Eulogies often tell us more about the living than the deceased. With his glowing words Friday about the late Jesse Helms, George W. Bush offered a case in point. Lauding the legendary North Carolina segregationist just as he did Helms' fellow traveler Strom Thurmond only five years earlier, Bush boosted his Republican allies even in death. But as a quick comparison to his meager 2002 statement about Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone shows, President Bush is the master of the partisan eulogy.
To be sure, no one should expect - much less want - the President to excoriate the racist homophobe Helms on the day of his death. But in proclaiming of the 86 year-old Helms that "it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July," Bush erased the legacy of a man history will associate more with the Stars and Bars than the Stars and Stripes. The man who campaigned on the race-baiting "hands ad" in 1990 now, Bush prays, "finds comfort in the arms of the loving God he strove to serve."
Bush described his former Republican colleague in hagiographic terms:

"Throughout his long public career, Senator Jesse Helms was a tireless advocate for the people of North Carolina, a stalwart defender of limited government and free enterprise, a fearless defender of a culture of life, and an unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty. Under his leadership, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a powerful force for freedom. And today, from Central America to Central Europe and beyond, people remember: in the dark days when the forces of tyranny seemed on the rise, Jesse Helms took their side.
Jesse Helms was a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called 'the Miracle of America.' So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July. He was once asked if he had any ambitions beyond the United States Senate. He replied: 'The only thing I am running for is the Kingdom of Heaven.' Today, Jesse Helms has finished the race, and we pray he finds comfort in the arms of the loving God he strove to serve throughout his life."

Jesse Helms may have been an "unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty" abroad, just not those south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Five years ago, President Bush provided the Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond with a similarly glowing epitaph. Thurmond, of course, famously declared during his 1948 run for President that "there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the n****r race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches." (As it turned out, that was no barrier to Thurmond secretly fathering an illegitimate black child.) But while Trent Lott lost his job as Senate Majority Leader in 2002 over his defense of Thurmond's dark past, George W. Bush simply ignored it in his June 27, 2003 statement:

"Senator Strom Thurmond led an extraordinary life. He served in the Army during World War II, earning a Bronze Star for valor and landing at Normandy on D-Day. He served his country as Senator, Governor, and state legislator and was a beloved teacher, coach, husband, father, and grandfather. While campaigning across South Carolina with him in 1988, I saw first hand the tremendous love he had for his constituents, and the admiration the people of South Carolina had for him. He was also a friend and I was honored to have hosted his 100th birthday at the White House. Laura joins me in sending our prayers and condolences to the entire Thurmond family. He will be missed."

But unlike the octogenarian and nonagenarian Helms and Thurmond, Senator Paul Wellstone died a young man in a tragic plane crash in October 2002. More important to George W. Bush, Wellstone died a Democrat. So unlike the "extraordinary" Thurmond or the "tireless advocate" Helms, Paul Wellstone to Bush was merely "a plain spoken fellow who did his best." In his memory, Bush asked only a conditional blessing "for those who grieve." The implication, apparently, was that President Bush was not among them:

"I want to start off by saying how sad Laura and I are about the sudden and tragic death of United States Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, and one of his children, as well as the death of others on that private airplane. Our prayers and heart-felt sympathy goes to their sons, their loved ones, their friends, and the people of Minnesota.
Paul Wellstone was a man of deep convictions, a plain-spoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country. May the good Lord bless those who grieve."

(Of course, Bush's lukewarm remarks paled in comparison to the shocking insult from Wellstone's Republican successor, Norm Coleman. Coleman in 2003 proclaimed, "I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone.")
And so it goes. Americans have long since grown accustomed to the mean-spirited pettiness and the unending partisan spite of George W. Bush. As the passing of Jesse Helms reminds us, Bush's smallness extends to the living and the dead alike.
(For more background on the life and politics of Jesse Helms, see AmericaBlog and Pam Spaulding.)