It is widely agreed that
Jesse Helms is now dead. Beyond that, a survey of many post-mortems written over the holiday weekend indicates subtle divisions as to whether the former Republican senator's death at age 86 marks the passing of an American hero, or is in fact one of the greatest things to happen in a long, long time. A quick look at some areas of polite disagreement regarding the life and times of Jesse Helms:
"A truly great American and champion of freedom."—Heritage Foundation
"He was a hero to bigots and the cigarette corporations, a menace to the poor and downtrodden, and a mean little troll whose heart was so wrecked by wickedness that doctors had to patch it up with coronary valves from a pig."—Wonkette editor Ken Layne
"He spent his life doing all he could to make my gay brothers and sisters marginalized, hated and dead."—Andrew Sullivan, the Atlantic
"I suspect he saved lots of lives."—Michael Ledeen, National Review
"Helms was a persistent voice against efforts by blacks to move into the mainstream of American life."—McClatchy News
"He 'opposed civil rights'? Uh, no. He opposed a particular vision of them."—John J. Miller, National Review
"Jesse Helms faced down Soviet dictators, Arab thugs, Chinese communists, Latin American creeps and more, using every tool at his hands."—http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-jesse-i-knew/81300/ " target="_blank">Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute
"Jesse Helms, not a murderer, just a steadfast political supporter of murderers abroad."—Matt Yglesias, the Atlantic
"He was beloved by his colleagues and by many of his ideological foes. Madeleine Albright kissed and danced with him. Joe Biden loved him. Elizabeth Edwards said her husband was just like him. Helms considered Bono a personal friend."—Ben Domenech, RedState
"The Communist left despised him, the socialist left abhorred him, the radical left demeaned him, the political left feared him."—Newsmax
"In the tradition of Presidents Jefferson, Adams and Monroe—who also passed on July Fourth—it is fitting that such a patriot who fought for free markets and free people would die on Independence Day."—Rev. Billy Graham
"Far too late for it to do anybody any good, Jesse Helms has died. He has done so on Independence Day, which, since he was born too late to own slaves and in too liberal an age to allow him to outlaw sedition, will forever be his only resemblance to Thomas Jefferson and John Adams."—Hendrick Herzberg, New Yorker
"We pray he finds comfort in the arms of the loving God he strove to serve throughout his life."—President Bush
"If there really IS a hell then Jesse Helms is already consumed by its lowest depths. He's wailing for eternity with his blood brothers; Adolf, Mao, Stalin and the rest of the worst of the subset of human beings who have crossed from mere mortal to eternal evil."—A Daily Kos diarist
"American Hero"—Human Events
"American Bigot"—The Nation
This is one person I will not be sorry has left this life to be judged finally by the God above. He was a devisive, bigoted caveman who had no fotting in any century esp the one he lived in. How a man with such hate and ingnorance can manage to be in a power position hurting and destroying lives of millions of americans without reput is beyond me and always will be. He was against anything or anyone that didn't resemble his specific life and lfiestyle.
Angry, mean, hurtful, judgemental, arrogant, anti-semit, homophobe, racist, porr hater and the list goes on.
Whoever mourns the death of someone so evil must have issues. Age of enlightenment my friends. This is the kind of human who burned witches at the cross, killed those who thought the world was round and sympathized with the KKK. Are these christian qualities he supposedly revered? I wouldn;t want to be him at the pearly gates wanting to get in. Goodbye and good ridance.
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