The point of a comparison matters. "I didn't know Aaron Swartz personally, but I know enough of him to think he was a good guy." is making exactly same point.
Also, "One is a businessman whose tactics you disapprove of and consider to be unethical," the other was a politician whose tactics I disapprove of and consider to be unethical. Gotta love euphemisms that turn everything into nothing, and applying them selectively.
You seem to be saying that extorting millions of dollars from business competitors, even if legal, is on the same moral plane as murdering millions of people. The legality issue matters a bit, insofar as a potential competitor has notice that such business risks may occur, and can plan for them economically before entering the market, whereas people don't reasonably expect to be rounded up and sent off to concentration camps fitted with gas chambers as a matter of course. But the more important point is that I don't consider business dealings, however harsh or unethical, to be on the same moral plane as genocide.
Also, "One is a businessman whose tactics you disapprove of and consider to be unethical," the other was a politician whose tactics I disapprove of and consider to be unethical. Gotta love euphemisms that turn everything into nothing, and applying them selectively.