Senator Helms’ legislative record has been absolutely abysmal on civil rights and civil liberties, the environment, reproductive rights, and so much more. Indeed, Senator Helms never met a civil rights measure he could support.

Senator Jesse Helms is the father of the modern Republican right-wing movement. He may be leaving the Senate but his ideological proteges now run the House of Representatives, lead the Republicans in the Senate, and determine the legal policies of the Bush administration.

While Senator Helms may not have adopted the smooth style or the soothing rhetoric of his successors, the ideological agenda is precisely the same.