tell you that Sen Helms wasn't & isn't a Yankee. They may use more colorful language to say that he wasn't & isn't a Yankee. People in NC are proud to be Americans but NC people have no use for Yankees. The more tactful & generous people will simply call you an IDY, Ignorant Damned Yankee, who doesn't know better. The rest of NC's people will have other words for you which you have never heard or seen before. You will find that to be an educational experience. I hope that the blistering you'll get will heal quickly.

[RichardWeed]

Jesse Helms represented unapologetic racism. He represented a period in our history I am gladly to say has come to end. Nil nisi bonum, but hell, he was one of the most vile and hate filled people of position and power I have ever known. I am only sad for his relatives.

[BADEN]

" His agenda is driven by a lifelong opposition to democracy and diversity. In his first months as Foreign Relations chair, Helms called for tougher sanctions against Cuba, accused Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide of unleashing "vigilance committees," and moved to gut support for developing nations. On the home front, he introduced a bill to eliminate all affirmative action programs, which he denounced as "reverse discrimination at the hands of ruthless bureaucrats."

How did someone so mean-spirited end up in a position to act on his divisive politics? For the most part, Helms wins political battles by keeping the spotlight on the morality plays he stages. To hear conservatives tell it, Helms is a personal friend of Jesus Christ, a populist defender of the little guy, and a bitter opponent of big government. "

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1995/05/bates.html

GOD, GUNS, GREED - may the Devil meet him at the gates of hell with an ice cream cone.

[Quaoar]

I'll be listening to Todd Rundgren's "Jesse" in his honor today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HqqrvMQjg

[mediamarv]

Viacom is coming after you to make sure you pay for each time you listen.
Welcome to america 2.0 .. where Corporate media rule!!