Considering the Jesse Helms legacy?  Then also consider these:

Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, March 24, 2006

“Jesse Helms, the old buzzard from North Carolina. I can’t say anything else about Helms that’s suitable for a family newspaper.”

Washington Post’s David Broder, August 29, 2001, under the headline “Jesse Helms, White Racist”:

“What really sets Jesse Helms apart is that he is the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country.”

What really sets Broder’s observation apart, by the way, is that it was made after Helms announced he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2002.  Such bravery.