Jesse Helms

Netroots Celebrate Helms's Death With Vulgar Attacks
By Noel Sheppard | July 5, 2008 | 12:59 PM EDT

NewsBusters readers are likely aware of my frequent appeal for civility in our comments sections due to my unwavering belief that despite political differences, when the sun sets, we're all Americans.

Such reverence should be crucial on the day someone that has tirelessly served this nation for thirty years passes away.

Apparently devoid of such human decency, the folks in the Netroots, within minutes of Friday's announcement concerning the death of Jesse Helms, began publishing virulent and vulgar epithets directed at the former senator, with some actually voicing a desire to dance on his grave.

Here are but a few examples, beginning with some truly disgusting diaries posted at Daily Kos (readers are warned that the following contains possibly offensive graphic and vulgar content, h/t LGF):

Chicago Tribune Gets It Wrong On Jesse Helms
By Mike Bates | July 5, 2008 | 12:26 PM EDT

Today's Chicago Tribune carries a front page story on the late Jesse Helms, "5-time senator 'great patriot' who held fast to his beliefs." The piece's author, Los Angeles Times staff writer Johanna Neuman, states:

CNN's Lemon: Helms 'Champion of the Extreme Right'
By Mike Bates | July 5, 2008 | 11:15 AM EDT

On Independence Day, CNN anchor Don Lemon reported the death of former Senator Jesse Helms.

LEMON: Conservatives are mourning the death of an icon. Former Senator Jesse Helms has died at the age of 86. The North Carolina Republican was known for his unyielding stands on some controversial issues.(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)LEMON (voice-over): Ever since he came to the Senate in 1972, Jesse Helms had been the champion of the extreme right. His positions frequently infuriated virtually everyone else.
NBC: Metzenbaum a 'Populist,' But Jesse Helms an 'Ultra-Rightist'
By Brent Baker | July 5, 2008 | 6:13 AM EDT

When far-left former Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum passed away in March, the NBC Nightly News didn't identify his party or apply any ideological label as fill-in anchor Ann Curry hailed his life as “the classic American success story” of a man who “always fought for the little guy, taking on the oil and insurance industries” while he “stuck to his populist principles.”

But on Friday night, Independence Day holiday fill-in anchor Lester Holt accurately described former Senator Jesse Helms, who passed away earlier in the day at age 86, as “a Republican and staunch conservative” as well as “a champion to the right and a lighting rod to the left.” NBC reporter Martin Savidge, however, tagged Helms as “an ultra-rightist” when he won his Senate seat in1972, though Savidge concluded his review of Helms' career by portraying the late Senator's ideology in a positive light: “Helms finally left the Senate in 2003 at the age of 81, and for the rest of his life would proudly wear the unofficial title of the Senate's most conservative Senator.”

Holt painted Helms from the negative, what he was against as opposed to what he favored: “He staked out firm positions against everything from communism and foreign aid to civil rights and modern art.”

Former Senator Jesse Helms Dies at 86
By NB Staff | July 4, 2008 | 11:22 AM EDT

As reported by CBS and the Associated Press moments ago:

Jesse Helms, the five-term Republican Senator from North Carolina, has died, CBS News has confirmed. He was 86.

Helms died at 1:15 this morning, according to the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, North Carolina.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family and loved-ones.

Update 11:46 | Matthew Sheffield. Jesse Helms was a tireless advocate against liberal media bias. It's worth remembering today that in the mid-80s Jesse Helms started a group called Fairness in Media designed to raise enough money to purchase CBS and overhaul its even-more-left-leaning news division. "Become Dan Rather's boss," was the tagline with the idea, of course, that they would fire him.

Though ultimately unsuccessful at its final objective, it was a fascinating effort and one that actually caused some suits at CBS to get scared as, among other things, Helms and his partners in fairness sought to obtain the names of every CBS stockholder, filed SEC briefs, and even partnered up with the then-conservative Ted Turner.

See also the Heritage Foundation remembrance of Helms.

Matthews: Will NC GOP Run 'Overtly Racist' Campaign vs. Obama?
By Brad Wilmouth | April 23, 2008 | 4:56 AM EDT

During MSNBC's live coverage of Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary, co-anchor Chris Matthews brought up the possibility that the North Carolina Republican Party would run an "overtly racist" campaign against Barack Obama, as the MSNBC host harkened back to the days of Jesse Helms and Harvey Gantt.