Back in the day some of the rhetoric that came out of Jesse Helms pie hole was enough to give anyone nightmares. This is a guy who once called The University of North Carolina “The University of Negroes and Communists”. Dude was ultra-right even for the Reagan crowd. Others blasts from the old fossil: “I’m going to sing ‘Dixie’ until she cries.” – which he said to US Sen. Orrin Hatch about Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun. Another was: “The government should spend less money on people with AIDS because they got sick as a result of deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct.” Seriously??? The guy just had such revolting views. As I am getting older, I often read this comic strip and miss a lot of things from the ’80s but that guy is someone the ’80s could have done without!
No one knew how the end of the Fairness Doctrine (for broadcast media) would play out in ‘85 (when this strip was drawn). The internet hadn’t been invented yet, of course. Now we have a public that can’t agree on a source of facts and a mob attack on Congress.
In Raleigh in the 60’s we were treated to his daily news commentary on TV. Then in the 1972 election adoring fans of his TV screeds elected him to the US Senate. A friend of mine mentioned he was from North Carolina to a Belgian acquaintance in Brussels and the Belgian immediately asked “How can you elect that Helms character?” So the Helms name was known in Europe, and they knew he represented NC.
dwane.scoty1 over 3 years ago
Guess comic characters should stick to the comics page?
TampaFanatic1 over 3 years ago
Back in the day some of the rhetoric that came out of Jesse Helms pie hole was enough to give anyone nightmares. This is a guy who once called The University of North Carolina “The University of Negroes and Communists”. Dude was ultra-right even for the Reagan crowd. Others blasts from the old fossil: “I’m going to sing ‘Dixie’ until she cries.” – which he said to US Sen. Orrin Hatch about Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun. Another was: “The government should spend less money on people with AIDS because they got sick as a result of deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct.” Seriously??? The guy just had such revolting views. As I am getting older, I often read this comic strip and miss a lot of things from the ’80s but that guy is someone the ’80s could have done without!
NeedaChuckle Premium Member over 3 years ago
Wait till you see 1/6/2021.
Gandalf over 3 years ago
Wait until you see the summer of 2020 in Seattle and Portland, and the attacks on police stations, federal buildings…. Now those were riots!
ChessPirate over 3 years ago
With Jesse at the Helms, what could go wrong? ☺
wi3leong Premium Member over 3 years ago
No one knew how the end of the Fairness Doctrine (for broadcast media) would play out in ‘85 (when this strip was drawn). The internet hadn’t been invented yet, of course. Now we have a public that can’t agree on a source of facts and a mob attack on Congress.
TracyKlujian over 3 years ago
In Raleigh in the 60’s we were treated to his daily news commentary on TV. Then in the 1972 election adoring fans of his TV screeds elected him to the US Senate. A friend of mine mentioned he was from North Carolina to a Belgian acquaintance in Brussels and the Belgian immediately asked “How can you elect that Helms character?” So the Helms name was known in Europe, and they knew he represented NC.
smsrt over 3 years ago
Thank God Helms stood at the Helm. Why, we might have had peace on earth.
Sisyphos over 3 years ago
Aww. Anti-climax. Milo survives….