By Brendan McLaughlin

It's been interesting to read the delicate phraseology used to report the passing of longtime North Carolina Senator, Jesse Helms.  "Conservative Icon" and "Man of Conviction" are phrases that pop up a lot.  That, of course would describe Kublai Khan, but no one could accuse the writer of speaking ill of the dead. The associated press referred to Helms as the "last politician of his kind" unintentionally implying that's a good thing. 

But writer, Christopher Hitchens didn't mince his words in a Slate article linked with the headline, "Jesse Helms was a National Disgrace",  writing: 

 It was a scandal that a man with so little knowledge of the outside world should have had such a stranglehold on American foreign policy for so long.

Helms' crusade against federal funding of the arts and his support of the apartheid regime of South Africa were but two of many reasons he became a proto enemy of the left. The chatter on Tampa's community supported radio station, WMNF  this weekend was a little shocking in its gleeful "ding dong the witch is dead" tone.

The only convincingly fond remembrance of the late Senator comes from a fellow Carolinian, Reverend Billy Graham who called Helms:

..a man of consistent conviction to conservative ideals and courage to faithfully serve God and country based on principle, not popularity or politics.

But that, too could describe any number of 11th Century Emperors.