So, Andrew Breitbart, right-wing blogger, provocateur, professional Angry Man, and patron of the execrable James O’Keefe, has died at the age of 43. He left a wife and four children, who I’m sure are in a state of shock and grief.
And he left a thoroughly detestable public legacy. He was a bully. He played a major role in the coarsening of political debate, and helped push the Republican Party further and further to the right. He fundamentally perverted the concept of “journalism,” using it as a partisan cudgel with absolutely no regard for the truth. He provided a high-profile platform and backing for a variety of snakes and weasels, most notably James O’Keefe. He killed a fine organization in ACORN and soiled the reputation of Shirley Sherrod, among many others.
I can’t say this about many people, but America’s public life will absolutely be better off without Andrew Breitbart. He joins the ranks of the Thankfully Dead, alongside Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, and Lee Atwater.
If you’d like to read a more measured Breitbart remembrance from a lefty, see Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. He’s a bigger man than I. Or maybe it’s that he knew Breitbart personally, so he has a different perspective. Me, I only knew the public figure, and that’s what I can evaluate. Speaking of him purely as a public figure, I’m glad he’s gone.
and, sadly, there will be plenty of other “Breitbart” clones, striving to exceed at excess, after he’s long gone.
…it’s not only ‘the good’ who die young.
Atwater Junior, only Breitbart didn’t live long enough to squeak out a phony apology.
Because, really, why attempt to score points when he dies? I agree with Josh Marshall, “Beneath all the layers of our public life, we’re sons, daughters; parents to sons and daughters: naked people at our most vulnerable, true moments.”
My mother always said, “Do not speak ill of the dead, it shows poor upbringing.”
… is not something that you’ll hear at his funeral, at least not with a straight face. Good riddance.