I have been giving thoughts to the Jesse Helms comparison, because if nothing else, he was a U.S. Senator with a big following and a national leader of a certain flavor of conservatism, much like John Stennis, who got an aircraft carrier named for him. I don't appear to have posted anything to the Helms is dead thread here, but here's what I posted at Daily Kos. If nothing else, this shows the difference between Jesse Helms and Ted Kennedy, and why the latter has gotten a modicum more respect on his death from his political opponents. I think you will see that, in life, Helms set a certain standard for respect to his political opponents while Kennedy held to a higher one.
Ted Kennedy has gotten more respect from the media than Jesse Helms because 1) his last name is Kennedy, 2) he's a liberal, like most of them, and 3) his last name is Kennedy. By the way, did I mention his last name is Kennedy?
Just because one doesn't like Helms' (or any other politican's or public figure's) political positions doesn't make it any more right or wrong to denigrate him at his death than when someone on the other side of the aisle doing the same thing to someone they do not like. Partisans on both sides of the aisle do that when polarizing public figures die. It's just the way things are. To feign outrage when one has done the same thing to politicians they don't like (as many liberal posters here seem to have done) or try to rationalize it because our guy was good and important while your guy was a bad bit player is hypocritical.
As for Kennedy, I'll repeat what I said earlier. I hope his family finds peace in this difficult time, especially after losing 2 members within a few weeks. RIP.
