Jesse Helms Rises From The Dead?

We’ve known S.C. Sen. Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg) is a moron for some time. But he has an unimpeachable pro-taxpayer, pro-liberty voting record – so we’ve generally tolerated his intellectual incuriosity.

Having said that it was only a matter of time before Bright said something truly ridiculous in his U.S. Senate bid (you know, the campaign he claims Jesus Christ personally told him to launch).

Well guess what …

“If you elect me to the Senate, you will think Jesse Helms has rose from the dead,” Bright told the Associated Press.

Wait … what?

For those of you unfamiliar with Jesse Helms, he was a former segregationist Democrat from North Carolina who became a Republican when it served his political ambitions. During his thirty years in the U.S. Senate from 1973-2003 Helms was best known as a racist and a homophobe – not to mention a global interventionist of the first order. He supported the Patriot Act, the War in Iraq, the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and voted “aye” on numerous deficit-busting budget proposals.

Not exactly a limited government conservative, huh …

And while Helms had more of a backbone on fiscal issues than most of his GOP colleagues, his pro-taxpayer advocacy was wildly inconsistent – usually based more on personal grudges than any allegiance to the free market.

And while he detested “foreign aid,” Helms made a career for himself picking winners and losers overseas with our money. In Chile, he supported dictator Augusto Pinochet – who launched the “Caravan of Death” following his 1973 coup d’etat. In El Salvador, Helms supported Roberto “Blowtorch Bob” D’Aubuisson Arrieta – a mass murderer/ torturer who derived his nickname from his favorite interrogation device.

Of course Helms refused to disavow D’Aubuisson – even when confronted with evidence of his tortuous depravity.

“All I know is that D’Aubuisson is a free enterprise man and deeply religious,” Helms said.

Wait … a “free enterprise man?”

This from Helms – who was a supporter of the 1989 Savings and Loan bailout which cost American taxpayers an estimated $175 billion over the course of the next decade. Speaking of pouring tax money down the drain, Helms was also a vigorous proponent of America’s failed “War on Drugs” as well as its ongoing economic embargo against Cuba. In fact he was the father of a wasteful Cuban propaganda boondoggle which continues to this day …

Is this really the ideology Bright wants to resurrect?

We certainly hope not …

Jesse Helms discriminatory brand of sanctimonious moralizing and selective taxpayer advocacy is one reason the Republican Party is dying a slow and agonizing death right now. If Bright weren’t such a dim bulb, he would recognize he needs to repudiate “Republicans” like Helms – not vow to carry on their legacy.