Conservatives Honor Ex-Sen. Jesse Helms

[Judi Lynn]

Conservatives Honor Ex-Sen. Jesse Helms
By Associated Press

September 21, 2005, 12:03 AM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Conservatives on Tuesday honored former Sen. Jesse Helms as a role model whose departure from elected office left a void in Washington.

"You are missed here in this town every single day," Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association said at the event in Arlington, Va.

Helms, a Republican from North Carolina who will turn 84 next month, retired from the Senate in 2003 after serving five terms. He released his memoirs, "Here's Where I Stand," earlier this month.

North Carolina's current senators, Republicans Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole, joined Helms at the dinner.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-helms-tribute,0,2013768.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[bballny]

1. yep

we miss a racist homophobe asshole

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. It's like watching an American style NazI clambake.

[LiberalinNC]

3. Hate that bastard!

Hubby, who is a republican, but voted completely democratic last election, was quoted in the front page N & O (local paper) years ago about how bad Helms is/was. He said something to affect "I'm a Bush man, but can't see myself voting for a man w/ such hatred. Helms has said in the past that the gays deserved AIDS. The man is out of touch w/ the common man/folk."

Needless to say, I received a huge envelope of BS articles from Helms' office, which I kindly wrote on "Return to sender". :)

[moose65]

4. Baloney

I'm proud to say that I voted against Helms 3 times, trying to get him out of office my entire adult life! Ugh.... what an ass. And now we have dear Ms. Dole who seems to have vanished into thin air once she got elected. And they call Hillary a carpetbagger!!

[Zenaholic]

5. Jesse Don't Like It

"If Jesse don't like it it's prob'ly not art
Jesse knows what's good old Jesse is smart
and if you don't like it, don't be sad
'cause the art that you like is probably bad.


In kindergarten years ago, Jesse got rude
he took a red crayola and he drew a nude
and the teacher took a ruler to Jesse's behind
well she beat his butt, but she ruined his mind


(chorus)
If Jesse don't like it it don't stay
get it out of the museum, get it out right away (?)
Jesse likes that painting, the one with the clown
with a daisy in his hand, and the tear rollin down


Granma Moses, well she's OK
never exposes anything,everything is far away
and that statue of David is alright with Jesse
'cause Michealangelo gave him such a tiny pee-pee


(chorus)


Don't photograph a penis, don't paint a breast
Don't talk about truth because you might offend Jesse
don;t tell it like it is and don;t show where it's at
'cause Jesse don't like it and that is that


If Jesse don't like it. it doesn't get any funds
they use the taxpayer's money in tobacco and guns
so if you like art, you better take a hike
if you like something that Jesse don't like "

-Loudon Wainwright III

[Mad_Dem_X]

6. I love that song

I remember him playing that on some talk show years ago. :)

[supernova]

7. Voted against him since I was able to vote

I hate, HATE that bastard, old gasbag.

The only time I missed voting against him was the 10 years I lived out of state.

We would be so much better off if JIm Hunt or Harvey Gantt had won.

[tonkatoy57]

9. Me Too

It's my eternal shame that, as a native North Carolinian, I spent years trying to explain Jesse to outsiders. "How could you elect that racist troglodyte?", people would ask. I never knew how to answer. How could we elect Jesse Helms and Terry Sanford to the Senate? At the same time. I never came up with a good answer. East vs. Central divide? Urban vs. Rural? Stone cold racists vs. those who accepted the Civil Rights Act? The Big Tobacco family farm vote? How in the world did North Carolina, one of the most progressive and advanced states in the South elect Jesse Helms. It still makes my head hurt to thing about it.

[supernova]

10. Welcome to DU tonkatoy52!

:hi: Fair warning: This place becomes addicting. :-)

I've had the same experiences as you. I never knew how to explain the JH phenomenon. Especially since we elect Dems at the state and local level.

I think the BBC got in the best dig ever at him. Upon his retirement, they showed a pic of him walking down the hall of his office building, away from the camera.

The caption: Maybe now we can finally leave the 19th Century.

:rofl:

[tonkatoy57]

13. Thanks for the welcome

I've been around since shortly after 911, but just never posted.

When it was announced that Jesse had prostate cancer I had this sudden quickening in my chest and I began to hear angels sing, but the old bastard is still alive.

I have a special hatred of Jesse. I'm a graduate of the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and we'll never forgive Jesse for trying to eliminate funding for the school, even though NCSA is part of the state university system. Jesse famously said about the school, "we don't need no tippy-toe dancin' in this state."

What a dipshit.

[Judi Lynn]

14. "Tippy-toe dancin'?" Oh, jeez. That's so Helms.

Yeah, we should all be so much more dignified, more NOBLE (!) like Jesse Helms.
Glad to see your post, tonkatoy57. :hi:

[Tomee450]

19. Helms is awful,

a true racist who did not hide his feelings. I'll never forget that he began singing Dixie in front of Carole Mosley Braun. I think he also hates gays.

[pecwae]

8. Blecchh!!

I was never so glad to see the back of a Senator than Helms! So, Liddy showed up for the dinner? That's about all she's good for; cheerleading. Burr does answer letters and emails although it's rarely the answer I'm looking for. Liddy doesn't even bother.

[Lochloosa]

11. Hey, found this really nice print they might want to present to him..

[eissa]

18. What really amazed me

as I accidently came upon C-Span's coverage of the event was seeing an African-American man paying tribute to that racist asshole. I didn't catch his name as I couldn't tolerate watching for more than a few seconds, but jeez!!!

[Tomee450]

21. I wonder if the black man

was Armstrong Williams.

[eissa]

22. Good guess, but no

I would have recognized that whore. Though I'm sure this guy is no less sleazy.

[AlCzervik]

12. How is he not dead yet?

[Arkana]

15. Hope they brought the Stars and Bars to celebrate.

:puke:

[dad]

16. -

Our current Senators are just as bad. They just toned down the rhetoric a notch, but they vote exactly the same.

[MrBenchley]

17. Chimpy's not a racist...he just plays one on TV

By the way, no surprise the Grand Wizard of the National Rifle Association is front and center..."gun rights" is nothing but old fashioned racism and right wing craziness hiding under a new sheet...

[jmowreader]

20. I like Jesse lots more than I like Bush

Jesse's a straightforward kinda guy. If Jesse doesn't like your program, he'll tell you.

Bush will praise your program to the skies then walk right back to his office and cut your funding while his copy of Grand Theft Auto is loading.

Jesse doesn't speak in code. If Jesse decides to rail against "freeloadin' welfare cheat nigras drivin' Cadillacs and spreadin' food stamp caviar on their guvmint cheese," he will call them that. When Bush decides to announce he's going after Roe v. Wade, he calls it Dred Scott.

The fact that I pray every day for Bush to wake up, realize just what a fuckhead he's been and commit seppuku in the Rose Garden on international television to atone for his transgressions should let you know that I can like Jesse better than Bush and still think Jesse's the scum of the earth.