Too bad he won't be around to witness President Obama, he could have had a good cry himself.

I try my damnest to always be respectful...

that said, Helms' passing reminds me of when Harry Cohn, President of Columbia pictures and the prototype for Jack Wolz in the Godfather, passed away. The Mogul, who was one of the most despised men in a town of Despised Men, had a small gathering at his funeral and as everyone awkwardly stood around, one low level Columbia employee asked the Rabbi...

"Rabbi, certainly you can think of something nice to say about poor Harry can't you?"

The Rabbi thought about that for a moment and then said...

"Well, he's dead..."

It would be a good feeling to know that Jesse Helms has passed on to whatever reward he deserves.  I don't blame him for being anything except honest, but honesty isn't a substitute for the ability to think critically, to put oneself in the other's shoes, to show some vision and generosity.  I hope he comes to represent something that's died, or dying, out as a political culture.

Yeah, so much you know about Helms it makes Bono's ability to somehow, someway, get him on the right side on Africa perhaps nine million times more amazing.  Love that story Jaunty.

And on the Fourth of July, too. I guess God really does love the USA.

What's the "right side" on Africa and why are Bono and Africa apparently more important than the United States?

A man who made the world better by his having died.

Can't say I'll miss him much. Few men were bigger fans of Augusto Pinochet. He voted against the MLK Jr. holiday. He was the darling of the tobacco industry. He compared abortion to the Holocaust in his memoirs. In short, he was a strange and vindictive man. Those are the nicest things I could say about him.

Just a start reminder of how recently unrepentant jerks like this still held positions of great power in this nation and how far we've come in such a short time. I feel bad for his family who must have found some reason to love him, but I can't find any other reason to feel bad about the passing of Helms and his ilk. I suppose there would have been justice, assuming Obama gets elected, of prying Helms' senile eyes open and forcing him to sit in front of several TVs glued to coverage of PRESIDENT OBAMA for the next several years. But I'm not interested in revenge - I'm just glad the ODB is gone and hope the remainder of his kind follow him on out of here post-haste. There couldn't be a better story about the tyranny and insensitivity of the majority than the oft-repeated story about Mosley Braun. What an unmitigated prick.

And the best lesser-known fact about Helms is that he got his start as a broadcaster, a local Tarheel version of Rush Limbaugh, albeit with an even more reactionary, openly racist appeal.

It would have been nice for him not only to stick around to see a president Obama but quite possibly to see Carolina go Duke blue instead of NC State red.  It could happen.  And if not this time around then surely withing the next two or three cycles.  As the state becomes increasingly urban, the influence of Helms's bedrock in the rural east becomes ever more dilute.  Jesse knew what he was talking about when he said they ought to build an electric fence around Chapel Hill.

Good Riddance.

aeromonas: yes, a Tarheel version of Limbaugh - and Hannity and dozens of other bigots with brains and balls who daily go about their business with gusto, make a ton of money, and mock everything that's good about progressive politics.

Wonder how Helms' former sidekick, now McCain sidekick, Charlie Black feels this morning? Will Charlie be on Fox, Hannity, or Hannity talking about his good friend Jesse Helms?

If I ran a newspaper, the headline would have been,

"Jesse Helms, Former U.S. Senator, Leading Conservative, Asshole, Dead"

Which claim I can back up with direct observation of the man. He was, quite simply, a dick. In Canada, they'd call him a hoser. Except, in Canada, being that big of a hoser actually prevents a person from being famous or successful, at least in politics and the newsmedia. Not so America, where it seems all to often that assholeism is not merely tolerated but positively encouraged by an adoring, self-hating public.

Plus, the man looked decrepit and had a truly foul personal odor.

I was going to add something along the lines of "Ding, dong, the witch is dead" until I noticed the unanimity with which all previous commenters have trashed the guy, so unfortunately y'all leave me no choice but to rise to his defense.

(Hmmm. This is gonna be tough. Gotta pull out all the stops here...)

[williamyard cracks knuckles, takes a deep breath]

I beseech my learned and respected fellow Plankton to consider the following:

"Civilizations in decline are characterized by a tendency toward standardization and uniformity."--Arnold Toynbee

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them."--Jane Austen

"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."--Alice Roosevelt Longworth

"There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of one's fellow man."--Groucho Marx

"I'm lonesome. They are all dying. I have hardly a warm personal enemy left."--James McNeil Whistler

"Crude, immoral, vulgar, and senseless"--Leo Tolstoy, on Shakespeare

"If God lived on earth, people would break his windows."--Jewish proverb

Whew, I'm beat. I gotta lie down now.

A THEOLOGICAL QUESTION.  HOW WILL HELMS SPEND ETERNITY.  WHAT IS HELL FOR A VICIOUS UNEDUCATED RUBE LIKE HIM.  

QUESTION TO RAMBOORIDER.  I ASSUME ODB STANDS FOR OLD DOUCE BAG.  

I for one am not sadden in the least that man is dead.  He was a soil on my country and especially my home state of North Carolina.  Helms was legendary in NC for his constituent service, that much I will grant him.  His office sent a congratulatory letter to my mother when she became a naturalized citizen in the mid 70s (no other senators nor her congressman did the same).  I often wrote to his office about some critical votes (knowing he'd vote the other way) but always got a thoughtful reply that seemed an actual rebuttal to my letter.  The other Senators/Congressmen in NC always sent 'canned' replies (especially Elizabeth Dole's office).

That being said, Helms helped destroy an up and coming Dem (black) pol, Harvey Gantt.  I vividly remember Helms racist campaign against Gantt when they ran for Senate in 1990.  He also slimed Jim Hunt, a reasonably popular governor of NC, in their 1984 race for the Senate.  The slime bag campaign against Hunt is what convinced him to never run for Senate again (to the great loss of NC and the country I believe).  Helms always came across as a racist bigot to many of us in NC.  I also hated I had to convince non-North Carolinians I'd meet, after they found out where I'm from, that all of us are NOT just like Helms and many of us do not support him.

Good riddance Jesse.  Many of us will not weep for you.

By the way, what did finally take the old codger?  The Raleigh paper had some massive coverage of his death (naturally), but it never really said what did him in.  I don't think ti could have been a heart ailment, since you have to have a heart in the first place.

Aeromonas is right, Helms came to 'fame' as an on-air editorialist for WRAL, the largest broadcast station in Raleigh.  This was in the late 60s/early 70s.  He was hired by the station owner to be what he considered a counterweight to the Raleigh News and Observer and it's overly 'liberal' leanings.  Funny thing is ol' Jesse used to work for the N&O way before that.

For a good history on Helms, check out Rob Christensen's articles in the N&O:

www.newsobserver.com/.../1131449.html

www.newsobserver.com/.../1131456.html

And Dwayne Powell's editorial cartoons  (he's the N&O's staff editorial cartoonist and was a constant

thorn in Jesse's side):

www.newsobserver.com/.../1131080.html

I always loved Powell's fish-faced Helms look.

No doubt is was the prospect of President Obama that made Helms decide it was a good time to check out.  Helms didn't want to face the prospect of being mocked ad nauseum about the futility of his racism and its reproach by Americans.  Good riddance indeed.

What did him in - I saw "vascular dementia" someplace. I don't know what that is, but I suspect its the technical term for "too mean to live".

ODB. I think I was going for Old Dirty Bastard, but given that such might have positive implications in the hip hop terms, I'll go with the Old Douche Bag suggested by Stan. There should be no positive implications anywhere near this particular corpse. Then again, something that could be intended to be mean AND have positive implications in the hip hop world could be the best epitaph of all for the ODB.

I agree, williamyard.

Helms was indeed truly dreadful, but your devil's advocate quotes are a thought-provoking balance.  It is the sort of thing I tell myself when I see something on Fox news that makes my head spin a little.  We do have a creaky, imperfect but functioning democratic press of sorts.

Change may be creeping in, as unbelievable as it sometimes seems.  I am in Missouri, and still am trying to figure out how Claire McCaskill won her Senate race.  (I am happy for her, not simply because I knew her as a teenager in Culumbia.)

That's Columbia, not how I mistyped it, of course.

He was one of the very early on the air hard talkers, as per M. Stanton Evans - and a lot  followed in his train.  

Think about this: Iraq is no longer a minus with the voting public, if the economy were not flat pancaking because of Mr. Andrea and oil prices compounding the problem, the hard talkers would be right in there at present ready to talk people into President McCain.

You can bet they will be drumming as hard as they can, but the price is very high this year.

Jesse Helms was a mean racist, a small man who abused his power and singlehandedly f***ed up our foreign policy wherever and whenever he could, in ways petty and large. He could be counted on to act in bad faith, always.

There was not an ounce of grace or wit or generosity in the man. He was a vulgarian and a bully. He represented the worst of American politics. That he is gone can only be accounted good news for the polity and for our politics.

Atwater's gone, Falwell's gone Jesse H is gone: end of an era. Good riddance.

I REALLY wish Jesse Helms had lived longer.

I wish he had died of a heart attack when Fox News announced that Obama had crossed 270 electoral votes at about 7:45pm November 4th.

" Iraq is no longer a minus with the voting public"

Ummm. In what fantasy world? Want to lay odds that Iraq DOESN'T blow up into a fiery inferno before September? I'll take that bet...

When I first heard of his death yesterday, all I could think of were the immortal words from Macbeth:

"Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it". Think of what a better nation this would have been had Helms died in 1992 and Paul Wellstone lived. Further proof that there is no God.

As in, Bono was able to get "Senator No," scourge against foreign aid and longtime bigot about AIDS, to actually support and pass, in his final year in the Senate, a commitment of $200 million to fight AIDS in Africa.  Did I say Bono and Africa are more important than the US? (though US work in Africa is important for the US as a whole if the US actually can care about the world).  Given the absolute embarrassment that Helms was, the ability of Bono to actually persuade Helms to get on board for such a cause, much less get him to lead it, is really quite astounding.

www.time.com/.../0,9171,1187308,00.html

www.princeton.edu/.../Busby%20paper.pdf

Late in life ol' Jesse did soften a bit.  It was quite weird considering the vitriol I heard him spew all the years he was 'my' senator.  Interviews with the local papers gave a slight hint he regretted some of his views.

Helms was great fodder for comedy in NC.  A local radio station here in Raleigh had an on-going comedy bit regarding him.  The 'plot line' was that NC had three senators unlike any other state in the Union, Senator Helms, Senator Sanford, and the "Senator".  The "Senator" would call in the radio station every once in a while, and discuss himself and goings on in Washington, Mrs. Senator, and Senator Jr. (his 30 year old son who was in 6th grade still) with the DJs.  It was the most hysterical send-up of Helms you ever heard, and the DJ that was mocking Helms sounded just like him.  It's a pity those bits aren't available on-line.

Helms' passing spurred me to visit the San Francisco Chronicle's online archive of obituaries, where I had not recently been. I try to read them regularly--not the editorial obituaries of famous people, but the paid obituaries written about nobodies by their friends and loved ones. In my view the wisdom I glean therefrom surpasses much of what passes for wisdom elsewhere, including often hereabouts.

There is the mother who raised her children well, felled by a stroke--where will they gather for Thanksgiving now? The young man killed in the swimming accident; what will become of his dogs? The middle-aged woman who fought breast cancer, and finally lost--she was never happier that that time she sailed solo to Patagonia. The immigrant from Mexico, who built a successful insurance business, and coached Little League--preceded in death by his only son. Their pictures all smiling out from younger, better days. Not a care in the world. Immortality still, somehow, technically possible.

I will join them soon enough; I have lived longer than I have yet to live. Perhaps as with Helms an editor will assign a young reporter to write my obituary, but far more likely a friend or family member will write it, then pay to have it printed. If you get an obituary for free, you've had a pretty good run. It sounds like Helms had a pretty good run, for which I give him his due.

Men are lifted by the waves of history, some higher than others. Over there is where the wave lifted Helms. (Charlie Black, his long-time adviser, is still around, so that wave is, too, I guess.) A different wave lifts Barack Obama. Someday, on Obama's death, the blogs or whatever they will be called then will be full of people damning him to Hell and back. Those doing the damning won't get written up for free when their time's up, either.

I'm glad he and I no longer have to share the same supply of oxygen.

"Someday, on Obama's death, the blogs or whatever they will be called then will be full of people damning him to Hell and back." The difference is, they will be wrong.

I don't think Helms gets any points for being in the arena. Unredeemable assholes get free obituaries, too. Usually, precisely because they are unredeemable assholes.

By November with oil at $200, Iraq will be a footnote for this election.

Jesse and his folks, actually mostly the fast money types that struck the bargins to use the social conservatives votes, will have left a real sow's ear for the democrats to convert, I hope that they will be up to the challenge.

Having been touched by death too many times, I have a hard time revelling in it no matter who the subject. Knowing how fleeting and valuable life is, I have a hard time rejoicing in its loss to anyone. Most of the above comments made me laugh, but the celebration of anyone's death opens a door that modern civilization has worked hard to shut. What more right do liberals have to rejoice in the passing of Helms than conservatives had in the passing of Wellstone? Why is one crass and the other relieved?.

I'm reminded of Tolkien's “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

Being a bit of a pooper here, so feel free to continue with the admittedly funny Helms-bashing. Perhaps the greatest punishment in the world is knowing that you will be memorialized as a joke when you are gone. Far better to fade into obscurity than live forever in infamy.

literatehobo...

Yes, I share your quesiness on this subject. That was why I was reluctant to comment on the old bigot's death and decided to go with the Harry Cohn story. Though, as I reread it, even as a counter melody to outright dancing on his grave, it still may be too sharp.

Oh well...