# I hate that someone will pay Jesse Helms for his "memoirs" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596 "2005-06-09T15:17:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/21 "2005-06-10T00:37:13Z")
> [@Jesse Helms by way of KAndre](#): > > “We will never know how integration might have been achieved in neighborhoods across our land, because the opportunity was snatched away by outside agitators who had their own agendas to advance. … We do know that … millions of dollars were diverted from books and teachers to support the cost of buses and gasoline. We do know that turning our public schools into social laboratories almost destroyed them.” The People’s Chronology, James Trager, p. 1032, discussing 1971 bussing controversies: “The busing ordered in Charlotte, NC, is actually less than that used to preserve segregation.” Interesting that Jesse doesn’t seem upset by the presumably greater diversion of money from books to buses needed to keep blacks seperate. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/22 "2005-06-10T01:37:13Z")
> [@KAndre](#): > > Is Byrd going to make money off it? Then, yes, that bothers me as well, as he seems to be one of those pustules who pretends to be…well, I don’t think sorry is the word…\*something \* about his past. And probably his present. He’s just a lower profile pustule with a couple of good points on the war in Iraq. So, if someone hold evil opionions, and then changes their mind, and 50 years later, wants to write a book about their life which might, you know, discuss why they originally held those opinions, what was evil about them, and the struggle they went through to change those opinions, then they shouldn’t do so, because they once held evil opinions and are thus pustules? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/23 "2005-06-10T01:42:48Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > So, if someone hold evil opionions, and then changes their mind, and 50 years later, wants to write a book about their life which might, you know, discuss why they originally held those opinions, what was evil about them, and the struggle they went through to change those opinions, then they shouldn’t do so, because they once held evil opinions and are thus pustules? Well, yeah. Because they supported Iraq. Didn’t you read the post? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/24 "2005-06-10T01:55:51Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > I don’t know which of Byrd’s beliefs of the '50’s he maintains are still correct; it is immaterial since he’s recanted his the racist one he held and racism particularly seems to be the sticking point in the OP. However, Helms has also stated publicly that he was wrong about several of his previously held beliefs - notably AIDS and mandated/enforced segregation. The parallel holds. On Aids, Helms appears to be saying that he was wrong that it would stay amongst gays and junkies. He does not appear to be saying he would care about it if the virus had had the decency to only kill people he did not think mattered. > [@](#): > > [Helms also was an outspoken opponent of laws to protect homosexuals from discrimination and of funding for AIDS research, but he writes in the book that his views evolved during his final years in the Senate. He cited friendships he developed with North Carolina evangelist Franklin Graham and rock singer Bono, both of whom got him involved in the fight against the AIDS epidemic in Africa. > > “Until then,” Helms writes, “it had been my feeling that AIDS was a disease largely spread by reckless and voluntary sexual and drug-abusing behavior, and that it would probably be confined to those in high risk populations. I was wrong.”]([http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/09/helms.memoir.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/09/helms.memoir.ap/index.html)) He’s only saying he was factually wrong on the spread of the disease. Not that witholding funding if it had been just gays and junkies would not have been justifiable. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/25 "2005-06-10T03:06:03Z")
I’m disappointed that he didn’t actually use the word “uppity”. > [@](#): > > He’s only saying he was factually wrong on the spread of the disease. Not that witholding funding if it had been just gays and junkies would not have been justifiable. At the same time, it’s downright quaint for a right-winger to admit that he was factually wrong about something, rather than deny reality long after it has become undeniable. There is nothing noble about Jesse’s change of heart. When he found out that heterosexuals were dying of AIDS, he started caring. That just confirms what an asshole he is. I am disappointed that I moved to North Carolina too late to vote against the bastard. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/26 "2005-06-10T10:29:39Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > How nice, a new diary to go along with Turner’s. ooooooooo, that was gooood, a bit extreme perhaps, but still good _waiting for someone needing an explanation_ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/27 "2005-06-10T11:36:07Z")
I’m just amazed that Jesse Helms had enough memory left to write his memoirs. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/28 "2005-06-10T14:00:30Z")
I’ll go out on a limb here and say that it needs to be written. Oh-not as an excuse or apology(ha!) or a spinning of Helm’s loathesomeness. but as a piece of evidence for the future–kinda like a mini, writtne Shoah (the film). See, if all that is documented about slavery, segregation, Jim Crow etc is from the perspective of those who despised it, fought against it etc–we lose something valuable. That something valuabe is the window into how one becomes such a waste of space–the ignorance, the lies, rationalizations (see the Texas thread about the retarded black man "not being where he should of been"or words to that effect), fears and prejudices that people like this thrive on. Even if the book doesn’t show the process by which one becomes a racist ass, it will demonstrate how one remains so throughout a lifetime. I am dismayed that he will make any money on the project. But I look at it as an exercise in self-justification that should then be dissected and anatomized by all. does that make sense? I do not support Jesse Helms in any way–he is beneath contempt. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/29 "2005-06-10T16:58:21Z")
That makes total sense, **eleanorrigby**. Kind of like how reading _Mein Kampf_ is necessary to understanding the rise of Nazism in pre-war Germany. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/30 "2005-06-10T17:05:08Z")
I won’t buy Helms’ book, I hate him too much. I actually get upset when I fail to find him in any obituaries. Hate is maybe to weak a word. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/31 "2005-06-11T14:51:08Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > I am disappointed that I moved to North Carolina too late to vote against the bastard. Don’t be. YOu’ve got no idea how depressing it was to live here and see yourself outvoted over and over, see your neighbors sending the slime mold back to DC. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/32 "2005-06-11T14:58:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t be. YOu’ve got no idea how depressing it was to live here and see yourself outvoted over and over, see your neighbors sending the slime mold back to DC. Oh, I was used to it, coming from Kentucky. We had Mitch McConnell, who is like a caricature of a Washington fatcat, and Jim Bunning, who is demonstrably senile. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/33 "2005-06-11T18:10:02Z")
Helms has long been rumored to have an illegitimate child by a black lover. I recall a book on Helms, written by two NC journalists a decade or so ago, mentions this, but doesn’t provide solid proof. Any chance of Helms outing himself as yet another Southern politician who condemned race mixing by day and practiced it by night? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/34 "2005-06-11T18:30:56Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > So, if someone hold evil opionions, and then changes their mind, and 50 years later, wants to write a book about their life which might, you know, discuss why they originally held those opinions, what was evil about them, and the struggle they went through to change those opinions, then they shouldn’t do so, because they once held evil opinions and are thus pustules? And he recanted his evil when? I think that’s still scheduled for his deathbed. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/35 "2005-06-11T18:45:10Z")
As the old joke goes: _“I don’t want to go to school with that girl… I just want to go to bed with her!”_ It’s a damn shame that hypocrisy in an elected official isn’t illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/36 "2005-06-11T22:43:03Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Oh, I was used to it, coming from Kentucky. We had Mitch McConnell, who is like a caricature of a Washington fatcat, and Jim Bunning, who is demonstrably senile. Mitch McConnel may be Mr. Miyagi, but Jesse Helms is Pai Mei. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![The\_Highwayman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Highwayman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Highwayman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/37 "2005-06-12T20:58:56Z")
Hehe, thought you all might enjoy this cut by MC Hawking [“Why Won’t Jesse Helms Just Hurry Up And Die?”](http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/mchawkingmusic.htm) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/38 "2005-06-13T08:35:23Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > And he recanted his evil when? > > I think that’s still scheduled for his deathbed. Senator Byrd? Or Jesse Helms? I’m talking about Senator Byrd… ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/39 "2005-06-13T08:44:42Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Senator Byrd? Or Jesse Helms? > > I’m talking about Senator Byrd… Both… either. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596/40 "2005-06-14T16:14:14Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Both… either. Looks to me like [Byrd has definitely renounced the klan](http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a5c7b4b071f.htm). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-that-someone-will-pay-jesse-helms-for-his-memoirs/307596.md?page=3)