memeorandum: Jesse Helms dies; former U.S. senator used race-baiting campaign tactics (Johanna Neuman/Los Angeles Times)

10:55 PM ET, July 4, 2008

Top Items:

Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who became an icon to conservatives, died Friday at the age of 86, a senior congressional source said. — The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, American Power, All Spin Zone, Macsmind, Blogs of War, The American Mind, Wake up America, The Political Carnival, Stop The ACLU, The Impolitic, Patterico's Pontifications, Seeing the Forest, Donklephant, Slog and skippy the bush kangaroo

Steven A. Holmes / New York Times:

Jesse Helms, Conservative Force in the Senate, Dies at 86 — Jesse Helms, the former North Carolina Senator whose courtly manner and mossy drawl barely masked a hard-edged conservatism that opposed civil rights, gay rights, foreign aid and modern art, died early Friday. He was 86.

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Pam Spaulding / Pam's House Blend:

Bye, Jesse, you left quite a legacy — Jesse Helms has died. As a native and current resident of North Carolina, even today many people I run into outside of this state who know little about it — recognize the name Jesse Helms. He leaves a long, dark trail of professional racial bigotry …

Discussion: Raleigh News & Observer, Group News Blog, Orcinus and Booman Tribune

Johanna Neuman / Los Angeles Times:

Jesse Helms dies; former U.S. senator used race-baiting campaign tactics — The uncompromising Republican from North Carolina dies at 86. President Bush calls Helms, who once wielded great power on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ‘a kind, decent and humble man’ and a

Discussion: Firedoglake, Top of the Ticket, Truthdig and Wonkette

Bart Barnes / Washington Post:

Former Senator Jesse Helms Dies at 86 — Jesse A. Helms, the hard-line conservative North Carolina Republican who served three decades in the U.S. Senate and became one of America's leading crusaders against communism, liberalism, tax increases, abortion, homosexuality …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, WTVD-TV and TIME.com

Michael Grynbaum / The Caucus:

Jesse Helms Dies at 86 — Jesse Helms, a conservative force in the United States Senate for three decades, died early Friday morning at 86. He leaves a divided legacy, hailed in some quarters for his hard-edged defense of conservative policies and derided by others for his opposition to civil rights, gay rights, and foreign aid.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Political Machine

Mark R. Levin / The Corner: Death of a Conservative Great

Roger Clegg / The Corner:
The Jesse Helms “Racial Quota” Ad

Discussion: michellemalkin.com

WRAL-TV:
Conservative icon Jesse Helms dead at 86

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, Sister Toldjah, Althouse, Matthew Yglesias and Martini Revolution

Faiz / Think Progress:
Former Sen. Jesse Helms passes away.

Discussion: Associated Press, JammieWearingFool, Comments from Left Field and The Carpetbagger Report

John J. Miller / The Corner:
Dumping on Helms — The first sentence of the NYT obit:

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Rob Bluey / The Foundry:
Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator and Conservative Champion, Dies

Discussion: Majikthise, No More Mister Nice Blog, Redstate, The Swamp, Outside The Beltway, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Bluey Blog

MSNBC:
Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86

Discussion: TBogg and About.com US Politics

Gateway Pundit:

Nice... Loons Disrupt Bush at July 4th Naturalization Ceremony (Video) — Here's another reminder that nothing is sacred to the Left. — Nothing... Code Pink disrupted President Bush at 46th Annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony:

Discussion: Gates of Vienna, michellemalkin.com and TBogg

Associated Press:

Bush heckled at new citizen ceremony — President heckled during event at Thomas Jefferson's former home — CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia - President Bush invoked the memory of Thomas Jefferson Friday in welcoming new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony at Monticello, saying “I'll be proud to call you a fellow American.”

Discussion: At-Largely, skippy the bush kangaroo, Shakesville and Scared Monkeys

Redstate:

In Praise of Barack Obama — Via the AP comes this news that Barack Obama has changed his mind, and is rejecting at least some of the extremism of NARAL, Emily's List, and other radical abortion organizations. The money graf: … Read on... Of course, Obama's position here is only confined …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Campaign Diaries, Associated Press, Shakesville, Weekly Standard Blog and PoliPundit.com

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

PLEASE, PLEASE, REPORTERS WITH BRAINS — I spent most of today in bed with some kind of nasty cold. So I only caught up on any news this evening. And I must confess to being little short of astounded by the avalanche of press BS I'm reading on Barack Obama's position on Iraq.

Discussion: Eunomia, NY Daily News, MyDD, The Impolitic, The Daily Dish, Buck Naked Politics, The Carpetbagger Report and Matthew Yglesias

Matthew Yglesias:
The Difference — If conservatives want to argue that Barack Obama's …

Discussion: Hot Air

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
A Man of Seasonal Principles

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Daily Dish, TalkLeft, democracyarsenal.org, Who Is IOZ?, TPM Election Central, MSNBC, Hot Air, Viking Pundit, Power Line, BuzzMachine, Outside The Beltway and Los Angeles Times

Daily Mail:

Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah — Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and ‘pray to Allah’ during a religious education lesson. — Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) …

Discussion: THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™, Gates of Vienna, GINA COBB and Atlas Shrugs

Robert J. McCarthy / Buffalo News:

Edwards, Rove to face off in UB debate — Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain might not burn up the campaign trail around Western New York this election year, but the University at Buffalo may have scheduled the next best thing. — GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight.com, Think Progress and The Political Carnival

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Rove's Third Term

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, skippy the bush kangaroo, Newshoggers.com, Buck Naked Politics, Brilliant at Breakfast and The Sideshow

White House:

Press Briefing by Dana Perino — MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. Hello to my mom in the back, my mom and my sister — friends. (Applause.) I don't usually get that reception in here. (Laughter.) — Q Mom gets it. — MS. PERINO: Yes, I know. (Laughter.)

Discussion: The LA Times President … and The Swamp

Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
White House says ruling could free detainees in US

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM), Balloon Juice, New York Times, RADAMISTO, Crooks and Liars, Shakesville, AMERICAblog News, PBD and The Progress Report

Faiz / Think Progress:

Condoleezza Rice: ‘I Am Proud Of The Decision’ To Invade Iraq — In an interview last March with Bloomberg's Judy Woodruff, the late conservative scholar William F. Buckley said President Bush's legacy would be judged purely on Iraq. He stressed, “It's important that we acknowledge …

Discussion: On Deadline

Janine Zacharia / Bloomberg:
Condoleezza Rice Says She's ‘Proud’ of Decision to Invade Iraq

Discussion: Booman Tribune and HorsesAss.Org

CNN:

Why Europe loves Barack Obama — By Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst — (CNN) — When Barack Obama comes to London, I am certain that 50,000 people will turn out to cheer him on," a British executive assured me when I visited the British capital recently. — “Americans?” I asked.

Discussion: protein wisdom