Does anyone remember Helen Chenoweth?

[Ter]

After seeing all these recent female Tea Baggers the past couple of years (such as Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Christine O'Donnell, and Sharon Angle), I was thinking about the one who eclipsed them all in right-wingery, former Idaho rep. Helen Chenoweth. She was so far to the right, she often went against the neo-con establishment and agreed with the left on many issues (a/la Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan).

Adamantly in support of term limits, she was no hypocrite. She served three terms and never ran again. She died tragically in an auto accident under suspicious conditions. The Karl Rovian neo-con establishment despised her, and there were rumors she might again run for the Senate or for Governor. So who remembers her?

[northoftheborder]

1. I remember her - she was an early Bachmann type. Didn't know she had died.

[Archae]

2. Why was her death so "suspicious?"

She refused to wear even a seat belt, and got thrown from a car in an accident.

Nothing "suspicious" there.

[abelenkpe]

3. Who doesn't wear a seatbelt?

Come to think of it...I do know some republicans that view the seatbelt law as invasive big government tellin' em what to do.

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. Former NJ Governor Jon Corzine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l91zCmSVhg

[abelenkpe]

34. Wow.

Glad he did a PSA to encourage others to wear their seatbelts.


check this out from the comments section tho:

Fuck you, governor. Let people CHOOSE whether or not to wear a seatbelt. We're grown-ups for crying out loud! I don't need a nanny-state gov't telling me how to make personal choices. This kind of nonsense should NEVER be on the air!

It's like those stupid health nut PSAs that always say "Eat right" "Eat 5 fruits and veggies a day" blah blah blah blah blah. Well, you know what? You don't NEED to follow the food pyramid to the tooth. I don't eat fruits and veggies often, and I'm doing OK.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah republicans, free to be stupid.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. Darwin Award against government intrusion!!!

Yep, the govmint didn't interfere with HER right to decide whether or not to wear a seat belt. She didn't wear one, so she WON!!!

:SARCASM:

Typical hypocritical right winger who had an affair.

[Ter]

7. Anytime an outspoken controversial (Chenoweth, Paul Wellstone) or indited (Ted Stevens, Ron Brown))

Politician dies in an "accident", I always think it was a hit.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. In that year, 42,642 Americans died in car accidents.

Also in the accident with the frothing right winger were two family members who survived. The very idea of putting this Bachmann like nutter in a parenthetical grouping with Wellstone is absurd. She was militia fodder.

[Ter]

23. Neo-cons hate Wellstone types and Chenoweth types

Both were against the New World Order, and Chenoweth openly stated we have a Shadow Government, something that's finally acceptable to talk about these days. Neo-cons want these types silenced for good. They are no good, believe me.

[yellowcanine]

29. The tinfoil hats will say, "Someone knew she didn't wear a seatbelt and staged the accident."

Thus making her death likely if not certain. Also the fact that people in the car survived - presumably because they were wearing seatbelts gives credence to the notion that it was an accidental death. How's that for a conspiracy?

[truedelphi]

4. I remember her for some of her work with

Dan Burton. Both Chenowith and Sen Burton had close family members injured by vaccines, and were not afraid to stand up and go head to head against the vaccine manufacturers.

She seemed like a nice person, but I have never lived in Idaho, so don't know how she governed in that state.

(Whatever your take on vaccines, you'd probably agree that it is far easier in this day and age to go along with the Big Pharma people rather than to do anything else, like ask or insist on safe, clean, hygienic labs for vaccine development and production.)

[stranger81]

5. Wasn't she part of the black helicopter crowd in the '90s?

Maybe I'm confusing her with someone else. But wasn't aware she had died, or under those circumstances. Strange, given the paranoia she used to be famous for.

[Ter]

10. Yes, and maybe she was right and found something

Never know.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. The "black helicopters" were probably DEA helicopters,

which were (maybe still are) dark green. There was a lot of talk about farmers earning extra cash by growing marijuana.

[Major Hogwash]

26. No, actually the ones Helen talked about were Army National Guard helicopters.

Stationed here in Boise.
But, try telling that to some of those cornpone fed taiter haids!!

Christ, they manufactured so many conspiracy theories here in the 1990s, you'd have thought that Bill Clinton was a hybrid alien from planet Exuerba, whose main goal was to spread his "seed" among real human beans, until enough of them could take over Amurika and become of age to vote when they would elect the first hybrid alien to the office of the President.

The birther movement is huge out here.
Some of those people don't believe that Obama was born in Hawaii because they've never been to Hawaii.
So then they say this -- "So, how do you know it exists? Have you ever been there?"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. I spent 19 years in the state next to Idaho (Oregon)

Idaho has some stunning landscapes and some really scary people who don't get out enough.

[Major Hogwash]

37. Oregon is a great state. Great coasts, milder weather, Portland.

The mountain areas are nice too. I really like The Dalles area quite a bit, but I haven't been to all of Oregon.
I have a few friends who lived in Northern Oregon many years ago and they were there when Mount St Helens blew her top and they said it was odd to go outside and just see 2 peaks, instead of 3, on the northeastern horizon.

[Drunken Irishman]

35. I saw a black helicopter once!

A friend and I cut school in 2002 and were driving up in the Avenues area of Salt Lake City.

That neighborhood is older and just outside downtown. It also slopes up a mountain, so it's extremely hilly with views of the Salt Lake Valley.

Anyway, I was driving and we were rounding a corner, when out of nowhere this black chopper rises right in front of us. It stays there for a second and then zips down into another part of the neighborhood (or so it seemed). I drove and drove around looking for it, but we couldn't find it.

OF COURSE, this was in Jan. 2002 and the city was right on the cusp of the Winter Games here in Salt Lake. The first Olympics in the post-9/11 world (only roughly a year and a few months later). Security was TIGHT. So that probably explains it.

RIGHT?

:o

[Major Hogwash]

36. They fly out here all the time. Helen's lie was that they didn't have numbers or any designators.

Or, in other words, the helicopters couldn't be identified.

That was just a lie, and she spread that lie whenever she spoke in front of large crowds around the region that were paranoid of the federal government to begin with.
She served in Washington for 3 terms and I worked on all 3 campaigns to get her out of office because she was a loon.

[Drunken Irishman]

38. A right-winger lying?

Clearly you jest.

It's interesting how right-wingers use rhetoric aimed at the militia, anti-government crowd. They love to fire up those groups. Especially in states like Utah & Idaho. We hear it here all the time.

In So. Utah, there is a town called La Verkin that banned the United Nations.

:rofl:

[femmocrat]

6. I remember her... she was a "Femi-Newtie" LOL

That is what Pat Shroeder called Newt's groupies uh....female devotees.

Wasn't she married to a man who stole money from his family? Damn... now I have to look it up!

[kestrel91316]

8. I do. Why did you have to remind me of that lunatic?

Her obituary:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301565.html

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Chenoweth-Hage

Some perspective:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2006/10/helen-chenoweth-is-dead.html

[DeSwiss]

9. I remember she was a Rightwing NUTCASE.

REP HELEN CHENOWETH (R-Id.):
In her 1998 campaign, Chenoweth admitted to a six-year adulterous affair with a married associate. In 1995, Chenoweth had denied the affair when asked about it by The Spokane Spokesman-Review, but now she claims a pardon from a higher authority: "I've asked for God's forgiveness, and I've received it," she revealed.

SIDE NOTE: Chenoweth also claims that the government is using secret black helicopters to enforce the Endangered Species Act, which she vehemently opposes. She has broken campaign finance laws on at least two occasions.

http://www.comedyontap.com/features/congress.html

This snippet (the video is nearly an hour long) is from the first five minutes or so, and features Chenoweth holding forth on the causes of global warming:

What is some of the programs that the environmentalists are engaging in? Well, some of the programs are programs of fear -- fear that is so broad and so expansive that you and I can do nothing about it.

What about the idea that the earth is warming? You know, we hear that every day -- that the earth is warming. But when we look back, where are temperatures taken? Well, they’re taken from airports. Weather balloons go up from airports, where heat rises from miles and miles of concrete.

And you see, the satellites that are recording data around the globe will tell us that today, the earth is not warming. But you see, what the pseudoscientists -- who have turned into political scientists and lobbying scientists -- are saying is that these issues are so huge that you and I can do nothing about it.

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/flashback-helen-chenoweth-global-war

- The best thing I could say about her is that she was sort of a female version of Newt Gringrich. Eminently forgettable.....

[Ter]

12. Except that Gingrich is part of the establishment and a neo-con

She was not.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Excuse me, but Buchanan and Paul do not agree with the left on

many issues. Sorry. Especially not Buchanan. With Paul you have his sort of 'no drug laws' thing, and not liking these wars, but all for different reasons. Two issues is not 'many' and Paul is not also Buchanan, who is a right wing bigot to the core, a turd and a government professional for a lifetime.

[Ter]

13. The far-right (and far-left for that matter) both turn back around

Buchanan is against both wars, wants to bring all the troops home, opposes NAFTA, and the Patriot Act. That's a lot more than two issues, and there are many more.

Paul and Buchanan have similar views, except Buchanan is more socially conservative on abortion, gay rights, porn, and drugs. Other than that, they agree on the above.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Buchanan is a Nixon guy. Anti semite, homophobe and racist.

Buchanan to Nixon: "integration of blacks and whites -- but even more so, poor and well-to-do -- is less likely to result in accommodation than it is in perpetual friction, as the incapable are placed consciously by government side by side with the capable."
Pat to the Christian Coallition: "Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free."
On gay folks:"Gay rights activists seek to substitute, for laws rooted in Judeo-Christian morality, laws rooted in the secular humanist belief that all consensual sexual acts are morally equal. That belief is anti-biblical and amoral; to codify it into law is to codify a lie."
On women: "Rail as they will about 'discrimination,' women are simply not endowed by nature with the same measures of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed in the fiercely competitive world of Western capitalism."

Pat is a right winger, who takes issues with some other right wingers because they are Jewish. This does not make for areas of agreement with the liberals. Pat defends McCarthy, Nixon, and offers apologia for Hitler, no less.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. and just by the way, Paul and Buchanan agree on abortion

They are both opposed totally. Buchanan is not more conservative than Paul on that issue, they are both far right on that issue. Paul and Buchanan also agree on equal rights for gay people, they both oppose them.
You are deeply confused as to the facts at hand. So saying 'many more' again does not sell your theory here. A nut died in a car wreck. You wish to equate two of her right wing nutter brothers to people like Paul Wellstone, and claim Buchanan agrees with the left, when he thinks most of us are subhuman.

[Ter]

22. Yes he is more conservative on this issue

Paul does not support a Human Rights Amendment to the Constitution (banning it forever in every state), Pat does. Pat also talks about the issues, far, far more than Paul. The anti-abortion crowd has mixed views on Ron Paul. Rand Paul is even to the right of his dad on abortion.

You're also dead wrong on their gay stance. Paul usually votes against gay right, but he never says hateful things like gays "tamper with the forces of nature" and "AIDS is nature's answer to homosexuality." Paul also was one of a few to vote to repeal DADT, as he said it was a mistake of his to support it in the past.

Trust me on this one, I know these two men (not personally) extremely well, and have been following them for over 20 years. Pat is the most famous paleo-conservative in American history, and Paul the most famous paleo-libertarian. Each one would support the other, and they both despise Karl Rove/George Bush neo-cons.

[karynnj]

28. Yet in 2004, after almost 4 years of George Bush, did either support John Kerry -

even with big qualifications.

Buchanan chose Bush - emphatically and often. I don't what Paul did - but that means he certainly did not publicly attempt to push for Kerry - even as ABB.

[Ter]

32. I'mm not sure who Paul supported in 2004

I know he voted Constitution Party in 2008. Pat always complains about the Republican nominee, but seems to hold his nose and vote for him anyway, go figure.

As for supporting Kerry, neither would (or should, considering their views). Kerry probably agrees with them on 15% of the issues, while Bush maybe 40% of the issues. If anything, they should have voted third party.

[karynnj]

33. My point is just what you said,

Their "dislike" for Bush and the neo cons was not sufficient to lead their like thinkers to vote for the only viable alternative to Bush and the neo-cons. The election really is a choice of the two main parties in almost all cases.

[Ter]

39. Yeah, true

Paul was somewhat more consistent. He seemed to get disgusted with Bush in his second term, and hammered him daily.

[NoPasaran]

15. I remember her

I think the term "batshit crazy" was coined just for her.

[pansypoo53219]

18. heliocoptors.

saw on bill maher's old PI.

[Dawson Leery]

19. She was part of the black helicopter crowd.

[mikekohr]

20. Family Values Home Wrecker Helen?

"Chenoweth remained a controversial and polarizing figure in Idaho politics throughout her career. While in Congress she articulated and defended a freedom philosophy that was simultaneously cherished and derided by supporters and opponents. She was a critic of President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal and was one of the first to call for his resignation over the affair, although she admitted that she had carried on a six-year illicit romance with rancher Vernon Ravenscroft, when she worked for his natural-resources consulting firm during the 1980s. Chenoweth claimed that her case was different from the Clinton/Lewinsky case since she was a private citizen at the time and was honest with the public when confronted with the charge in 1998, although claims were made that she had denied it in a 1995 interview.<5>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Chenoweth

[justiceischeap]

42. Vernon Ravenscroft? Okay, the affair didn't really happen, she just read about it in a romance novel

I mean really, Ravenscroft?

[catabryna]

24. There was nothing suspicious about her death...

and yes, I met her many, many years ago when I lived in Idaho. I worked with her son-in-law for a few years and knew her daughter and grandchildren. One of the nicest families I have ever met. I wouldn't vote for her, and she knew it, but she was a nice person and I was very sorry to hear of her death.

Edited to add: Even conservatives aren't perfect.

[Raine]

41. I've known some personally very nice conservatives

it's just a shame that they can get such crazy beliefs that then they inflict on others.

[LAGC]

25. Holy shit, she died?!

I thought she was still living retired in North Idaho, and I'm FROM Idaho.

This must have not been a very big item in the news, or I just missed it.

[Major Hogwash]

27. Back in 2006, after she moved to Nevada.

She didn't wear a seat belt when the SUV that she was in as a passenger left the road, rolled over and threw her from out of the SUV, then it rolled over her.