Let's Not Byrd Stevens

Former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens died in a plane crash yesterday.  Death is a sad thing and my sympathies are with his family.  But let's not Byrd Stevens.  Remember when Senator Robert Byrd died, how the Democrats cleansed him of everything he did wrong as explainable? No?  Here's an example;

Ted Stevens served his country and his state. But he made mistakes. Let's not compound that by making the same mistake Democrats made with Senator Byrd. Ted Stevens should not be lionized because he has died, just as Byrd should not have been. Don't forget, Stevens had corruption issues.  To overlook them politically, would be the same as that for which we are condemning Democrats.  I'm not saying Stevens did nothing good, or that he doesn't deserve some respect for his contributions over a lifetime.  I'm not saying his family doesn't deserve our sympathies.  What I'm saying is he doesn't deserve a whitewashing of his record like Robert Byrd received.  Byrd didn't deserve a pass either.  The difference of course is that the press, who mostly took a flyer on pointing out the whitewashing on Byrd's record will likely be more than willing to point out the sins of Stevens.