Posted on 07/12/2008 6:24:14 AM PDT by Zakeet
In death, Sen. Jesse Helms is being honored as a conservative hero. My question is why?
Yes, the six-term senator defined right-wing political stands against communists in Cuba, Nicaragua and the former Soviet Union. Yes, he blocked international treaties that limited U.S. sovereignty. And, yes, he was masterful in his use of direct mail to stir contributions to conservative causes. But "Senator No" also created an angry, scolding, close-minded face for the modern GOP, exactly opposite to the sunny optimism of Ronald Reagan.
Helms did not invite people into the party; to the contrary, he seemed to delight in excluding people and played on the anxieties of rural, older Southern whites. But if the modern Republican Party is to thrive it has to get out the welcome mat for young people, specifically the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population: Hispanics and Asians, as well as younger blacks who are more likely than their elders to be politically independent.
[Snip]
To be sure, for Helms the essence of North Carolina values was keeping taxes low, and fighting against big government. That is a great message. It won him a base of support.
But that base was rural working-class voters and white suburban male voters. He rallied this base by letting everyone know he disliked Chapel Hill intellectuals -- the kind of people who protested for equal rights for blacks and challenged U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He showed no compassion for gays coming out of the closet and women who wanted abortion rights; instead choosing to make them demons threatening family values. And he made blunt use of racial politics.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Jesse Helms was a bad man because he disliked liberal college profs ...
and failed to pander to gays ... and failed to support baby killing ... and
never failed to support family values!
I had extensive dealings with Senator Helms back in the 90s on issues relating to Indo China and its people. He was unfailingly helpful, supportive and courtly. I spent a great deal of time with him. He was a wonderful man. Interestingly, the other “most helpful” on those issues was Senator Paul Wellstone. The least helful? McCain.
RIP Jesse Helms...for standing strongly on those issues and not pandering to those votes as Williams would have had you, and would apparently have others do.
Huanny is usually pretty reasonable...for a lefty.
So much drivel, so little time.
The irony of Juan discussing Tony Snow this morning and what a decent man he was, and then we see this from Juan.
The libs are just plain trash. No other word for it.
It seems to me that Juan, along with many of the leftists on FOXNEWS, seems to have become more reasonable over the years. It’s almost like actually being around conservatives on a daily basis has shown him that there are some reasonable arguments on the right, that conservatives aren’t really the ‘foaming at the mouth haters’ the left portrays them as...
According to the left wackos.
According to Juan we have made “progress” beyond the “racist” good ole’ boy politics of Jesse Helms. Juan must be living in a cave. Just a few weeks ago the “black”/liberal/democRat/”intellectual” US Senator ‘Rat presidential candidate Barry OsmamaObama played the race card in a most cynical way. “Did I mention he was black?”
whats your point Juan?
We hold Stonewall Jackson in high regard down here, too...
You're against equal rights and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr?
Jesse Helms was one of the last really true Conservatives as the term used to be used.
Exactly.
Juan Willams is a putz.
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