I understand what you're saying. The problem is that when a public figure dies, and a person immediately jumps in to remind everybody about something negative or perceived as negative associated with that person, it doesn't tend to come off as a balanced, thoughtful assessment of that public figure's life. What folks tend to hear is "I'm glad so-and-so is dead because they disagreed with me on something or another."
You might think that that's a totally unreasonable interpretation, but I encourage you to read through the Scalia thread and note that there were actually a few people saying in so many words exactly what I just indicated. I'm sure there were some in the Ted Kennedy and Reagan threads too.
You grandmother might be a really bad person, and you might be quite open to hearing a full inventory of all her personal faults on most days, but I'm guessing you wouldn't care to hear it on the day of her funeral. It doesn't take much just to let it go for a day or two, and then if you feel like talking about 1980s-era drug policies, by all means start a thread on that topic.