We have lost our bravest warrior, but we must continue his good fight.
Michael Walsh
National Review Online
3/1/2012
In the war against the institutional Left, Andrew Breitbart was the Right’s Achilles; the bravest of all the warriors, now fallen on the plain. There was no combat in which he would not engage, no battle — however small — he would not join with glee, and no outcome acceptable except total victory. His unexpected death last night at the young age of 43 is not the end of his crusade, but its beginning.
No figure on our side was more despised in the whited sepulchers of the media/academic/political Left, and Breitbart wore their loathing as a daily badge of honor. His refusal to grant even a glimmer of moral absolution constantly enraged them, and his very existence was an affront to their carefully constructed — to use one of Andrew’s favorite words — “narrative” of moral superiority. Naturally, they are already dancing on his grave, with the manic joy of being suddenly and miraculously delivered from one of their most potent enemies.
Breitbart’s death is a tragedy, not only for those who delighted in following him into battle but for those who cheered him on as well. Andrew was larger than life, a charismatic natural leader, a big man in every way — physically, spiritually, and intellectually. He would meet a total stranger and immediately try to enlist him or her into his army, railing against the Left’s mendacity and misdeeds. He would practically pick you up by the lapels and shake you in order to make you understand the furious, urgent necessity of his fight…
…A bluff Irishman who had been adopted as a baby by a Jewish couple in Brentwood (one of L.A.’s tonier neighborhoods), he moved to the right in college, at Tulane University in New Orleans, and crossed over completely with the Clarence Thomas hearings, which fueled his rage against the Left for their hypocritical treatment of American blacks. I can personally attest that no cause fired his righteous indignation more than the Left’s plantation attitude toward African-Americans…
…We don’t know the cause of death yet — he collapsed while taking a walk late last night — but he did suffer from heart trouble, and told me he had spent some time at UCLA Medical Center in the past year for treatment. As a heart patient myself, I often urged him to slow down and take care of his family — even Achilles had to spend time in his tent.
It was advice he could not heed. It was not in his DNA ever to leave the field. He was the kind of leader the Right needs more of — not a go-along, get-along time-serving functionary but a tactical commander on the battlefield..
Read the entire article at National Review Online.
Also at NRO, The Five-Alarm Firebell Falls Silent, by Jonah Goldberg
Andrew Breitbart’s heart was too big to fail, but it did anyway.
If you don’t know who Breitbart was, you haven’t been paying attention. A conservative activist, entrepreneur, author, muckraker, media pioneer, and performance artist of sorts, in his heart he was a radical.
His friends saw him as a fearless truth-teller and provocateur. (The word “fearless” will have to be retired from overuse when all of his obituaries have been written.) His enemies, and they are legion even in death, saw him as the most vile creature who ever slithered upon the earth.
Within hours of the news, Twitter lit up with repugnant and ghoulish statements from left-wingers celebrating the premature death of a man with four small children…
…what made him a public figure is what drove him to leap into battle day after day. Andrew had profound contempt for those on the left who claimed a birthright to a monopoly on virtue and tolerance.
He rejected in the marrow of his bones the idea that conservatives needed to apologize for being conservative or that liberals had any special authority to pronounce on the political decency and honesty of others…
Read the whole thing.
Daily Kos calls for Westboro Baptist Church to protest at Breitbart funeral
Stay classy, Markos Moulitsas.
Although the news of Andrew Breitbart’s death is still fairly fresh, the merry band of faceless marauders at the Daily Kos have decided it is time to use his death as an opportunity to make political hay.
A legend and a hero is dead. Rest in peace, Andrew Breitbart at by Oleg Atbashian at The People’s Cube.
…In your own words, “We, cold warriors, have been vindicated. They never stop. They’re always on the forward march – and not just through the cultural institutions where they act most nefariously – but now they control the top office of the land. We will defy the mainstream media when they tell us not to call it what it is.” …
Filmmaker Steve Bannon: Breitbart’s tapes of Obama’s college years to be released in 7 to 10 days
“I have videos, this election we’re going to vet him,” new media mogul Andrew Breitbart proclaimed at this year’s CPAC event.
Breitbart was, of course, referring to clips that allegedly show President Barack Obama during his college days — videos that the media leader claimed would show “why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008.”…
…On Thursday evening, Steve Bannon, a writer and documentary filmmaker (“The Undefeated”), told FOX News‘ Sean Hannity that Breitbart’s company will release the mysterious Obama Harvard tapes within seven to 10 days…
Wikipedia vandals attack Rolling Stone blogger who “couldn’t be happier” about Breitbart’s death. And, yes, that is a photo of elephant poo.
Andrew Breitbart at O.C. Tax Day Tea Party, April 15, 2009 ” Breitbart often reminisced about attending his first tea party in Orange County.”
Kathy Shaidle Assesses the Legacy of Andrew Breitbart
It’s an excellent interview all around, but Kathy makes some especially perceptive comments toward the end where she mentions that Breitbart was an entrepreneur who had set himself up so that he couldn’t be fired. That’s a crucial point. Because when you work for someone else your right to free speech in inherently restricted by the potential impact (or fallout) of such speech on the employing institution. William Jacobson alluded to this the other day when he mentioned the “restraints” that hindered so many of us conservatives from fully speaking out and challenging the left’s fascism…
Afterburner with Bill Whittle: My friend Andrew:
Update: Dennis Miller: In a rant by the late, great Andrew Breitbart in January of this year, he says he’s tired of political intimidation from the Right–‘It’s Garbage’. Follow the link to hear the audio.
