I'm generally opposed to speaking ill of the dead, but there are a handful of individuals for whom I feel an exception is warranted. Jesse Helms, a man who virulently hated blacks, gays, people with AIDS, and many others, and spent many years using his considerable political power to bring them down, is one such individual. He died at the age of 86 on Friday, a bit of news about which I have a very hard time feeling upset.
Many of those who loudly and vociferously opposed the civil rights movement- Strom Thurmond and George Wallace, for starters- later saw the error of their ways and repudiated their opposition in their later years. Helms did no such thing. The list of vile, evil things Helms said and did in his public career is a long one; here's a partial one.
It indeed says a lot about the current conservative movement that they had such glowing things to say about Helms upon his death. I'm just sad that he died seven months too soon to see the inauguration of the first black president.
A commenter on Balloon Juice said it best:
"I can only hope there’s some sort of affirmative action program in Heaven, and [Helms] loses his spot there because they had to give it to a minority"Posted by Stephen Silver at July 6, 2008 08:42 PM
He blocked former Mass gov. Bill Weld's nomination to be ambassador to Mexico. Even John Kerry backed him on this one.
Posted by: Matt at July 7, 2008 08:49 AMA vile man indeed. He blocked a lot of political appointments for positions such as ambassador for petty reasons during his career, wasting countless hours and tax dollars in the process. That's not even touching on his disgusting, intolerant stance on just about everything else. I'm not sad to see him go.
That being said, I also have to mention how sick I am of people always having to take offense at how "the other side" is or isn't reacting to something in the way they deem appropriate. Yes, every conservative in the universe has sat down and written a glowing obituary for Jesse Helms. Give me a break. Don't get me wrong. Conservatives do it to liberals, too. "Why isn't there more outrage from the right/left/libertarians/vegetarians/environmentalists/tractor pull organizers over [insert violation of pet politcal cause here]?!?"
I'm not somebody who feels obliged to not speak ill of the dead. A terrible person without a pulse is still a terrible person. But there is a chance, maybe, some people were raised being told the opposite and decided that, upon his death, they'd take the time to mention the one or two things about Jesse Helms that didn't make their stomach churn. Even so, there's something ironic about people smugly congratulating themselves for being so tolerant, liberal and compassionate while they are openly condemning others for having the nerve to hold an opinion different than their own. Helms held office for so long because he was elected to it. Frankly, I'm more disgusted by the voters that put him there than the man himself. But what can I say? I'm almost contradicting myself here. Jerks deserve representation in Congress, too.
Posted by: Emily at July 7, 2008 09:10 AM