I am a Christian Conservative Blogger. I do not get paid for writing. I wish I did. Under God’s watch, perhaps some day, I will be.
I only wish that I could touch as many Americans’ lives as the Conservative Blogger whom we lost yesterday did.
Fox News has the story:
Widely read conservative Internet publisher Andrew Breitbart, whose flare for battle with politicians and the mainstream media earned him a reputation as one of the nation’s most influential commentators, died Thursday.
The websites he founded ran a statement Thursday morning announcing that Breitbart, 43, died “unexpectedly from natural causes” in Los Angeles shortly after midnight. His attorney and editor-in-chief of those sites confirmed his death to Fox News.
“We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior,” the statement 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.”
Breitbart was a prolific commentator who founded several websites devoted to covering politics, entertainment and everything in-between. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Drudge Report before breaking off to start his own outlets — including Big Government, Big Hollywood and Breitbart.tv.
The statement on his sites quoted the concluding passage from his book, Righteous Indignation.
“I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and — famously — I enjoy making enemies. Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I’ve lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I’ve gained hundreds, thousands — who knows? — of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night,” Breitbart wrote.
The statement ended: “Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us.”
It has since been found out, as published by The Hollywood Reporter, after his death, that Breitbart spent the last hour of his life taking politics in a LA bar named The Brentwood.
There, he struck up a conversation with Arthur Sando, a marketing executive who didn’t know Breitbart but likely was the last person to talk extensively with him before he died.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sando says he arrived at the bar in the tony Brentwood section of L.A. around 10 p.m. and soon the empty seat next to his was filled by a man with a familiar face.
“I tried to figure out how I knew him,” says Sando, a veteran publicity and marketing executive who works for dietary supplement company MonaVie and has worked at CBS, King World Prods and Turner Broadcasting. “He was on his BlackBerry. And I said ‘Andrew?’ I told him I had seen his work.”
Sando says the duo quickly struck up a conversation that would last a little less than two hours.
“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.”
Sando also mentioned that he hadn’t seen Breitbart as a guest on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher recently; Breitbart told Sando he enjoyed going on Maher’s show because it taught him how to deal with a hostile audience and how to react when getting booed.
Breitbart had stopped in for a drink but wasn’t there to meet anyone in particular, Sando says. Nor were there any signs of health or other problems.
“He wasn’t drinking excessively,” Sando recalls. “He was on his BlackBerry a lot.”
After the two hours, Breitbart said he was leaving. “We exchanged contact information,” Sando says. “We were going to get together.”
Sando says he was “shocked” to read Thursday morning that Breitbart, who had a history of heart problems, had collapsed while on a walk near his home in the same neighborhood as the bar. Breitbart was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead at 12:19 a.m., according to Reuters, less than an hour after leaving The Brentwood.
The exact cause of death has not been revealed but initial reports said it was natural causes.
“There were no signs that anything was wrong,” says Sando. “It’s very sad.”
That is an understatement. Breitbart had made an unbelievable impact on the Internet since launching his “Big” websites. And while, Tweets, e-mails, and articles expressing sympathy and grief reverberated across the Worldwide Web, classless Liberals were celebrating Breitbart’s passing by issuing vile, repulsive messages, which I refuse to repeat here.
Andrew Breitbart left a legacy of fearless, righteous reporting and “telling it like it is”. If he were still here, he would be calling those clueless Liberals out on their hyena-like behavior. And he would probably write something like…
Isn’t it funny how those who claim to be the most tolerant among us and actually the least tolerant of all?
RIP Andrew Breitbart. Thank you for shining the light and making the cockroaches scurry for cover.
Fare thee well, Mr. Breitbart.
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Excellent post KJ…Thank you
RIP AB
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Good post! It is up to us now to carry on, and we will.
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I was never a regular on his websites, but I knew that he often had a lot of influence over what was being discussed on the websites I did frequent. He was a true journalist, seeking out the news that needed to be told. I’m grateful for his efforts.
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Yes, it’d be nice to have the impact that Mr. Breitbart had, but with a Christian touch, a Christian perspective, a loving, yet pointed firebrand proclaiming not only conservatism, but more importantly, the Gospel.
As with Hitchens, we are left to reflect on Andrew’s brief but explosive body of work but sadly I find little to nothing about Mr. Breitbart vis-a-vis faith and the here-after. Perhaps that is because he was evidently not a Christian, and so, while we can have some hope, we’re better off focusing on the living, on Andrew’s family left behind.
I think what enabled Mr. Breitbart to be and do what he did was in part due to his apparent lack of belief. “Freed” from moral constraints and beliefs, he let his emotions and vitriol fly, though aimed and used with wit and purpose.
We however who call ourselves Christians necessarily need to take the high road – even though we will falter – because we are His witnesses. Our perspective and priority should be on Christ first and everything through the lens of Christ and the Bible. That means even our conservatism, our politics, our activism and how we want and try to reach the world at large.
I would not want to be like Andrew Breitbart if it means harming my witness. There are far more important things in this life than the present and future state of our nation.
I am constantly chagrined and embarrased by what I hear from some people in the socio-political realm, especially those who have a public platform and a following, that also claim to be Christians. I’m not claiming to be perfect. I stick my foot in my mouth daily. Our endeavor though should be to be Witnesses for Christ first.
Instead it seems that some radio/tv personalities and bloggers inevitably put politics, ideology and this nation first, daily as they gleefully bash detractors and with those that they disagree.
Not surprisingly, I find that such actions actually have a negative reaction to me. I find politics and related things interesting, but I hold it out at arm’s length. I don’t find myself as enraged and upset as many other conservatives. Perspectives and priorities.
Evidently Mr. Breitbart was quite a hoot. No doubt an interesting and lively person to be around, but I wouldn’t want to be like him, and probably would not have desired to continually be around him. Never-the-less, we should use every opportunity to be salt and light, first, foremostly and always. Picking ourselves up and carrying on, aiming for the high road, even if it means failure in the eyes of others.
Let us honor Christ first. It’s who we claim as Lord. Let us live like it.
Mr. Breitbart will be missed, but others will stand in the gap. His work will continue. We can only hope that he is indeed having a peaceful rest, but what we have to go on says that this is probably not the case. But we’re not supposed to say such frank things.
I would say the same of my own father whom I love very much but is not a Christian. To do otherwise is to make excuses and trivialize and contradict that which we believe to be true.
Never-the-less, condolences are still in order.
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Thanks, KJ…I am still mourning….but am ready to pick up the flag from his fallen fingers….we MUST continue his march. Pretty big shoes to fill…
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Great article, as always.
I am coming around to the idea of “broken heart syndrome”. That is a heart attack brought about by a high stress level, an extended high adrenaline level.
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My best to AB’s family and his friends
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Thank You KJ … when I heard Andrew’s CPAC speech, I was ashamed that I would be considered a whimp in comparison to him.
Today i was thinking of the phony mourning that was broadcast when the kook Kim Jong Il died.
The mourning & weeping for Andrew is real and the world doesn’t know how much he will be missed by patriotic Americans. I can only hope that we all can fill the gap that his passing has left.
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Thank you KJ for writing this. Andrew will be remembered by the people who and will want carry on his work. Prayers to his young family and his many friends.
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