Hey, all I can say is that we should be respecting ol’ Strom.
If I’m 70 years old and still um, ‘capable’ of fathering 4 kids on a 22 year old I’m gonna be nothing but grins and giggles for the rest of my life.
Or, to sum up with an old phrase…
“Me 'at’s off to the Duke!”
While, yes, Helms is an ass, the hateful rhetoric of some of you scares the hell out of me, too. This quote, from someone here who continually preaches the doctrines of acceptance and tolerance, I find particularly loathsome.
That’s not only offensive, it’s blantant hypocrisy. You should be ashamed of yourself, Esprix.
I’m afraid I have to agree, Esprix.
That’s pretty vile. You may not like the man, but you certainly are showing you’re no better than he is.
I agree, UncleBeer - I didn’t start the thread for THAT kind of stuff. Just insults, trashing of his record, maybe a few retellings of the time Unca Jesse did bad stuff…
For instance, a family friend of my boss was a long-time friend and supporter of Jesse down in N.C. Until the day her son dies of AIDS and instead of giving condolences, the man told her it was his own fault for being gay. Jesse had known her son his whole life. Did we want this man leading America’s foreign policy with respect to the worldwide AIDS problem? Let’s hope he doesn’t do too much damage for the remainder of his term.
Anyway, I don’t wish a quick or painful death on the man, I want him to live long enough to really see how far America has moved on from his way of thinking.
…how did Mr Helms get elected so many times to his position? Yes, he had distinct advantages of being a rich incumbent, but surely he must have been viewed positively by the residents of his State? You would think that a person seemingly so universally reviled would have had some sort of trouble being re-elected so many times, and yet…here he is.
Was he really that much of an ogre, if you view the entirety of his record and beliefs? Were the residents of his State deluded completely? Or did his influence just sway things too much?
Or, as seen by residents of his State, was he really just not that bad? I must admit, I am honestly confused, not asking rhetorical questions here.
Good one Esprix, I may disagree with Ralph Nadar but, barring him going on a killing rampage,(and I’m pretty sure ol’ Jesse hasn’t done that) I wouldn’t say what you did.
Hat’s off to sinking to the level of those you oppose so much.
There may be something to that “rich incumbent guy” theory, Anthracite. Helms’ Senate election victories have always been of the slimmest margins. I think, in that AP article I linked above, the claim was made that Helms never received more than 55% of the votes. This is a rather thin (and for that, remarkable) margin to hold over such a great length of time. The Congressional franking privilege could quite possibly explain much of this.
Anthracite, I don’t know what the margins have been in his elections or how people from his state feel about him or who has run against him - anyone from N.C. want to weigh in?
I suspect it might be similar to Massachusetts’ love/hate relationship with Ted Kennedy (which I can speak of directly). Many, many, many people of both parties think Ted Kennedy is a complete buffoon and an embarrassment to the state. Many also embrace the liberal causes that he stands for. When you get down to party politics, he has tons of cash, he has a lot of power and seniority in the Senate, he gets things done for Massachusetts and his party, and there have been no viable candidates from within his own party to challenge him. So people who vote a Democratic ticket are going to vote for him. Seriously, what Massachusetts Democrat is going to run against him?
Quite possibly the same with Helms - he’s the strongest Republican candidate that the state can mount, has seniority and power in the Senate and the party, gets things done for his state, etc. If the majority of N.C. voters are Republicans, even the ones who disagree with his more extreme views are going to vote for him over a Democrat.
“Strom Thurmond having sex makes Baby Jesus Cry.”
—Doing some quick mathmatical calculations, I see it’s entirely possible that Strom Thurmond HAD sex with Baby Jesus!
mag, gotta agree. It’s like my congessman, Henry Hyde. Yeah, he’s a dork (although he’s mellowed since his wife died) but he’s a dork with power and sometimes seems to be the only person standing in the way of O’Hare expansion. I vote against him, Wife votes for him, we cancel each other out, and he wins anyway.
Jesse Helms. In North Carolina he is truly what is termed one of the ‘good ole boys’ which means that he knew how to get down on the level of the common man. By no means do I agree with all of his views. I can still remember when he was doing the commentary after the 6:00 news, kind of like the Andy Rooney thing on 60 minutes, but not for humor. He gave people something to think about. North Carolina, at one time, was a big, big tobacco state. Helms made promises to the farmers, and for the most part he carried though on them. While many people do not agree with his statements in many cases, they do admire his guts for saying them when most of the time it’s against the grain.
My question is this. Yes the people of North Carolina put him in office, even if it was by a slim margin, we in the state had no doubt he would win. So who in Washington gave him this power that he has yielded for 30 years? Not the poor state of North Carolina, nor supporters from that state. Helms is well off but not well off enough to buy off the kind of people it took to get him where he is. Somebody in Washington supports him and likes him. For all the publicity he has gotten, you can bet if he were involved in anything illegal that somebody would discover it. So don’t drop it all in the state of North Carolina’s lap. There are a lot of other people involved too that do seem to agree with his opinions. We might all be shocked to find out who those people are.
Not defending him or knocking him down, just stating an opinion. Welcome home Jesse.
Elizabeth Doyle will probably run for his seat the next election, and win. My bet is she’ll be the one that ends up in the Oval Office before it’s all said and done.
UncleBeer, magdalene, ultress - good, reasonable explainations one and all. Thanks!
Can anyone confirm the story I saw in the Boston Globe back in '94 or '95 that Helms had blocked funding for archaeological research because he had misunderstood what “Homo Erectus” meant?
–sublight.
In honor of Jesse’s impending retirement, a few choice words from the great Loudon Wainwright III:
*Now Jesse probably didn’t like Picasso
But neither did that dictator Franco
I don’t know about art
But I got to take a hike
If I like something that Jesse don’t like
If Jesse don’t like it, it don’t stay
Get it out of the museum, get it out of there today
Jesse’s favorite painting is the one of the clown
With the daisy in his hand, and a tear rolling down*
Anthracite, there could be a far more sinister reason why Mr. Helms enjoys his slim majority of popularity in North Carolina. I cite Helms’ 1995 appearance on the Larry King Show (Bob Novak filling in for Larry):
Caller: Oh, hi. I am big fans of both of you gentlemen … Mr. Helms, I know this might not be politically correct to say these days, but I just think that you should get a Nobel Peace Prize for everything you’ve done to help keep down the niggers.
Admittedly, that’s just one person’s opinon. Incidentally, some transcripts of that incident show Helms reponding with, “Oops! Thank you, I guess.” Others leave out the “thank you” part.
Ah, yes. The cross we North Carolinians must bear — being continually reminded that we are the ones who keep electing Jesse Helms.
It’s NOT because we all agree with him. (Someone has made a lot of money selling bumper stickers which read “I’m from NC, and I don’t Support Jesse Helms.”)
The thing is, he may be a bastard, but he’s a very smart bastard.
North Carolina’s economy is more diversified now than it was when he was first elected, but agriculture is still a very important part of our economy. Jesse was in a powerful position on the Senate agricultural committee and did his best to pull strings to benefit tobacco and other farmers in NC. The farmers tend to be a loyal group who know that keeping a senator with seniority in the agricultural committee is one of the best things they could do to keep their dollars coming in.
Jesse is also smart enough to have hired a real cracker-jack staff who will work their buns off to help his constituents. Having problems with red tape when you need a passport expedited? Call Jesse’s office. They’ll help you out, and dazzle you with their speed, efficiency, and politeness. You don’t have to be a Republican to receive this service.
Another part of the problem? He ran against the same opponent in the last two elections. Democrat Harvey Gantt is an admirable man, and I voted for him both times (and volunteered a bit of time to help in his campaign office, too), but c’mon. How bright was it for us as Democrats to say, “Hmmmm, he lost to him in 1990, but maybe he’ll beat him in 1996?” Poor strategy.
Jesse was also the darling of one of the slickest little political outfits you’ve ever seen — the Congressional Club. This was a fund-raising organization that would amaze you not only with their ability to raise funds, but with the depths at which they stoop when spending it. It might have taken NC votes to vote him in, but quite a hefty portion of the money that paid for his campaigns came from out of NC. (Trust me, y’all, there’s bigots all over the country who were dying to see him get re-elected.)
You would be amazed at some of the political advertising that went on during his campaigns. The Congressional Club were masters of propaganda. It is widely believed that Harvey Gantt’s defeat was due largely to one particular ad that received lots of air time in 1990. In the ad, all you saw was a white person’s hands crumpling up a rejection letter, while the honey-voiced announcer said something like “You were the best qualified for the job, but they gave it to some minority because of racial quotas. Is that fair? Harvey Gantt says it is…” Gantt was actually ahead of Helms in the polls before that ad ran, but he never recovered from it. In 1996, one of the big ad campaigns against Gantt made much of the fact that some homosexual groups had donated money to Gantt’s campaign, so therefore by Jesse-speak, this meant an ad asking “Why are the homosexuals buying this campaign for Harvey Gantt?”
(Interesting reading on this at this site )
Well, it’s not official yet, folks. He’s supposed to be having a press conference at 6PM tonight in which he announces that he plans not to for re-election.
The champagne is chilling in the fridge even now. Please join me for a toast when he announces that the end of a sorry chapter of our state’s history is over.
(And if he reneges on this…Nooo…too horrible to even imagine)
And, yes, I have also heard that Salisbury NC native Elizabeth Dole is considering running for his vacated seat when/if he announces he’s not going to run. (Not that she actually lives around here any more, but I guess that’s not considered all that relevant in political circles.)
That is some more good additional information gals and guys, thank you. I guess I had always heard his more polite critics criticize and demean his overall intelligence; according to the information presented here he seems almost diabolical. :eek:
The Free Republic is all depressed…HAAHAHAHAH!!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b843b3943b5.htm
Criminy, the Free Republic likes Helms? I thought they were supposed to be sorta mainstream conservative/libertarian, not a bunch of right-wing kooks. Speaking of which, though, I got quite a chuckle out of the article’s quote from William Kristol that the American conservative movement “does not exist anymore!”. From your mouth to God’s ears, Bill…
Kimstu-these people are total right wing slobbering conspiracy zealots. Trust me, they’re scary!
They rant about Jimmy Carter being evil and how Reagan was God. Hell, one person actually said Maureen Reagan was in HELL because she was pro-choice-how nasty is THAT?
These people are seriously, seriously scary. But funny-oh yes-oh so funny!