RIP Jesse Helms

I’m going to wager that no story will draw as much ire from progressive bloggers and MSM pundits as the news that former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms has died at the age of 86. Helms was certainly a polarizing figure even before he joined Congress. He was a starwart defender of the tobacco industry, a pure Republican partisan, and a crusader against what he saw as the moral decay caused by liberalism. He was also a man of his times who opposed integration in North Carolina in the 1950s. What he will get little credit for, however, is the sea change he wrought on the politics of his state. Before he took office, North Carolina was dominated by Demcoratic politics. His actions in public service helped change that to the point where, today, North Carolina is a competetive state that tends to swing Republicans. Most folks,... [read full story]