The Passing of North Carolina Ex-Senator Jesse Helms A Most Fanatic Supporter of Isreal
Jesse Helms: 1921-2008 dead on the fourth of July. A five term senator spanning 30 years in Congress. Sen. Helms' death was like a snap back to some old school reality, like being reminded of a solid, green-tinted Coke bottle in a world of diet and decaffeinated aluminum. Jesse Helms never flip-flopped. He clearly didn't seem to care who liked him and who didn't. He wasn't always running for something else. Like Richard Nixon, he was who he was and the only thing odd at the time he ruled the right wing of the political spectrum in the US Senate was that he was never quite as old as he seemed. He was the genuine article. As his Wikipedia bio correctly notes, he was "opposed to communism, tax increases, abortion, affirmative action, food stamps, secularism and government-funded health care." So there. None of this moderate stuff John McCain and other Republicans used to tout. And, during the 1976 Republican presidential race, he helped make Ronald Reagan the fut...