NC Senate 1984

[Miles]

Hunt, easily.

[TDAS04]

The one who isn't Helms.

[Dr. Cynic]

The one who isn't Helms.

In any election, that'd be the best way to go.

[Maxwell]

Hunt (likes black people)

[Bigby]

Cross party lines and vote for Hunt.

[Vosem]

Hunt made Helms' lack of support for Israel one of the key issues of the campaign. Hunt, of course.

[ElectionsGuy]

Jim Hunt (likes Civil Rights)

[ProgressiveCanadian]

The one who isn't racist. (Hunt)

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

The one who isn't Helms.

In any election, that'd be the best way to go.

[Flake]

Who are the five people who voted for Helms?

Really?

[nclib]

Hunt obviously.

[SPC]

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

[TDAS04]

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

Political correctness is better than overt racism.

[SPC]

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

Political correctness is better than overt racism.

Even assuming that Helms may have actually been racist (which seems suspect, given the most common examples of such seem to be removed from their proper context), if there any evidence that such a predisposition mainfested itself in his record as a legislator? To my knowledge, Helms never introduced legislation proposing to infringe upon the rights of African-Americans, or any other ethnic group, but merely opposed the granting of special favors to certain groups.

[Cassius]

Helms

[H. Ross Peron]

The one who isn't Helms.

In any election, that'd be the best way to go.

[Maxwell]

Helms was whistling dixie in front of Carol Moseley Braun. Come on man. Some behavior is just completely unacceptable from a U.S. Senator.

[Flake]

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

Political correctness is better than overt racism.

Even assuming that Helms may have actually been racist (which seems suspect, given the most common examples of such seem to be removed from their proper context), if there any evidence that such a predisposition mainfested itself in his record as a legislator? To my knowledge, Helms never introduced legislation proposing to infringe upon the rights of African-Americans, or any other ethnic group, but merely opposed the granting of special favors to certain groups.

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He's one of the worst in modern American politics. The fact that he served so long astounds me, but what astounds me even more are the people that would consider voting for him.

[Indy Texas]

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

Political correctness is better than overt racism.

Even assuming that Helms may have actually been racist (which seems suspect, given the most common examples of such seem to be removed from their proper context), if there any evidence that such a predisposition mainfested itself in his record as a legislator? To my knowledge, Helms never introduced legislation proposing to infringe upon the rights of African-Americans, or any other ethnic group, but merely opposed the granting of special favors to certain groups.

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He's one of the worst in modern American politics. The fact that he served so long astounds me, but what astounds me even more are the people that would consider voting for him.

He had a lot of luck regarding timing. 1972, 1978 and 1984 were all good times to be running as a Republican. The in the '90s, swing voters were eating up culture war rhetoric and fear of urban crime.

[nclib]

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

Political correctness is better than overt racism.

Even assuming that Helms may have actually been racist (which seems suspect, given the most common examples of such seem to be removed from their proper context), if there any evidence that such a predisposition mainfested itself in his record as a legislator? To my knowledge, Helms never introduced legislation proposing to infringe upon the rights of African-Americans, or any other ethnic group, but merely opposed the granting of special favors to certain groups.

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He's one of the worst in modern American politics. The fact that he served so long astounds me, but what astounds me even more are the people that would consider voting for him.

He had a lot of luck regarding timing. 1972, 1978 and 1984 were all good times to be running as a Republican. The in the '90s, swing voters were eating up culture war rhetoric and fear of urban crime.

Also, Helms never got more than 55% in any of his elections.

[SPC]

Helms was whistling dixie in front of Carol Moseley Braun. Come on man. Some behavior is just completely unacceptable from a U.S. Senator.

So Helms is to be considered a racist if others within earshot interpret racial malice in words that are not themselves racist? That seems to open a slippery slope into the nonsense of microaggression.

Helms (likes limited government, sound money, and opposes political correctness)

Political correctness is better than overt racism.

Even assuming that Helms may have actually been racist (which seems suspect, given the most common examples of such seem to be removed from their proper context), if there any evidence that such a predisposition mainfested itself in his record as a legislator? To my knowledge, Helms never introduced legislation proposing to infringe upon the rights of African-Americans, or any other ethnic group, but merely opposed the granting of special favors to certain groups.

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He's one of the worst in modern American politics. The fact that he served so long astounds me, but what astounds me even more are the people that would consider voting for him.

None of the anecdotes in that Wikipedia article are inconsistent with my opinion of Helms. Given that Helms's views in favor of limited government have been misconstrued as racist, it would be helpful if the article actually cited some of this "racially-charged language" so that the reader could decide for himself the alleged racial undertones contained therein, rather than simply taking the Wikipedia editor's word for it that the content must have been racist.

But, in any case, it seems that the animosity towards Helms merely uses racism as a red herring for opposing his political views. It is more convenient to simply accuse an opponent of racism than to have an intellectual debate about the merit of affirmative action or granting special privileges to extant members of a demographic minority based on discrimination of others of that same minority in the past, at the expense of those who did not perpetrate the original injustice.

[BaconBacon96]

Helms is one of the few American politicians whom I reserve the word "evil" for.

[IceSpear]

Hunt (not a racist)

[Maxwell]

Helms was whistling dixie in front of Carol Moseley Braun. Come on man. Some behavior is just completely unacceptable from a U.S. Senator.

So Helms is to be considered a racist if others within earshot interpret racial malice in words that are not themselves racist? That seems to open a slippery slope into the nonsense of microaggression.

Are you saying that Helms didn't intend to offend Braun, she just chose to be offended?

[SPC]

Helms was whistling dixie in front of Carol Moseley Braun. Come on man. Some behavior is just completely unacceptable from a U.S. Senator.

So Helms is to be considered a racist if others within earshot interpret racial malice in words that are not themselves racist? That seems to open a slippery slope into the nonsense of microaggression.

Are you saying that Helms didn't intend to offend Braun, she just chose to be offended?

Essentially, yes.

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