Jesse "Breshnev" Helms Dept

Chris Hitchens didn't like Jesse Helms much. Well, I didn't either (though I object to Hitchens's apparent opinion that being a redneck disqualifies one for influence on American foreign policy), but I doubt I detested him quite as much as Hitchens. All the same, the following story is so utterly delightful I don't dare check it against Scope for fear of finding it to have been untrue:

[Helms] once introduced Benazir Bhutto as the prime minister of India. All right, that could have happened to anybody. But what about the hearings on North Korea in which he made repeated references to "Kim Jong the Second"? In order to prevent any repetition of this idiotic gaffe, Helms' staff propped up a piece of card on which was clearly written the pronunciation "Kim Jong ILL." The senator from North Carolina duly made the adjustment, referring thenceforth to the North Korean despot as "Kim Jong the Third."