Widely read conservative Internet publisher Andrew Breitbart has died, his attorney confirms. The websites he founded ran a statement Thursday morning announcing that Breitbart, 43, died “unexpectedly from natural causes” in Los Angeles shortly after midnight…. “We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior,” the article on the site said. “Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.”
I have some decidedly mixed feelings about the passing of Andrew Breitbart, who was was all of 43. I know that, like most of us, he had people in his life who loved and cared for him, and I don’t want to compound their pain. My intent is not to dance on Breitbart’s grave, but neither can I ignore the reality that his public persona was that of an odious, objectionable person, consumed by hatred, anger, and mean-spiritedness. The public Andrew Breitbart was, in every sense, a miserable excuse for a human being.
In January, I had a very short Twitter contretemps with Breitbart. Most of it will remain justifiably consigned to history. As you can probably tell by the graphic I’ve posted at the top of this piece, he was not one for reasoned, rational discussion. Andrew Breitbart was a Conservative whose idea of debate was comprised of equal parts unfiltered rage, personal insults, and flying spittle from his barely lucid screaming.
Breitbart’s resume is well-known and not worth reliving here. Suffice it to say that he was far more adept at working to destroy people and careers than he was at building. Never one to let the truth get in the way of a story, especially one that could destroy a career and end with him regarded and treated as if he was a “real” journalist, Breitbart would, and generally did, trample anyone and any truth that stood between him and his time in the limelight. He may have seen himself as a Conservative activist and crusader, but the reality was that Andrew Breitbart was a sick, mean-spirited man willing to do and/or say anything that brought him attention. By all indications, he wanted desperately to be taken seriously as a journalist, even though his relationship with truth and objectivity was so tenuous as to be nonexistent.
Breitbart was less a Conservative than a mean-spirited bully, a man (if could indeed be called that) seemingly incapable of having a rational discussion with those who disagree with him. This headline was typical of the tactics Breitbart normally employed when dealing with those he disagreed with despised:
Andrew Breitbart says Occupy has a ‘culture of rape’ and ACORN is paying ‘unsafe people’ to occupy
It wasn’t about debate. It wasn’t about wanting what was best for America. It was about shouting down and publicly embarrassing and destroying anyone he deemed as evil and un-American…which in his case, meant Liberals and Democrats. Breitbart was largely responsible for the smear and propaganda campaign that destroyed ACORN. There was no truth contained in the charges and accusations that Breitbart and his minion, James O’Keefe, leveled at ACORN, but the truth wouldn’t have come closed to destroying ACORN, which was the only thing that mattered.
I don’t know what the man was like on a personal level, and I normally like to at least meet someone before taking an active dislike to them. Andrew Breitbart, though, was an exception to the rule. It wasn’t that I disagreed with his political beliefs; I despised them for their ignorance, vitriol, and mean-spiritedness. Free speech being what it is, though, he of course had every right to believe and speak as he did. I’ve often said that free speech and expression can be, and very often is, highly offensive and objectionable speech. That definition should be accompanied by a picture of Andrew Breitbart.
My condolences go out to Andrew Breitbart’s family and those who cared about him. Their sense of pain and loss is, and should be, separate from the odiousness of his persona. I hope that his family and loved ones will cherish good memories of him. Lord knows that those who Breitbart worked to destroy may well have a different take. He was a living testimony to the need for, and power of, forgiveness…if only because he had so much to be forgiven for.
Andrew Breitbart could have done so much good. He could have channeled his considerable energy and conviction in a positive manner. He could have chosen to work to build America into a place that reflected his values. He did none of that, however, instead choosing to hate those he disagreed with and actively working to destroy those with the temerity to think, believe, and live differently. There are no doubt many Conservatives who will mourn his passing and hold him up as true American patriot. Those of us who know the truth, though, are left with a much different, and much more accurate portrait of a man consumed by hatred and vitriol.
What a sad, ugly way to have lived….
I try hard to see the good in people, and though I sometimes fall short, I do feel that I’m honest in my efforts. Try as I might to find the positive in Andrew Breitbart’s public persona…there’s simply nothing to celebrate…and I’ll just leave it there. I can only hope that he will reap what he chose to sow during his life.
America is a better place today than it was yesterday.
