I lived in North Carolina in the 80s and had the privilege to vote for Senator Helms in the 1984 election. Helms was a great patriot and conservative. Helms believed in civil rights for ALL, not just certain groups. Helms believed capitalism was the best way to help people help themselves. Although Helms believed in helping the less fortunate, he had no use for welfare loafers. May he rest in peace!

How out of touch is this presidency with reality?

""America lost a great public servant and true patriot today," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said."

For better or worse, RIP.

Jesse Helms was a man I greatly respected. Because with him you knew where you stood. My dad thought me to trust the truth. It is easier to deal with a person who tells you how he/she feels to your face. Then one who pretends to be on you side and is not. The former you can join or not join on an issue by issue basis. The latter you can never Trust At All. Helms 180'd on a few things not always to my liking. (Aids Support) Aids cure is simple. Stop sharing needles and stop doing that other thing some folks do. However you have the right to change your mind. As long as you let the voters know. I liked him as an Individual, he told it like he saw it. There are to few people like that left. Rest In Peace Sen. Helms.

It is not nice to speak ill of the dead so I will not. Phantom..Jesse was NOT for civil rights for all.

I didn't appreciate Jesse's policies. They were to racist for me.

We need more like Jesse Helms in every state and at the federal level. He contributed a great deal of good to our nation - thankfully Reagan was elected president and the cold war came to an end. Jesse Helms was a contributor to that success.

His stand on civil rights was in favor of those who respect what our nation stands for and on what principals it was formed. He stood for the American family and wanted the American family to stand on their own. He was outspoken against gays/lesbians and for those that wanted more than their share when they were too lazy to do their part. What better can you ask for than that?

I hope we have enough courage to vote for others like him so we can turn around some of the upcoming challenges we face with same sex marriage and our current economical crisis.

To Civil Rights for All, What part of:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."

Do you not understand?

This nation lost an amazing patriot. Jesse Helms was a conservative with conviction. He may have been the last true Conservative Republican. Since he left the Senate, the GOP has been hijacked by communists and liberals such as Mitt Romney and John McCain.

A little good news.

TO MY SLC - 4:52

Perhaps you could answer the same question.

Where in your little quote does it talk about government sanctioned preferences for minorites, gays, feminists and people who demand others pay for their health care because they refuse to quit smoking, drinking and stuffing their faces with doughnuts?

Jesse Helms saw through the baloney that the "Do as we say, not as we do" left kept preaching (and still preaches) for the last 40 years. Sure, the left loves to preach equality, so long as people play by their rules.

I was just reading Clarence Thomas' autobiography and he discussed how, after he was named to the Supreme Court, many of the same people in the press and in Congress, who openly talked about the rights of privacy, were only more than happy to dig and dig into Thomas' private life, looking for dirt. When they couldn't find any, they would simply make things up.

Typical left-wing, hypocritical bull crap.

GOD BLESS you Sen. Jesse Helms, you and I both are a true Conservative, I remember working closely with Jesse Helms a few years back, when in Bill Clinton's 2nd term in Office, HILLARY wrote a treaty, (only the Committee in the US Senate can ratafie and write a treaty, one that Jesse Helms was head of also), and Bill signed it. It was called "The Rights Of A Child", after one read past the cover of it, it TOOK AWAY all a parent's right's with their own kid's, in the State, Federal and World Court's fully, so that a socialist utopian government could walk in, take over and remove your kid's from you, much as Hitler did, and Jesse Helms and I strongly urged Bill to "unsign it, or get impeached", Bill backed down, and Hillary was wrong for doing it in the first place. We love you Brother Jesse Helms, and I for one, will miss you Sir.

Rest now in Peace, Jesse Helms, and, God Bless you always.

Racism is never a funny thing. Separate but Equal is never either Separate or Equal. Being honest about your feeling and where you stand, with the learning you have and the information and experience you have. I do not like it when White people decide what is Raciest when it comes to Black people or People of Color. You do not feel the pain so you cannot call the Shot. Guess who is coming to Dinner happens on both sides of the family. A raciest statement by a Black person may not be considered Racist to other Blacks, but if said by a White person then all heck breaks lose. This is How P.C. Got its ugly start. My Dad said that you can react to it in many ways, the choice was the persons. However the abusive person will say the Wrong Thing TO The Wrong Person and that will just be the end of it. His biggest concern when dealing with people of any Color was to deal with honest people. Jesse Helms was honest. Blacks in Ark. voted for George Wallace because he was Honest when he said Sorry, they believed him. Bo Diddlly also died.

What a Glorious Day this has turned out to be!

One more bigoted GOP leader heading to hell!

Go Celebrate with Fireworks! Make it a Great Fourth!

Jesse Helms was my senator, and I loved his willingness to stand up for America. Jesse was a democrat, and switched to republican. He could not promote his agenda as a democrat. He stood and fought for the people of North Carolina, and the nation. It's not considered smart politics now to stand for the people, but to take for yourself. There are very few good honest leaders in Washington. Perhaps it is because the American people are willing to elect people, but hold them accountable. I think we need to take back our country and vote politicans OUT of office who are not working for us, and abusing their power.

Jesse Helms was the personification of ignorance combating education, privilege dominating need, power maintaining itself and hate masquerading as decency.

Everyone whose heart is open to all of HF's creation can recognize that. Other pharisees and philistines will try to rationalize what he was.

Thanks for your kind and Christ-like judgment on those who disagree with you--how nice to know that you are qualified to judge other's hearts, and to name call and categorize.
NOT!

It isn't necessary to judge his heart. It only requires looking at his career. He was an uneducated man who mistrusted anything he didn't understand and wasn't familiar with. He attempted to discredit and eradicate anything that challenged his narrow ideas. He defended hate, regressive policies, domination and neglect of the powerless at every opportunity. He was born an ordinary man and he thought success was a matter of exercising power to control other people.

His career is a matter of history and his hateful legacy is clear. No judgment about it; merely objective reality.