Rest in peace?

Jerry Falwell is one of the most despicable human beings to grace this country over the past century, right up there with Klan leaders and the Reverend Fred Phelps. He died today. Am I supposed to feel bad at all bad about this?

When Richard Nixon died, I was 14, and I remember watching Larry King and thinking about all the pleasant calls Larry was receiving praising Nixon, even from the former President's enemies. I even considered calling in and saying that how ever much I disagreed with (and loathed) Nixon, I still felt bad about his death. Man, was I naive!

There are good and bad people in the world. When one of the bad people die, we are not supposed to rejoice, but we are not supposed to celebrate their lives either. Falwell was disgusting. Wholly. He had absolutely no redeeming qualities. His righteousness was just a cloak for power, his preaching and moralism just an excuse for his prejudice. He believed in the inferiority of blacks and gays, in the evil of feminists, in the justice of Apartheid. He blamed 911 on homosexuality and abortion. He was terrible.

So, today, while Mitt Romney and John McCain kiss the ring of the now deceased Jerry Falwell, and the rest of the Republican candidates try to mention him as many times as they can during the debate tonight, the rest of us can take solace that while a man has died, the world has one less voice for intolerance, racism, and evil. So, no celebrations. But no false tears and carefully worded eulogies. The world has lost one of its worst.