And ‘trolls’ like him are selectively compassionate. Sucking up to and trying to defend a Jesse Helms says all that needs to be said.

When Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first African-American woman to sit in the Senate, Helms followed Moseley-Braun into an elevator, announcing to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch: “Watch me make her cry. I’m going to make her cry. I’m going to sing ‘Dixie’ until she cries.”

Then, emphasizing the lines about how “good” things were before the Civil War ended slavery, Helms sang “Dixie.”

That’s what kind of person Jesse Helms was. He was a piece of shit. I can’t believe a sanctimonious troll had the nerve to come in here and act all self-righteous that I spoke ill of Helms. The guy was an asshole, and the fact that he’s dead now doesn’t mean the things he did while he was alive don’t matter.

If I were a self-identified “conservative,” I’d be awfully ashamed to claim Jesse Helms as one of my own. But an awful lot of them did. What does that tell you about the state of “conservatism” in America today?

“White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories?

Mr. Eason is a hero.