Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. - George Burns

Gone On The Fourth Of July

by West Virginia Rebel

Jesse Helms is dead.

Raleigh, N.C. — Jesse Helms, the firebrand United States senator whose outspoken, conservative views polarized North Carolina and U.S. voters for decades, died at 1:15 a.m. Friday in Raleigh, according to John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center.

He joins the second, third and fifth presidents of the United States – John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe – who also died on Independence Day.

He was 86. His cause of death was not released. Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming, Dodd said.

Helms served five terms in the U.S. Senate, retiring in 2003 because of his faltering health. During his 30 years in Capitol Hill, the North Carolina Republican became a powerful voice for a conservative movement that was growing both in Congress and across the country, and he used his position to speak out against issues like gay rights, federal funding for the arts and U.S. foreign aid.

“I had sought election in 1972 to try to derail the freight train of liberalism that was gaining speed toward its destination of government-run everything, paid for with big tax bills and record debt,” Helms wrote in his 2005 memoir, “Here’s Where I Stand.”

“My goal, when my wife, Dot, and I decided I would run, was to stick to my principles and stand up for conservative ideals.”

Jesse Helms was a former segregationist who carried his brand of politics over into the Republican Party. The guy could be a Southern gentleman even when you wanted to smack him. I think that’s why he lasted far longer than some of the old Dixiecrats did.

Comments

Posted by HARLEY on 07/05/08 at 08:13 AM from

good riddinace.

Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 07/05/08 at 11:49 AM from

My wife, Dot

His children, Dash and Dit, are deeply saddened.

Posted by Hal_10000 on 07/05/08 at 12:10 PM from

The media, of course, is conveniently ignoring that some of his most repulsive stands were taken while he was a Democrat.

Posted by on 07/06/08 at 06:10 AM from

The media, of course, is conveniently ignoring that some of his most repulsive stands were taken while he was a Democrat.

He was a democrat before the party got on board and supported the civil rights movement.  We lost a lot of democrats then and they eventually all went to the republican party.  As a life long democrat, I was more than happy to see those folks go.  I can proudly say I never voted for or supported the policies of Jesse Helms and his ilk.  As his generation dies off, I hope to see a more progessive additude on racial and cultural issues.  Live and let live, dammit.

Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 07/06/08 at 10:09 AM from

The departure of the Dixiecrats was a good thing for the Democratic Party-it turned them from being a regional party into one that was actually competitive nationally. It was also the beginning of the “New Democrat” era that later gave us Jimmy Carter (gag) and Bill Clinton (smaller gag).

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