Michael,
Read the story below. At least Baldwin and LesX, unlike other psychos, are not elected officials. There are rotten apples in every barrel.
Kind regards,
Borzou
Newsday
November 23, 1994, Wednesday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A03
LENGTH: 1191 words
HEADLINE: Helms Rebuked;
Senator chided for saying Clinton not safe in N.C.
BYLINE: By Charles V. Zehren. WASHINGTON BUREAU
BODY: Washington - Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), the incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman, outraged Republicans and Democrats alike yesterday after making a statement - which he later said he regretted - that President Bill Clinton is so unpopular on military bases in North Carolina that he "better have a bodyguard" if he visits the state.
"Mr. Clinton better watch out if comes down here," Helms told The News & Observer of Raleigh on Monday.
The Secret Service immediately requested a transcript of the newspaper interview. While Helms would not be investigated, spokesman Jaime Cagigas said, "We are obviously with the president twenty-four hours a day - and are always concerned about comments regarding his safety."
Helms' comments set off a firestorm of protest on Capitol Hill with some Republicans saying privately that the 73-year-old conservative might have lost his chairmanship if not his mind.
"I can't figure out why he said it," one conservative Republican sputtered.
And by yesterday afternoon, Helms issued a statement calling his remarks "a mistake . . . which I shall not repeat."
The remarks were "offhand" in an "informal interview" and were not meant "literally," Helms said, adding that Clinton is welcome in North Carolina.
But Helms stopped well short of apologizing to the president, stating that Clinton continues to have "serious problems with his records of draft avoidance, with his stand on homosexuals in the military, and the declining defense capability of America's armed forces."
At a news conference, Clinton called Helms' remarks "unwise and inappropriate" and said the Senate Republicans will decide "in whom they will repose their trust and confidence" to chair the critical committee.
Republican leaders tried to downplay the significance of the Helms imbroglio. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the presumptive Majority Leader, attending the Republican governor's conference in Williamsburg, Va., indicated there are no moves afoot to prevent Helms from chairing the committee. Instead, Dole said Clinton is "welcome into any state.
That's the way it is. That's the way it should be. And that's the way it will be."
Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), the incoming House speaker, was similarly circumspect. "We think the people would frankly be glad to engage in dialogue with [Clinton] . . . and I would hope that he would feel that all Americans want to respect and honor the presidency," Gingrich said.
Predictably, the Democrats were much harsher in their reaction and assessment.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) called for Helms to apologize to the president and noted that the remarks came on the 31st anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. "To suggest on this day of all days that an American president's life might be in jeopardy with a visit to an American military base would suggest that my colleague from
North Carolina doesn't seem to know what country he is living in," Dodd said. "This is not a banana republic."
Ever since the Republican Congressional landslide on Nov. 8, Helms has been on a political tear - espousing his neo-isolationsist trade and foreign policy, making bellicose remarks about the Communist regime in Cuba, dismissing peace talks between Israel and Syria as "a fraud," and telling an interviewer that "just about every military man who
writes" to him questions Clinton's fitness to serve as commander in chief.
Finally, last weekend, Helms drew rebukes from White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs. But Helms shot back that he did not regret making the remarks, only that he "should have said it better."
Still, Allen F. (Gunner) Kent, the commander-in-chief of the 2.1-million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars, yesterday said Helms showed "poor judgment" and was "irresponsible" in making the statements. "Senator Helms brings discredit upon the military, particulary those forces stationed in North Carolina," he said.
Several military analysts said Helms insulted armed forces personnel by saying they are not loyal to the commander in chief.
"It is not the person, it is the office and every military person observes that," said Ron Tammen, associate dean of the National War College in Washington and a former U.S. Senate Democratic aide who has worked with Helms in the past.
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Rich Bond, a leader in the moderate wing of the Republican Party, yesterday said in a television interview that Helms' "inappropriate Clinton-whacking" was "totally out of bounds." In fact, Bond said, the remarks "may have cost him his chairmanship" and recommended that Clinton go to North Carolina, bringing Helms in tow. "Let's respect the commander in chief," Bond said.
Political analysts said yesterday that Helms' remarks gave Clinton and the Democrats a huge opening to divert debate from Republicans' proposed reforms and to criticize them for promoting extremist views - the very same tactic the Republicans used to marginalize and woo the voters away from the Democrats in the mid-term elections.
A Sharp Tongue
Past comments by Sen. Jese Helms
Aug. 1, 1986 -- On the Senate vote for economic sanctions against South Africa to protest that country's apartheid system:
"Here we go again, kicking a friend in the teeth because they aren't acting like we want them to. This issue has nothing to do with Africa. It has to do with domestic politics in the United States. If and when Africa falls into the clutches of Communists -- and I'm talking about the continent of Africa -- I can tell my grandchildren, "Well, I tried" [by voting no on sanctions].
May 15, 1990 -- Speaking about a $ 600 million AIDS bill:
"What originally began as a measured response to a public health emergency has become a weapon, frankly, for the deterioration of America's Judeo-Christian value system.
"There's not a chance this bill will be stopped because there's a powerful lobby out there in the media and in the homosexual community, and senators are scrambling to put their names on anything that has to do with AIDS."
Feb. 17, 1993 -- Debating liberal Sen. Edward Kennedy about permitting AIDS victims to settle permanently in the United States: "Let me adjust my hearing aid. I could not accommodate the decibels of the senator from Massachusetts.
"I can't match him in decibels or Jezebels, are anything else apparently."
May 7, 1993 -- On the nomination of a gay rights activist to a Department of Housing and Urban Development post:
"She's not your garden-variety lesbian. She's a militant-activist-mean lesbian, working her whole career to advance the homosexual agenda.
"Now you think I'm going to sit still and let her be confirmed by the Senate? ... If you want to call me a bigot, go ahead."
Sept. 12, 1994 -- To the Senate in announcing reinstatement of Department of Agriculture employee Karl Mertz, who had been transferred after criticizing homosexuals on his private time.
"To be blunt about it, the Department of Agriculture is being overrun by homosexuals, and they have been running the store to a great extent." |
