Jesse Helms

[[File:Senator Jesse helms.jpg|thumb|right|165px|His ugly mug befouling our wiki.]]
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{{cquote|Yo Jesse, you dumb-ass, racist, cracker motherfucker! Why the fuck won't you just hurry up and die?|||MC Hawking, "Why Won't Jesse Helms Just Hurry Up And Die?"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCcoXp8SEiA MC Hawking - Jesse Helms]</ref>}}

'''Jesse Helms''' {{Lived|1921|2008}}, also known as "Senator No,"<ref>Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1992: The 102 Congress (1991) p 927</ref> was the utterly batshit loony U.S. Senator from [[North Carolina]] for far too many years.<ref>30, if you care</ref> Due to his stand on racial issues, he was often referred to as "the Senator from [[Apartheid|South Africa]]." Basically, he was [[racist]], [[homophobia|homophobic]], [[anti-abortion]], and ultra-[[conservative]] on every issue imaginable.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPomU7Mw9mw Bill Hicks on the Deficit and Jesse Helms]</ref> Examples include an attempted filibuster of [[Martin Luther King]] Day, and crackpot opinions on the [[HIV]] crisis. He made [[Richard Nixon]] look [[liberal]] by comparison.

He is also the author, in many ways, of American post-[[Cold War]] unilateralism, often railing against the [[United Nations]] and anything else that undercut [[American exceptionalism|American "sovereignty"]]. This put him directly at odds with the administration of [[Bill Clinton]], and Helms was known to use scorched-earth parliamentary tactics to get his way, even holding up the nomination of a Republican governor who was to be ambassador to Mexico.

He opposed Roberta Achtenberg as assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, because she was a "damn lesbian." He later threatened to never let [[gay]] [[philanthropist]] James Hormel get a confirmation hearing on his ambassadorial nomination by President Clinton. Helms even ranted against the U.S. Postal Service for a postmark commemorating the Stonewall riots. “Bosh and nausea and a pox upon whoever in the postal service made this irrational decision,” Helms said — not while mixing a potion, but from the floor of the Senate in 1989.<ref>[http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/advocate-45/2012/08/21/45-biggest-homophobes-our-45-years?page=full The 45 Biggest Homophobes of Our 45 Years]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Dixiecrat]]
*[[Strom Thurmond]]

==References==
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{{stub|United States politics}}
[[Category:Anti-abortion activists]]
[[Category:Anti-LGBT bigots]]
[[Category:Antifeminism]]
[[Category:Atheophobia]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:Fundamentalists]]
[[Category:HIV/AIDS]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Segregationists]]
[[Category:Sexists]]
[[Category:Transphobes]]
[[Category:United States politicians]]

Categories: Anti-abortion activists, Anti-LGBT bigots, Antifeminism, Atheophobia, Christians, Conspiracy theorists, Former United States Senators, Fundamentalists, HIV/AIDS, Homophobes, Islamophobes, Racists, Segregationists, Sexists, Transphobes, United States politicians