Democrat Representative Bob Matsui has died suddenly of a blood disorder. He was not a man I agreed with often (particularly over the social security issue) but he was a dedicated public servant who's feelings about this country ran deep.

I wasn't going to post anything about his death at all seeing as how I don't really have a whole lot to say about it, but I saw this Oliver Willis post and thought I'd speak up.

When Ronald Reagan died a lot of bloggers, myself included, collected some fairly mean-spirited and even hateful comments from the left which were directed at Reagan. The people we quoted were delighting in the man's death as though he were evil incarnate. It was a side of humanity I wish didn't exist.

Unfortunately, some on the right have taken to saying some similar things about Rep. Matsui's death and those things are every bit as wrong as what was said about Reagan. I don't think its occurring as often or as virulently as when Reagan died, but its happening and its wrong.

I don't care what you're feelings are about a particular politician, it is over the line to rejoice in their death. That sort of sentiment should be reserved for monsters like Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, not U.S. Representatives who you disagree with on policy matters.

I think we all need to remember a lesson from our childhood when we feel tempted to speak ill of the dead: If you don't have anything nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all.