A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

Christmas in July

Whoever said you shouldn't speak ill of the dead never met the former Senator from North Carolina:

Jesse Helms, the firebrand U.S. senator whose outspoken, conservative views polarized North Carolina and U.S. voters for decades, died at 1:15 a.m. Friday in Raleigh, according to John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center.

He joins the second and third presidents of the United States - Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Jr. - who both also died on Independence Day.

He was 86. His cause of death was not released. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming, Dodd said.

86? Sounds like the cause of death was "old." And nice of the Raleigh, NC paper to make that parallel between Helms and Jefferson and Adams. He also joins painter Bob Ross, Eva Gabor, and Barry White. So what?

His views on race relations - he opposed a national holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., led a filibuster against the extension of the Voting Rights Act and called some young blacks "Negro hoodlums" - and social issues sharply divided the public into those who viewed him as a champion of the common man and those who thought of him as a narrow-minded bigot.

David Broder, a widely respected political columnist for The Washington Post, called Helms "the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country."

"What is unique about Helms - and from my viewpoint, unforgivable - is his willingness to pick at the scab of the great wound of American history, the legacy of slavery and segregation, and to inflame racial resentment against African Americans," Broder wrote shortly after Helms announced that he wouldn't seek re-election in 2002.

Give Helms credit for sticking by his guns, at least. Wallace and others repented their pro-segregation stances later in life. Not good old Jesse.

Helms acknowledged his polarizing character, saying famed ventriloquist dummy Mortimer Snerd could run as the Democratic candidate for Senate against him and garner 45 percent of the vote.

"I wasn't interested in a popularity contest and surely didn't care about anything the big newspapers called me," he said. "I saw how they constantly ridiculed conservative ideas and conservative people."

Friend to women and minorities, champion of gay rights, and much, much more:

In his early years in office, Helms chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee, providing critical support for North Carolina's tobacco industry. When the Republicans gained control of Congress after the 1994 elections, he gained control of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he became a vocal critic of the former Soviet Union, China and Cuba and a strong advocate of anti-communist - and sometimes repressive - regimes in Latin America and Asia.

He also used his clout on the committee to push for reform of the United Nations, block payment of UN dues by the United States and oppose Democratic-sponsored foreign aid packages and trade deals. The recalcitrant stance he took on many issues garnered him the nickname "Senator No," which only delighted him. "The Raleigh News & Observer dubbed me 'Senator No.' It wasn't meant as a compliment, but I certainly took it as one. There was plenty to stand up and say no to during my first of five terms representing the people of North Carolina," he said.
[...]
Many political observers credit Helms' support for catapulting Reagan to the presidency in 1980 and accelerating the conservative agenda - cutting taxes at home, fighting communism abroad and opposing many government social programs - at the national level. He also served as Reagan's right flank for years, allowing the president to make political compromises as needed. "(I decided to) stay to the right of the president's right and make it easier for Reagan to be Reagan," Helms wrote in his memoir.

So long, Jesse. I don't believe in god, but for you I'll make an exception and hope she's a black lesbian. I also promise I won't bring up your collection of little shoes if you promise to say 'hi' to Nixon for me.