“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?” (1950)

“The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that’s thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men’s rights.” (1963)

“All Latins are volatile people.” (1986)

“Blacks, gays and lesbians are responsible for the proliferation of AIDS”

Wow, he even stooped to Byrd’s level and used the N word – you people rattletrap about that incessantly, but Helms the wingnut gets a pass – more partisan blindness. And he used the word slants to describe Asians, disgusting.

“I’ve been portrayed as a caveman by some. That’s not true. I’m a conservative progressive, and that means I think all men are equal, be they slants, beaners or niggers.” (1985)

“The University of North Carolina (UNC)… the University of Negroes and Communists…” (1995)

Yep, this guy was great for the GOP…shameful.

OOOOwww, now who’s burning heretics at the stake and advocating purification and sanctity of the party? I thought we were the only ones who could be accused of that.
_
Keep up the destruction of the GOP and you’ll be able to change your name to AprilObit.

MechEng5by5 on July 7, 2008 at 2:28 PM

Nice….

My point is this – his type doesn’t belong in a Party started by Abe Lincoln, period. he should have remained a Democrat and done us all a favor.

AprilOrit on July 7, 2008 at 11:49 AM

_
OOOOwww, now who’s burning heretics at the stake and advocating purification and sanctity of the party? I thought we were the only ones who could be accused of that.
_
Keep up the destruction of the GOP and you’ll be able to change your name to AprilObit.

And your point is what exactly? All I see from you is Ad Hom attacks on Sen. Helms. The fact is that he stood up against communism, against govnm’t waste, and for family values. He had some questionable views in his youth but moderated to the center. What he did not like was the NAACP’s tactics and liberal philosophy wrt black issues, I. E. the State usurping the reponsibility of fatherhood.

MechEng5by5 on July 7, 2008 at 11:35 AM

My point is this – his type doesn’t belong in a Party started by Abe Lincoln, period. he should have remained a Democrat and done us all a favor.

The only usurping going on here is the Far Right usurping the GOP.

Thanks for the revisionist history lesson Maxx. Despite what Newsmax.com says, it’s a matter of historical record (real history, not, erm, the white-washed ‘history’ you cite, that Republicans in the South opposed Civil Rights legislation

FACT: Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, won five Deep South states because of his opposition to the Civil Rights Act.

FACT: George H.W. Bush opposed the Civil Rights Act in his 1964 run for the U.S. Senate. (Bush lost to Democrat Ralph Yarborough, who was the only Southern senator to vote for the Civil Rights Act.)

FACT: Ronald Reagan, in his 1966 campaign to become governor of California, endorsed repeal of California’s Fair Housing Act, saying, “If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so.”

Need we say more?

Grow Fins on July 5, 2008 at 3:10 PM

Thanks for your post, you said it well.

There is nothing more shameful than a Republican Revisionist. Unfortunately our Beloved Party is full of them these days, it’s going to lead to the death of The Party of Lincoln and is very unsettling to me.

These extreme Rightwingers need to connect themselves to another party, because they are making the GOP sick.

Lincoln would have looked at Jesse Helms in disgust.

I know all about court my father is an experienced and well-heeled attorney and a huge contributor to the GOP in many ways, not just monetarily. In our neck of the woods Jesse Helms’ excesses were questionable and some where believed to be unneccessary.

AprilOrit on July 7, 2008 at 11:08 AM

_
And your point is what exactly? All I see from you is Ad Hom attacks on Sen. Helms. The fact is that he stood up against communism, against govnm’t waste, and for family values. He had some questionable views in his youth but moderated to the center. What he did not like was the NAACP’s tactics and liberal philosophy wrt black issues, I. E. the State usurping the reponsibility of fatherhood.

How about sending us a link from a neutral 3rd party and maybe we’ll believe it. Jeez.

AprilOrit on July 6, 2008 at 4:41 PM
You gave us the left’s point of view and I’ve provided the Right’s point of view. That’s the way it works in court too. Listen to both sides and then make your judgment call. I haven’t seen anything in this thread that amounts to racism, only a lot of accusations.

And a “neutral” point of view…. in the news? I can’t think of any such source, can you? Besides, the link wasn’t suppose to be neutral, it was suppose to represent Senator Helms side of the story. It deserves a listen too.

Frankly I think all you people calling Senator Helms a racist are very wrong, and very mean spirited considering the man served our country so well, and he did.

Maxx on July 7, 2008 at 9:43 AM

I know all about court my father is an experienced and well-heeled attorney and a huge contributor to the GOP in many ways, not just monetarily. In our neck of the woods Jesse Helms’ excesses were questionable and some where believed to be unneccessary.

Oops, sorry about that theregoestheneighborhood, I misread your point.

For all King’s contributions in the area of civil rights, was he really more deserving of a holiday in his honor than George Washington, the Father of our Country, or Abraham Lincoln, who saw us through the War Between the States?

theregoestheneighborhood on July 6, 2008 at 10:13 PM

If Washington wouldn’t have founded the country there would not have been any rights at all, you would still be under the oppression of England or wherever you came from. Lincoln ended slavery and won the Civil War for the side that was favorable toward ending slavery and thereby saved the Union. MLK is not a peer of either Washington or Lincoln.

How about sending us a link from a neutral 3rd party and maybe we’ll believe it. Jeez.

AprilOrit on July 6, 2008 at 4:41 PM

You gave us the left’s point of view and I’ve provided the Right’s point of view. That’s the way it works in court too. Listen to both sides and then make your judgment call. I haven’t seen anything in this thread that amounts to racism, only a lot of accusations.

And a “neutral” point of view…. in the news? I can’t think of any such source, can you? Besides, the link wasn’t suppose to be neutral, it was suppose to represent Senator Helms side of the story. It deserves a listen too.

Frankly I think all you people calling Senator Helms a racist are very wrong, and very mean spirited considering the man served our country so well, and he did.

Again,”separate but equal” was abandoned not because it was racist, but because it was unworkable. Once you separated the races, they were never treated equally in the end.

The only real alternative, integration, was quite painful. In schools, poor unfortunate children wound up having to ride the bus for hours each day to a different school just to accomplish the integration. Ironically, the children who were bused to other schools and the children who were already at the schools were both often afraid of each other.

In the long view, we can see it was necessary, and the results over all have been positive. But there was something fundamentally unfair about taking the racial tensions of the past generations and forcing young children to bear the burden of resolving those issues which their parents and grandparents had not. Forced busing was deeply unpopular among both races for many years.

If you’re really going to refight the battles of a generation ago, it helps to know when an issue was actually racist, and when it was based on practical issues.

For example, it was not racist to oppose making MLK’s birthday a national holiday. MLK is the ONLY American whose birthday is a national holiday. For all King’s contributions in the area of civil rights, was he really more deserving of a holiday in his honor than George Washington, the Father of our Country, or Abraham Lincoln, who saw us through the War Between the States?

Honestly, I would like to see the MLK holiday extended to a holiday in honor of Civil Rights instead. This would be a great opportunity to honor others who had a big part in advancing civil rights, such as the great Buffalo Soldiers, and the Tuskegee Airmen, who are almost unheard of. Fortunately, they do at least typically get some recognition during Black History Month

Truman’s order to integrate the Armed Forces was considerably less controversial, and the military has been a leader in integration ever since.

http://www.racematters.org/jessehelmswhiteracist.htm

http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/08/31/broder/index.html

David Broder is a big supporter of President Bush and Karl Rove, hates the Clintons, hardly a Liberal by any standards.

For all you folks that are having such a good time lynching Senator Helms, maybe you should spend a moment listening to the other side of the story.

Fiction or Truth: Correcting myths about Senator Helms

Maxx on July 6, 2008 at 1:55 AM

How about sending us a link from a neutral 3rd party and maybe we’ll believe it. Jeez.

AprilOrbit is an idiot.

That is all.

corona on July 6, 2008 at 2:52 PM

Speak for yourself. I am not the one embracing a bigot, you should seek some help, you are exactly what’s wrong with the GOP.

That is all.

“Death is not always sad” (C) Bill Maher.

freevillage on July 6, 2008 at 1:35 AM

I agree with you, freevillage, but I suspect it’s not in the way that you intended.

Jesse was the conservative’s Conservative, and he was a rock solid ally in the fight against the USSR and its leftist allies during the Cold War.

Of course he was not perfect. A lot has been said in this thread about his failings. He was a Dixiecrat way back in the day, and he was a stalwart supporter of King Tobacco (he did come from the eastern part of NC after all). And when he campaigned, he got dirty. In my recollection, though, he never played the race card on Harvey Gantt or anyone else in his campaigning. He never took bribes, had affairs, or used drugs. On the subjects upon which he took a moral stand, no one can accuse him, to the best of my knowledge, of ever having sullied himself with scandal or similar hypocrisy in his own personal practices.

As for his sponsorship of assistance in Africa to fight the spread of AIDS late in his career, people on the political Left simply do not understand that if one has a change of heart, words mean less than nothing – but actions do.

Point to the so-called “Lions” of the Democrat Party, and you get the following: Pelosi, supporting Starkist’s request to not raise the minimum wage in American Samoa; Boxer, support of family/friends industries through earmarks (ditto for Obama and Murtha); Kennedy, wrecking the F-35 project by demanding a second engine over the objections of the DOD to support the GE factories in his state (ditto for support of costly modernizing of aging C-5A airframes over buying more C-17’s to support the USAF base in his state), and do I even need to mention Mary Jo Kopechne?; Reid, ties to gambling and the mob in Nevada; Byrd, funneling billions of earmarked dollars into West Virginia over the objections of several Federal agencies; etc., etc., etc.

But not Jesse.

Perhaps the MSM and the Left have been successful at tarring Helms with several epithets, including race.

But I voted for Jesse in 1986 when I had the chance, and I don’t regret it one bit.

Rest in Peace, Senator.

Fiction or Truth: Correcting myths about Senator Helms

No matter wwhat you thought about Jesse, he stood for what he believed. You knew what that was without any doubt. Oh, if we could only say that about today’s politician.

sMack on July 6, 2008 at 12:21 AM

This twisted idea that it’s ok to stand for what you believe when what you believe is so twisted and just plain wrong is not a good thing at all. Talk about an example of alcoholic behavior.

Jesse Helms was nothing more than a stubborn bigot parading around as a Southern gentleman, some – mostly those who shared his feelings – bought the con, thankfully most didn’t.

Remember he started out as a Dixiecrat. And after all the crap voiced here about Byrd’s racist past, Helms is no different, most of what he did soiled the GOP.

Also, being a racist does not preclude one from befriending blacks or any other person from a group against which one is bigotted. I have friends that are racist. Racism is a moral failing in the same way alcoholism is. I have friends with drinking problems. I have friends with race issues.

If I am willing to admit to harboring racists in my own life, why is it so difficult for some to admit to the obvious, glaring racism of some in our own party…without pointing fingers at the Dems?

The Race Card on July 6, 2008 at 12:22 AM

While I disagree that alcoholism is a moral failing (there’s a chemical contribution, too), the analogy is not that bad. Just as there are different levels of alcoholism, there are different levels of racism. Some alcoholics manage to cobble together some semblance of a normal life, and can “function.” Others can’t do anything without drinking or being drunk. I assume your racist friends bear a closer resemblance to the former, and don’t let their issues with race occupy them all of the time. I’m not sure where Helms falls in the spectrum, but he surely seemed preoccupied with race for much of his career.

Also, being a racist does not preclude one from befriending blacks or any other person from a group against which one is bigotted. I have friends that are racist. Racism is a moral failing in the same way alcoholism is. I have friends with drinking problems. I have friends with race issues.

I have to disagree. Why would someone be friends with someone they think are less equal? Less then they are? A racist thinks these people are less then them. Why would they accept them as aquals that way? Sorry a racist sees Black people, Hispanic people and Asian people as inferior (if they are white). So why exactly would they treat these so called beings as friends? Sorry Race Card. Keep playing it all you wish, but it makes absolutely no sense.

I would not know about who was more racist, when my grandfather uses the n-word, I know he is referring to the POS’s that he used to have to chase through the streets, the ones that killed two of his mounts, the ones that shot him during the riots, the ones who killed his partner.

This defense of using the word “nigger” is well-worn. It is matched in its timeliness only by the sheer audacity of those who proffer such nonsense.

Unfortunately I’ve been mistaken for one of those POSs and was mistreated because some racist bastard thought all “niggers” were the same. I’m a strong proponent of kick-ass cops. I have family on both sides in law enforcement. I used to be one of those that would say “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have any reason to worry.”

Getting beat and shot by cops will cure you of that pretty quickly. I cannot muster up any sympathy for racist cops your grandfather notwithstanding.

Thank you for your reply. I value your honesty.

***
All segregationists aren’t racists. I know this because every one I’ve ever spoken with has told me so.

***
Also, being a racist does not preclude one from befriending blacks or any other person from a group against which one is bigotted. I have friends that are racist. Racism is a moral failing in the same way alcoholism is. I have friends with drinking problems. I have friends with race issues.

If I am willing to admit to harboring racists in my own life, why is it so difficult for some to admit to the obvious, glaring racism of some in our own party…without pointing fingers at the Dems?

1. (1950) shows he was a segregationist, not a racist
2. Opposed Civil Rights Act. That doesn’t make him a racist.
3. Ditto on MLK day. McCain opposed MLK day in AZ. You going to call him a racist too?
4. UNC University of Negroes and Communists. Again from 1950. 58 years ago. This shows he thought blacks were generally liberal. Not all are. Maybe 90% vote for Democrats, but not all. That makes him a bigot, not a racist. I can excuse bigotry. People take shortcuts in their thinking to get by, I can understand that.

No, he never apologized for his past. So that makes him a racist?

You want to call names? You are a hate-mongering, racist-calling race-baiter. I ask for your strongest evidence Helms is racist, there’s nothing there that says he thinks blacks are inferior to whites, or that race or skin color is a primary determinant of behavior.

We fight the previous war. It’s hard to adapt. You’re great at confronting the ills of 1950. But what are the ills of today? I’ll tell you. YOU. You’re the problem. Smearing others with the “racist” label. But you’re so oblivious, unaware, to look at yourself and understand, yeah, MY view is screwed up. I’M the problem. Calling out the race-baiters is the challenge of today, like calling out the racists was the challenge of 1950.

Let me be clear so you understand. You smear Helms with “racist” while nothing you’ve offered shows him as a racist. You’re a hate-mongering race-baiter. YOU’RE the problem of today. You’re fighting the last war, and you’re winning! Good for you. Go back to Kos and Huffpo. They love to call racist. You’ll feel right at home there.

Helms and gays? He said gays spread AIDS thru their behavior. Duh! You dispute that?

Paul-Cincy on July 5, 2008 at 6:29 PM

How am I a hate-mongering race-baiter? I simply pointed out that someone who was against equal rights for blacks, and supported an inherently racist and white-supremacist system such as segregation is a racist. I really wonder if you realize how unbelievably out of touch with the mainstream, and indeed out of touch with reality you are on this. The system of segregation prior to Civil Rights was…racist. People who virulently supported it were….racists!
If we’re going to use the term “race baiter”, I would say it applies much better to Helms, somebody who used race in his ads and political campaigns throughout his political career, as I pointed out in my previous post.
As for your last point in AIDS, Helms referred to gays as “degenerate…weak, morally sick wretches.”. He sure seemed to make a value judgment about an entire minority group there didn’t he? You need to look at people like Helms and realize that he is what’s wrong with American race relations, instead of pointing a finger at those who acknowledge his racism and bigotry. It is not racist to recognize a racist.