R.I.P.

Two Democratic Party figures in two days. One active, one no longer, but still influential.

Robert Matsui died of a strange ailment yesterday which made him susceptible to pnemonia. He was a steady opponent of Social Security privatization, and someone with first-hand experience of those internment camps the Maglalingadingdongs and Daniel Pipes of the world are so enamoured with. He was 63.

Shirley Chisolm also died yesterday, the first African-American woman elected to Congress. She served seven terms, ran for President in 1972 and won over a 150 delegates, and she never stopped advocating and agitating for the less fortunate -- nowadays she'd be called "un-American". But, in truth, she was as great a patriot as any. She was 80.