Jesse Helms Dies
One of the most complex and polarizing figures in the U.S. Senate’s history has died.
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One of the most complex and polarizing figures in the U.S. Senate’s history has died.
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10 comments
Definitely polarized me. What a total and complete asshole.
Well, one of the funnier political jokes of the 1980s that I recall, back when Jesse Helms was at the peak of his power and Jesse Jackson was running a fairly credible Presidential candidate was, "I have a great idea for a dream ticket, Jesse Helms and Jesse Jackson. Jesse and Jesse in ‘84! The slogan can be, ‘Let’s Alienate Everybody!’"
But personally, I find it distasteful to speak ill of the dead.
I am also inclined to remember the things he did support which I also support, and his change of tune on other things that were offensive.
He was a cranky man from another era.
But personally, I find it distasteful to speak ill of the dead.
I don’t. I second josher71’s comment.
Speaking ill of the dead would be a lot worse in a world where people didn’t lionize the dead beyond honest reason, as some in politics and the media have done for Helms.
But, to be fair, most of the controversies and strong opinions about him were all well aired and debated when he retired, so its not exactly ground that particularly needs to be re-tread at his death.
Bad’s last blog post..Ancient Jewish Tablet Ignites Controversy: Another 3-Day Messiah?
The media lionized Nixon when he died.
The man was filth who should have been impeached by Ford.
Ford was lionized when he died for pardoning Nixon. Ford was a decent man but he made a terrible decision that left America in the wilderness until Reagan took office.
Carter isn’t dead yet, but I have been rehearsing my personal eulogy for him for 30 years.
Helms was a hardheaded unrepetant bigot.
Being dead doesn’t change that fact.
An old joke in poor taste applies here, I’m afraid:
I don’t speak ill of the dead.
Silence follows. End of joke.
The conservative embrace of him is indeed pretty baffling at this point. NRO will spend the next few days celebrating his brilliance and justifying, ignoring, and excusing his every crudity, and then the days after that back to being utterly baffled why African Americans still vote so overwhelmingly for Democrats.
Bad’s last blog post..Blog Shorts: Bush Smears Jefferson, Colson Smears Atheists, Cthulhu Smears Your Entrails Across Campaign Trail
I’ve read NR and NRO on and off for years; I doubt if they will justify, ignore, and excuse his every crudity. I suspect they will celebrate his staunch anti-communism (which they should, communism was worse than Nazism and is still an embarrassment that much of the left won’t face up to honestly), his change of tune on AIDS, approving of his staunch opposition to racist "affirmative action" quotas (a position that has always been approved by the vast majority of Americans, including a surprisingly high number of black voters), and etc.
The man wasn’t simply filth. He had some opinions I found distasteful, and some positions I strongly disagreed with. But he wasn’t Satan on wheels.
Welp, out of curiosity I looked. Here’s an interview they did with him a few years ago that a few may find eye-opening. They have two other articles up, one noting his role in memorializing the over 100 million dead at the hands of communism, and another noting that this Jesse Helms political ad was not racist (and I agree, it was not). So far, I don’t see much else there.
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