Conservatives honor "Senator No"

Senator Jesse Helms was honored by conservatives at the Crystal City Marriott on Tuesday.

More than ten years ago, Morton Blackwell gave a speech titled: Why Jesse Helm's is the Country's Favorite Conservative Senator. In it, he said, "There would have been no conservative movement worthy of the name without Sen. Helms."

Morton was right; it's hard for some younger readers (who know Jesse Helms only as a friend of rock star Bono) to fully comprehend, but for forty years liberals dominated Congress and controlled the agenda. During this time, conservatism's "Founding Fathers" took the lessons of Barry Goldwater's failed Presidential bid and created a movement.

And when these conservative leaders looked to politicians for support, there weren't many who shared their philosophy. During this time, Jesse Helms was an unwavering voice in the wilderness on behalf of conservative principles of limited government.

Here are some other things a lot of people don't know about Jesse Helms:

The late liberal Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) once said of Helms, "I think one of the ways you judge a person is just the way you watch them treat people . . . I don't think there is anybody in the Senate who treats them (pages and support staff) with more grace and is kinder and more appreciative. "

Democrat Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) once said of Helms, "He was willing to take a stand even though he might stand alone. But it was without a tremor, without any indication he would cut his sail."