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Former US senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) dies at 86

tibor75;1198910; said:
Such a shame...


...this didn't happen 40 years ago

pile-of-shit-attracts-flies.gif


Seriously though, do you have an RSS feed or something set up for when someone or something dies? Damn that was quick.....
 
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Wikipedia

"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? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races."

Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker noted in his memoirs that Helms had "the 'humorous habit'" of calling all black people "Fred".

Helms' referred to the University of North Carolina (UNC) as the "University of Negroes and Communists." (Charleston Gazette, 9/15/95)



Helms once deeply offended a black colleague, Democratic Senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, by singing part of "Dixie" on a Capitol elevator.
Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into Mosely-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 Mosely-Braun (Gannett News Service, 9/2/93; Time, 8/16/93).






 
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Wingate1217;1199007; said:
Something that I was not aware of: Helms changed parties and he was a Dem until the late 60's and early 70's and that Jimmy Carter even endorsed him during the '70's .......

Of course, that was pretty common with Southern Democrats, whose continued reaching led them to argue for segregation on a state's rights platform. However, in the late 50's and early 60's the Democratic Party underwent a fairly dramatic transformation (hence Kennedy's Presidency). About this same time, there was an equally dramatic party switch whereby Southern Democrats, angered by Kennedy's "assault on the Southern way of life," jumped over to the Republican Party (many of those Southern Democrats, by the way, had effectively secured the Presidency for Kennedy just a few years earlier). This began with Strom Thurman in 1964 and continued with other segregationists like Helms. These "party-switching" Senators and Representatives were fed up with the Civil Rights agendas of Kennedy and then Johnson, and became instrumental in garnering Southern support for Richard Nixon in 1968 (and, to a lesser extent, for Goldwater in '64). So yes, technically Helms was a Democrat in the 60's, and the allegances among Southern Dems like Carter and Helms were confusing and conflicting. But eventually, when the Democratic Party finally took the politically risky step of divorcing itself from Southern accommodation and began more vehemently pushing Civil Rights, life-long Southern Dems switched parties and were welcomed by the Republican Party, who hoped to gain the support of hundreds of thousands of southern, white, segregationist voters. Hence the reason the Republican Party does so well with southern white voters even today. What a cause for pride in the GOP.
 
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Daily Kos: State of the Nation

"I know we are supposed to be respectful when someone dies and not speak ill of them, but I can't say
I'm too busted up over this loss. In fact, I hope he is in the segregated section of Hell... you know,
the section that is particularly fiery. The section set aside for particularly obnoxious and unyielding
defenders of the unjust status quo. I hope he is having to do grueling, back-breaking manual labor for
a whole slew of black angels. I hope he is having to wash the naked bodies of elderly black saints, scrub
the floors and make food for an African American celestial choir. I hope he is under constant orders by
black males angels with white angel wives. And, to cap it off, I hope he must spend all his downtime being
massaged with oil by hundreds of fabulously gay men while listening to militant feminist diatribes on his ipod!"

:slappy:

Too bad he did not live to see Obama elected President. That would have been enjoyable.
 
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President Bush's take:

President and Mrs. Bush Saddened by Passing of Senator Jesse Helms

White House News
Laura and I are deeply saddened by the passing of our good friend and a great American: Senator Jesse Helms. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Dot, and all the members of the Helms family.

Throughout his long public career, Senator Jesse Helms was a tireless advocate for the people of North Carolina, a stalwart defender of limited government and free enterprise, a fearless defender of a culture of life, and an unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty. Under his leadership, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a powerful force for freedom. And today, from Central America to Central Europe and beyond, people remember: in the dark days when the forces of tyranny seemed on the rise, Jesse Helms took their side.

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 Fourth of July. He was once asked if he had any ambitions beyond the United States Senate. He replied: "The only thing I am running for is the Kingdom of Heaven." Today, Jesse Helms has finished the race, and we pray he finds comfort in the arms of the loving God he strove to serve throughout his life.

President and Mrs. Bush Saddened by Passing of Senator Jesse Helms

Are you fucking kidding me????!!!!! :tic:
 
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