| Helms Dies [Thread Closed]
Posted: 7/4/2008 9:03:08 AM | Helms goes to that big Caucus in the Sky....
Ex-Senator Jesse Helms dies at 86
Former US Republican Senator Jesse Helms - a leading conservative politician - has died aged 86, officials say.
He died early on Friday of natural causes in Raleigh, North Carolina, his former chief of staff said.
Mr Helms had served five terms in the Senate representing North Carolina before stepping down in 2003.
He was dubbed "Senator No" for blocking many policies he saw as contrary to his conservative view of the world.
Mr Helms was chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, becoming the first lawmaker to address the UN Security Council.
Isolationist
Jesse Helms started political life as a Democrat, albeit a conservative-sounding one, who worked as a newspaper editor and a television commentator.
He first went to the Senate to represent North Carolina in 1972.
He had polarised voters in the southern state and opinion throughout the country, correspondents say.
I will not support sending American soldiers to fight and to die for the sake of an agreement not yet reached which may offer no more than the promise of a brief pause while all sides prepare for the next round of Balkan wars
Jesse Helms
He became known for his refusal to ratify international treaties and obstinate blocking of other executive actions, the BBC's Jonny Dymond says.
It was Mr Helms who stopped the US paying its dues to the UN; Mr Helms who blocked ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Kyoto Protocol on global warming; and Mr Helms who opposed the use of US troops in Bosnia.
"I will not support sending American soldiers to fight and to die for the sake of an agreement not yet reached which may offer no more than the promise of a brief pause while all sides prepare for the next round of Balkan wars," Mr Helms said.
Frequent clashes
Before he became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he attacked accords such as the Panama Canal Treaty and the Salt II arms reduction pact.
As committee chairman he clashed with the Clinton administration. Its multilateral approach to foreign relations did not fit in with his view of how America should operate.
He also helped sink the administration's attempts to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1999, and in 2000 made it clear that a modified 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would not pass the Senate.
Mr Helms never cared very much what his critics thought, our correspondent says - and if he had, he certainly would not have been so outspoken about what he perceived to be the ills of modern life.
But there was also a compassionate side to Mr Helms that few of his critics might believe, our correspondent says.
He was reportedly in tears when Bono, lead singer of rock group U2 and anti-debt campaigner, told him of the suffering that debt caused in the developing world.
He had also campaigned for the passage of a debt relief bill though Congress.
Story from BBC NEWS:
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 10:23:58 AM | They say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. So.... | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 11:11:52 AM | | I'm with you on that comment!!! | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 3:23:01 PM | He was an embarrassment to my state of NC and the whole country. He won't be missed.
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 5:39:52 PM | there is a deep circle in hell reserved for this guy.
but...
years ago I met a girl in a bar and as happens from time to time in life, I ended up going home with her. she was a beautiful woman (little wild but beautiful). I was lying in her bed while she was doing something or other and next to me I noticed a stack of her mail. I didn't read it (c'mon, I'm not THAT big a creep) but I was looking at the addresses and I noticed her last name was Helms. I imagine that had come up at some point in the evening but it hadn't really meant much at the time. one of the letters had a return address in Washington DC and with some trepidation I asked her jokingly if it was "the" Helms, meaning Richard Helms director of the CIA at the time.
'which one?" she asked.
there was a blank moment on my part then a horrible suspicion set in.
'umm which one?" I asked.
"yeah" she said. "Jesse is my uncle."
I took a deep look in her face and sure as shit, way down in there I could see the evil old snake looking out at me.
so much for romance.
later I told my mom and she almost disowned me. | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 7:00:50 PM | We all die sometime, it's what we do while living that matters the most.
What has he done to improve the state of NC or America?
If he has left a legacy to be proud of let me know, please. | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 8:37:47 PM | Bozo the clown died today also...
One was loved...
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/4/2008 9:06:55 PM |
Ex-Senator Jesse Helms dies at 86
yeah okay ? what's for lunch ? I'm hungry ! | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 1:27:39 AM | | Yeah, I was sad about Bozo. I don't particularly like clowns, but he was loved by millions. | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 2:17:33 AM | | Somebody should drive a stake through the corpse and/or bury the head at a crossroads just to be sure..... | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 7:36:32 AM | | I wonder if he knows how few are truly missing him? Tim Russert, George Carlin, Heath Ledger, etc. So many heartfelt outpourings, but for Helms, we're searching for a good, Oak steak. . . I hope he knew. Bush doesn't have a clue how much he is despised, it was likely so for Helms as well. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 2:47:06 PM | | Come now, I hate his politics, but we should be above this kind of grave pissing. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 3:47:52 PM | He was an embarrassment to my state of NC and the whole country. He won't be missed. You mean John Edwards. Helms did all the good stuff posted by the OP and missed since he retired. Edwards has done nothing for North Carolina not even for himself. He lost several times and the senate seat for being egotistic.
(It was Mr Helms who stopped the US paying its dues to the UN; Mr Helms who blocked ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Kyoto Protocol on global warming; and Mr Helms who opposed the use of US troops in Bosnia.)
That's just the tip of the iceberg. He knew how to correct things and did it. He had balls. He never reached over to the other side unlike McCain.
He is everything McCain is not and the reason we can now call Obama, President Elect Barack Obama. What a mess we are headed for, it will be great and entertaining to watch. Helms is the reason North Carolina's economy is one of the highest in the nation and the reason many relocated to NC. He gave hippies and the sexually immoral hell. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 3:53:22 PM | | Uh, no, NC's economy is not good. I lived there for awhile too, the economy sucks in the whole country, but it is a little worse there than on average. But thanks for illustrating just how bad he was. I wasn't aware of each of those mistakes. | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 4:04:23 PM | He left a legacy of hatred. That's the kindest thing you could say about him.
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Posted: 7/5/2008 5:18:29 PM | There isn't a current Republican anywhere today that could fill Sen. Helm's shoes. He was a true giant of a man of honor. NC's economy is equal to Sweden. There are many no-skill newcomers that cannot make it in North Carolina as they thought. They can still enjoy a higher standard of living from where they came from and the reason they moved here. We have a low unemployment rate and lots of jobs.
By the time he was fifty in 1971, Helms had been a lifelong Democrat, like most of his contemporaries in North Carolina. Helms changed his registration to Republican in that year. A year later, became the Republican candidate for the Senate.
Running on the slogan “He’s One of Us,” Helms slammed his opponent as a liberal in the mold of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern and won.
As political scientists Merle and Earl Black wrote in “The Rise of Southern Republicans,” “Helms carried the traditional Republican vote in the mountains and western Piedmont cities, swept the rural and small-town textile counties in the southwestern part of the state, and began to penetrate Democratic strongholds in the east.”
Those voters in Eastern North Carolina were soon dubbed “Jessecrats.” In four more trips to the polls, they would help see their man through to victory. More often than not, with his margin bigger than polls indicated, as the mainstream media’s portrayal of Helms appeared to discourage voters from saying they were for him.
When he retired from the Senate in 2002, Helms was hailed by opposite numbers such as Irish rocker Bono and Sen. Joe Biden, who now wields the North Carolina Republican’s old gavel as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Their disagreements with Helms notwithstanding, they praised him as a man of principle and a gentleman.
*- Flamebait material removed from post. -TheMadFiddler-*
Whatever the cause, from opposition to the SALT II and Panama Canal treaties and federal funding for salacious art. To keeping his colleagues in session over holidays to stop a gasoline tax increase, the senator was more often than not leading the charge.
A case can be made that with the exceptions of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, the figure most pivotal to the success of postwar conservatism was Jesse Helms. So, of course, did his colleagues on the right. Without Jesse and his people in North Carolina, Ronald Reagan would never have become President.
Former Sen. Bill Armstrong gave Helms the highest compliment of all, hailing the North Carolinian as the greatest senator.
The “Reagan Revolution” that followed pulled America out of’ Jimmy Carter’s malaise”, and back on the road to fiscal prosperity. And with Jesse Helm’s help Ronald Reagan hastened the end of communism worldwide. It is no secret that Helms was no fan of United Nations. During his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jesse Helms challenged the United Nation’s bureaucracy by refusing to approve the payment of America’s dues.
To Helms it was a matter of principal and conscience. Helms bottled up appropriations to pay millions of US back dues to United Nations until he got the UN to agree to make substantial reforms. He also was instrumental in the passage of the Helms-Burton Act that tightened the embargo on Fidel Castro’s Cuba and he worked to scuttle the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1999.
He always had time for his constituents and especially for young people. Through the years of his service, the Senate interns and pages loved him. He was one of their favorites on the Capitol Hill. For those fortunate enough to have known and worked with him, we will remember Senator Helms as an “old school Southern gentlemen” who was principled and polite and courteous even to those with whom he disagreed.
His Senate colleagues on the opposite side of the isle may have argued with him but they always knew where he stood. Senator Helms went to Washington but never became a part of Washington. He remained loyal to his old friends, steadfast in his values and beliefs, and always true in his heart to the people of North Carolina.
The institution of the United States Senate has not been quite the same without him and we in NC are proud of the role that this unique and special “Tarheel” played in the history of our country and on the world stage. He will be profoundly missed.
When he made his last appearance at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2002, Helms was introduced by the Republican who hoped to succeed him, Elizabeth Hanford Dole. “If I am successful this year, I will succeed him,” Elizabeth Dole told a cheering audience, “But no one can replace Sen. Jesse Helms.”
That said it all. No one has. | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 7:49:54 PM | Maybe a year from now he will have a black child emerge like his good friend Thurmond did.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Old Boys
Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms helped create an unsettling brand of politics.
Reviewed by Michael Lind
Sunday, September 11, 2005;
Unknown to almost everyone, the symbol of Southern racism had a black daughter. Six months after his death on June 26, 2003, a 78-year-old African American woman named Essie Mae Washington-Williams held a press conference in which she revealed, "My father's name was James Strom Thurmond" -- a fact that Thurmond's family confirmed. Her mother -- Carrie Butler, then a 16-year-old maid in his parents' household -- had been impregnated by the 22-year-old Thurmond at a time when "miscegenation" was illegal under South Carolina law. According to Armstrong Williams, a black conservative whom Thurmond patronized late in life, " 'When a man brings a child into the world, he should take care of the child,' said Thurmond, who then added, 'She'll never say anything and neither will you -- not while I'm alive.' " Thurmond made payments to her throughout her life but left her completely out of his will, which, according to Bass and Thompson, "set up generous trust accounts for his children, Strom Jr., Paul, and Julia, splitting up his real estate holdings in Aken and Union counties and other assets. Around the same time, in 1998, he stopped making payments to Essie. He set aside $30,000 that she would receive over the next three years as her legacy." Exactly one year after his funeral, the name "Essie Mae" was added to the list of Thurmond's children on the pedestal of the statue of Thurmond on the grounds of the Columbia, S.C., statehouse.
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Posted: 7/5/2008 8:13:00 PM | | North Carolinas economy doesn't seem all that hot. 36th in wage rankings in the country. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 8:54:04 PM | http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11530.html
well, as it has been stated earlier in this forum,
if you cant say anything nice" .............
special note:
im just waiting for his "love children" to appear. please see "strong thurman" to see and understand what im talking about. it wouldnt suprise me in the least.
let me also add its kinda ironic that he was seen as a conservative icon of the republican party. But at the same time , Helms had the biggest issues with civil rights for all people, especially African-Americans. | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 9:07:52 PM | It is hard. Speaking ill of the dead isn't suppose to be easy.
When my grandfather died, I didn't shed a tear. He was a racist, mean spirited jerk. My last words to him were telling him off and letting him know that I wouldn't even come to his funeral. some decade later, I was true to my word.
Helms was the same type of person my grandfather was. The world is a much better place without him. It would have been a much better place if he had not existed at all. Some people just don't impact the world in a positive way.
The good die young, obviously he lived up to that proverb. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 9:51:40 PM | Helms was a and a very bad man who will not be missed.
Ike would never have approved of Helms' disgusting behavior and attitudes. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 10:03:30 PM |
True. But get a bunch of gays or blacks together who want a little 'too much power', and I am sure pretty much any Republican can surely fill his Klan hood.
If the above RACIST post stays, then, I have no more use for this forum. To say that any Republican is of Klan hood is WRONG. I'm sick and tired of seeing Republicans blasted here. It's old.. real old and uncalled for.
We are not of the same blood.. just as Democrats are not.
Go on with your 'spin'. It's really really out of style now. | |
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Posted: 7/5/2008 10:49:07 PM | *- Troll/Flame-baiting posts removed. Stay on topic. Keep it clean. Don't generalize. Don't make me come back. -TheMadFiddler-* | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 11:00:53 PM | Some will mourn him I'm sure.
Jesse Helms was nothing if not an old guard "blacks and commies" kind of bigot. So it would be very nice if his death could once and for all mark a true watershed moment....kissing goodbye to the past.
RIP...Best of luck on the other side....etc.
goodbye...and let's move on! | |
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| Helms Dies
Posted: 7/5/2008 11:04:13 PM | | A case can be made that with the exceptions of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, the figure most pivotal to the success of postwar conservatism was Jesse Helms. If one were to name the two elected leaders of the last third of the 20th century who best represented the conservative creed in national politics, they would be Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms. It is a defining difference between a traditional conservative and a neocon that the former would name Helms as the best senator of the era, while the latter would name Scoop Jackson or Pat Moynihan. Helms voted with the AFL-CIO on all three big labor issues, against NAFTA, against trade with China and for half a million good jobs in Alaska. Helms was one of the main lobbyists against trade with China. Former Sen. Gordon Humphrey from New Hampshire said Helms had the force of the United States Marine Corps. | |
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