Category: Andrew Breitbart

Aleister at American Glob shares a memory of being an unknown blogger in fall 2008 when he learned that Andrew Breitbart was launching Big Hollywood:

Without expecting much, I emailed him. All I said was that I heard about Big Hollywood and I liked his idea. How can I help?
Less than ten minutes later, he wrote back.
“Thanks for writing. Here’s my cell number… call me.”
You have to understand, as a blogger I email other bloggers and media people all the time. I never get a response like that so quickly. I was a little stunned but once I had a chance to gather my thoughts I called him and he answered.
We talked about his background and mine, what he was trying to do and the people he had already recruited to help him. I remember thinking at the time – I can’t believe I’m talking to Andrew Breitbart.
A short time later I was contributing material to a nationally recognized blog. I’ll never forget my gratitude for being allowed to be part of something so special.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to Andrew Breitbart.”

That story captures the essence of what was so amazing about Breitbart: He was always open to everybody. How many hundreds — perhaps thousands — of people had his personal cell-phone number? He would talk to anybody. Merely by talking to them, and more importantly, by listening to them, he would make them feel important, make them believe that there was real value to whatever it was they were doing for the cause.

A few months ago, I’d called or texted Breitbart about something and left my cell-phone in the kitchen, plugged in to re-charge, while I worked in my home office. So the phone rang and my son Jefferson answered, then brought the phone to me. Andrew and I talked a while and, after I’d hung up the phone, Jefferson said: “Wow, Dad, you know Andrew Breitbart?”

A lot of people knew Andrew Breitbart. He loved to meet people, to hang out and socialize. Among those whom you could call “celebrities” in the conservative movement, he was the most accessible person I knew, no matter how famous he became.

I first met him at CPAC 2007, shortly after he’d launched Breitbart.com, when he was still known mainly to news junkies, as Matt Drudge’s longtime right-hand man and the guy who had helped Arianna Huffington launch HuffPo. And a few months later, I interviewed him while he was in D.C. for a Reason magazine event:

“The idea that I could do for a living that which I would do in my free time, for free, is the single greatest thing on the planet,” he says.
“I realize that my entire brain was meant to be connected to the Internet — it is my Ritalin. I don’t feel that I have a disease now. I really don’t. I’m like, ‘Oh, finally the device has been invented.’ That’s why I call it a panacea. The Internet is the greatest single invention, to me, ever.”

You can read the rest of that. Breitbart was a visionary — inimitable and arguably irreplaceable. Michelle Malkin says, “If he were here, he’d be retweeting all the insane tweets from the Left rejoicing over his death.”

Of course, he would. He was fearless like that, and took an ironic pleasure in being hated by the Left. He was extraordinarily generous with his time, and lent his support to many good causes.

Andrew had agreed to be a board member of the National Bloggers Club, whose co-founder Ali Akbar is now organizing a Saturday night memorial in Breitbart’s honor in D.C. Just send Ali a Twitter message if you’re interested in attending.

So many people like Aleister had the same experience: “I can’t believe I’m talking to Andrew Breitbart.”

And now they all have the same painful feeling: “I can’t believe I’ll never talk to Andrew Breitbart again.”

UPDATE: Details on the Breitbart memorial in D.C.:

Saturday, 7:30pm until 10:30pm

722 12th ST NW Suite 400 Washington? DC 20005

All friends are invited to attend and honor Andrew’s accomplishments in journalism. We expect several members of Congress, bloggers, and journalists who knew Andrew as a visionary and a warrior for the conservative movement.
ATR is graciously hosting this event.

UPDATE II: This is typical Breitbart: A few hours before his death, he stops into a bar, finds himself debating a total stranger, and doesn’t mind at all:

“He was friendly and engaging,” Sando recalls. “I said, ‘You can’t be very happy with the slate of Republican candidates’ and he said, ‘Why would you say that?’ I said, ‘Well, they’re talking about contraception,’ and he said, ‘The conversation is being framed by the liberal media.’ I said, ‘Well, the media isn’t writing Rick Santorum’s speeches for him.’ We had a back-and-forth for awhile until we said we weren’t going to agree on some things.”
The friendly debate continued in the bar as Breitbart sipped red wine, says Sando. “We just hit it off, he was delightful. There were other people who sat down and joined the conversation.”

Notice how Breitbart responded to Sando’s provocation with an open-ended question: “Why would you say that?” A tiny glimpse at Breitbart’s brilliance — rather than go immediately on the defensive, make your antagonist explain his challenge.

WINCHESTER, Virginia
“There is never a good time for bad things to happen,” I had just remarked to my wife, as we drove to the hospital where today we are dealing with a family emergency.

Minutes later, my cell phone rang. Jeff Quinton was calling to tell me the news: “Andrew Breitbart died.”

It was incredible. It had to be some kind of bad joke. I called Matthew Vadum, a contributor to Breitbart’s Big Government, who said he had confirmed the shocking news.

Vadum and I had just been hanging out with Breitbart last Friday at the Marriott Hotel in Troy, Michigan, where Breitbart spoke Saturday at the Americans for Prosperity Michigan forum.

A little later, Cynthia Yockey called me in tears, mourning Andrew’s loss, but as I told her, our own sense of loss of our friend and ally — a powerful and innovative force in conservative New Media — is inconsequential compared to the fathomless pain experienced by Andrew’s wife and four children, who should be in our prayers.

He may have been the greatest genius I’ve ever met, with a keen, intuitive mind. Although he had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder — he had a freewheeling quality about him, and his schedule was quite improvisational – Breitbart was also capable of a laser-like focus on whatever subject captured his interest. There were times you’d be talking to him and, if that spark of passionate interest hit, his luminous blue eyes would glow with an intensity that was almost frightening.

Andrew was 10 years younger than me. I’d known him for five years. His death reminded me of the 2007 death of John Berthoud of the American Taxpayers Union who, like Andrew, generously gave of his time and knowledge to help build the liberty movement.

I’m sure I’ll have updates later, and regret that I’m not in a position to do more blogging about this tragic loss today, but as I said: There is never a good time for bad things to happen.

R.I.P., Andrew.

UPDATE: Everyone who knew Andrew is probably telling stories today of their “Breitbart moments.” One of my favorites was in April 2010 at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, when Ali Akbar threw a blogger bash for GOP congressional candidate Ray McKinney and Breitbart showed up to regale us all with tales of New Orleans voodoo:

Lyndsey Fifield reacts to Breitbart’s remark — a Tulane alumnus, Breitbart was confirming that New Orleans voodoo is a reality — as Dave Weigel of Slate and political operative Zach Oldham stare in stunned amazement.

UPDATE II: Linked by the Rhetorican — thanks!

UPDATE III: Linked by the Lonely Conservative — thanks!

UPDATE IV: Rick Santorum reacts:

Obviously prayers go to him and his family and it’s a big shock. What a powerful voice. It’s almost you mean you think of anyone who’s more energy who’s out there constantly driving and pushing he would be.

Breitbart’s politics were a bit more libertarian than Santorum’s, but Andrew was strongly pro-life. It was kind of personal with him, because he was adopted — his birth parents were a couple of ’60s hippie types — and Andrew thus understood deeply the enormous potential of “unwanted” babies.

UPDATE V: Linked by the Anchoress and Daily Pundit — thanks!

UPDATE VI: Linked by Don Surber, Trevor Loudon, Andrew J. Patrick, Red Alexandria, Da Tech Guy, Moose and Squirrel, Dateline Zero, Temple of Mut, The Radio Patriot, Fire Andrea Mitchell, Katy’s Conservative Corner, Wizbang, Fausta Wertz, Republican Redefined, NOLA Defender, Nice Deb, Katy Pundit and The Camp of the Saints — thanks!

UPDATE VII: Linked by American Glob, POH Diaries and That Mr. G Guy — thanks!

by Smitty

I still haven’t worked with the video from CPAC of Breitbart and Citizens United, but that video promises to more or less explode. The feisty Breitbart works on Cenk here, who seems to throw out the famous ObamaCare spitting incident merely to poke Andrew. I couldn’t make it more that a third of the way through this; Uygur is too irritating:

Via Hot Air

Via Instapundit, Walter Russell Mead really misses the point:

That is how lame Occupy is. This so-called “movement” doesn’t even have the clout and enthusiasm to match one wing of the Tea Party—the weak wing.

The point isn’t to be a proper movement in the slightest. I’m still unsure about Ladd Ehlinger’s point that #Occupy is intended to tilt the election. My opinion is that the intent of #Occupy is to have a chilling effect on the Tea Parties; to get thugs in place with a threat of violence that will diminish the size and scope of pro-liberty demonstrations this year. To suck the oxygen out of public demonstrations entirely, as legitimate ones will hurt Obama’s popularity.

The Left can’t create anything, but it can destroy to control, as they are attempting to do with the right of assembly. Barack Obama, who is orchestrating the affair, (with sufficient layers of indirection to remain legitimate, of course) is failing utterly to uphold the Constitution here. This Administration, like Scottish cooking, seems built on a dare. The latter, culinary, the former, political.