FAILED PHONE CALL OF THE DAY

 Be sure to listen to the whole thing when the caller thinks hes hung up.

ANDREW BREITBART TALKS ABOUT THE WEINER SCANDAL

Breitbart.com revealed that the paperback edition of Andrew Breitbart's book  Righteous Indignation, will reveal the inside story of how Weinergate went down. Here is an excerpt.

I began multitasking, refreshing my Twitter stream on my iPad. It was at that moment that the best-laid vacation plans of mice and men ended, and my recommittment to the story began four days ahead of schedule.”  

Huh, I thought, what’s this?

Someone, using the Twitter handle PatriotUSA76, had re-tweeted an alleged tweet of sitting congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY). The message included a link to an image, which I immediately clicked. While sipping wine, I looked at the image at first with mild confusion. What am I looking at? I wondered. I picked up the iPad and turned it in different directions to try to make out what the image was. It took about ten seconds for me to get it, at which point I had a mild ‘Eureka’ moment: Aha! I know exactly what that is! … The next twenty-four hours — even though it was Saturday of a Memorial Day weekend — were going to be critical. We knew that the organized left was going to wage war, and by the time I woke up the next day, after launching the story, I realized that the Democrat-Media Complex was playing for keeps ….

You can read the full excerpt here. 

The new paperback edition of Andrew’s book will be released April 24.

GAS PRICES TO SET SKYROCKET DURING SUMMER

From Andrew Breitbart's Big Goverment

Americans are accustomed to the summertime gas spike, but experts say drivers can expect record-shattering prices at the pump this year.

“What we’re about to see the increases will just make it even worse but these are typical increases we would see seasonal,” said AAA spokeswoman Ragina Averella.

How bad will it get?  Analysts say drivers can expect gas prices to skyrocket 10 to 20 cents a gallon in the next few weeks along.   By mid-May, the national average is projected to spike to a record-smashing $4.25 a gallon.

When I was in Pittsburgh last weekend regular unleaded was just under $4 USD per gallon. At that price people there were shocked, now if the prices goes even higher it is going to to make the Presidential Campaign really interesting.  

WASHINGTON D.C. SALUTES ANDREW BREITBART

  

From the mighty Liberty Chick at Big Goverment

Speakers included Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Steve King (R-IA) and Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI); as well as Citizens United's David Bossie, National Review's Jonah Goldberg, conservative activist Sonnie Johnson, and Breitbart.com CEO Larry Solov. Also in attendance were Representatives Mike Pence (R-IN) and Jeff Fortenberry (NE).

The program lasted a little over an hour, and was filled with deeply moving and personal accounts of Andrew, to whom Congressman Louie Gohmert so aptly and eloquently attributed the following trait: "Testicular Titanium."
There were common themes throughout the evening: Andrew's jovial and larger-than-life personality; his innate ability to connect with people, and to connect those people with others; and, most importantly, the passion and love he exhibited for his family, friends, and colleagues.

SLATE.COM ARTICLE ON THE NEW BREITBART.COM TEAM

Slate.com's Dave Weigel has posted an article on the future of Breitbart.com and a look at some of the people who now are running it. Here is the first excerpt .

After the funeral, on March 6, Andrew Breitbart’s successors drove back to the office. Breitbart.com world headquarters sits in an unincorporated part of Los Angeles. (It’s not really part of any city. This is a selling point.) Ten of the website’s editors filed out to the alley. They arranged themselves side by side in their best Reservoir Dogs poses. Click. Dana Loesch, the Tea Partier, CNN contributor, and editor of Breitbart’s Big Journalism vertical, stood in the middle of the frame. She put the picture up on Instagram. The caption was a Twitter hashtag: #war.

 "#war"

“We took that picture to say, ‘Hey! We’re still here,’ ” said Mike Flynn, the editor of Breibart’s Big Government vertical, when I talked to him this week. “We’re going to carry out Andrew’s vision.”

Weigel then talks with the new Brietbart.com Chairman Steve Bannon. 

The idea is to keep doing Breitbart-style work, split between a team of previously more-obscure apostles. Steve Bannon directed the Sarah Palin-friendly documentary The Undefeated and collaborated with Breitbart on a documentary about the 99 Percent movement titled Occupy Exposed. He’s taken over Breitbart News Network, LLC as executive chairman; Solov has taken over as CEO.

“It was the investors’ call,” explained Bannon, talking to friends after the D.C. memorial service. (The day Breitbart died, Bannon was meeting with investors in New York.) Obviously, the chairman and CEO jobs had to be split, because Breitbart wasn’t replaceable. “He was a combination of Falstaff and Marshall McLuhan. A larger-than-life guy who understood the media. You can’t replace that. In combat, you learn that most of the best guys are going to die first. They’re going to run toward the gunfire. Those guys are leaders. The key is making the unit bind together after that, and push forward.”

I've only quoted these two excerpts to allow you to get a taste of a must read article. 

ARTICLE ON THE #DJBREITBART PROJECT

Mandy Nagy aka The Liberty Chick has posted a report from last weeks DJ Breitbart project. Here are some excerpts.

Anyone who followed Andrew on Twitter or knew him personally was well aware of one thing about the happy warrior: he loved his retro and 70s/80s Brit Synth-Pop music. It was an undeniable and endearing trait of Andrew’s persona.

Every so often, we were treated to Andrew Breitbart, the DJ. He’d take a break from taunting his adversaries on Twitter or retweeting hate tweets to share some of his favorite music tracks with tweeps, hash-tagging them #DJBreitbart.

And so it was a fitting tribute last Sunday when, for 24 hours straight, 24 Twitter DJs - bloggers, activists, employees and friends of Andrew – took to Twitter to blast out links to tunes, each tweet accompanied by commentary about the song or about Andrew himself.

Mandy also talks with DJ Breitbart's creator, Evan Pokroy about how this all came together.

I had seen everybody in my timeline talking about fighting the fight and retweeting the hate tweets and all the disgusting things that were being said [about Andrew].

I remember most of my personal interactions with Andrew were about music and how he just loved to stop for a while and tweet about it. So, I thought what would be the most fitting way to remember him, without all the hate and anger that the politics engendered in people, would be to go back to the music. So, it kind of evolved from that

You can find a complete set of each of the DJ’s playlists and tweets at The #DJBreitbart Project website.

'24' FEATURE FILM TO START SHOOTING IN 2013

From TheWrap.com

Kiefer Sutherland has made peace with Twentieth Century Fox over his "24" movie, but the project has been pushed until next year, TheWrap has learned.

The movie production was set to start shooting next month after Sutherland wraps the season for his television series, "Touch," but a dispute over budget and the star's fees put the project off schedule and means it has to be pushed until next year.

"It didn’t work out right now. Everyone is trying to figure out how to do it next year," an individual close to the project told TheWrap.

THE BREITBART CHILDREN TRUST INFORMATION REVEALED

Since Andrew Breitbart's untimely passing on March 1st, many have wondered what they can do to show support for the Andrew's wife Susie and his four children. Yesterday on Twitter, Slate magazine columnist Dave Weigel revealed information regarding a trust for the children of Andrew Breitbart. Weigel's tweet about the Brietbart Children's trust was then confirmed, via a retweet, by Big Hollywood's Editor In Chief John Nolte later in the day.

On the off chance that the image above is not loading here is the text in full:

THE BREITBART CHILDREN'S TRUST

So many of you have graciously asked what you can do for Andrew's wife Susie, and his 4 beautiful children Samson (12), Mia (9) Charlie (7) and Will (5). After consulting with Susie, we ask you to join us in preserving Andrew's Legacy by ensuring his children's futures. 

The Breitbart Children's Trust  

149 S. Barrington Ave. #735

Los Angeles, CA 90049

BREITBART.COM ANNOUNCES NEW CHAIRMAN AND CEO

Steve Bannon - The new Chairman of Breitbart.com

Some major news about the future of Breitbart.com comes from TheWrap.com

Breitbart News Network named a new CEO and Chairman on Monday, filling in the leadership gap created by the death of founder Andrew Breitbart.


Stephen Bannon (pictured above), already a board member, will take over as Chairman. Laurence Solov, COO, will take over as CEO and President.

"Andrew and I were like brothers our whole lives and have been business partners since 2007," Solov said in a statement. "Andrew possessed a very specific vision of what he wanted our company to become. I share that vision, which the company will pursue relentlessly.

Joel Pollak, the company's legal counsel, will continue as editor in chief of Breitbart.com, which relaunched three days after Breitbart’s sudden death on March 1. Pollak described the timing as a terrible irony.

The Hollywood Reporter: Breitbart News Names Executives Who Will Run Company in Wake of Founder's Death
          

ANDREW BREITBART LAST RADIO INTERVIEW

Hours before he passed away syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt conducted an interview with Andrew Breitbart. The interview runs about 9 mins and its a fascinating discussion.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW

PYRAMID OF THE DAY

After looking at this perhaps I need to build a Bank of Kev Pyramid.

1/3rd OF U.S. DRIVERS NOW PAY OVER $4 USD PER GALLON GAS

 From the Tuscon Citizen

Nearly one-third of the nation’s drivers now fork out $4 or more for a gallon of gasoline.

After a 31-cent jump in the past month, regular gasoline averages $3.82 nationwide. But price analysis of major metropolitan areas and 10 states — home to more than 65 million of the nation’s 210 million drivers — shows even more pain at the pump, especially in heavily populated California, New York and Illinois.

Gas prices have prompted plenty of grousing and political debate in a hotly contested presidential election year. But economists expect surging prices to have only modest impact on consumer spending.

Barring a major disruption in supplies from the Middle East, pump prices are expected to top out at about $4 nationally by Memorial Day weekend — about where they reached in 2011 and below July 2008′s record $4.08.

Prices may have peaked in California, after a 51-cent surge to $4.36 a gallon since mid-February. “We’re in the ninth inning there, but in the middle innings elsewhere,” says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. “Most of the country is going to move a bit higher.”

Prices in California are impacted by costlier formulations mandated under state environmental regulations. A BP refinery in Washington state, shut down by a fire last month, also pushed prices higher along the West Coast.

 In unrelated news President Obama announced that he will attended six separate fundraisers in 24 hours, a new personal record.

THE FINAL ADVERTISEMENT FOR MALEV AIRLINES

From the Malev English FB page.

Dear Passengers & Facebook Friends,

Malév Hungarian Airlines' last press advertisement has been published following an internal collection drive by Malév employees, to thank everyone for the many years of trust and support Malév received. We hope you will enjoy it.

The  advert reads:

THANK YOU!

We would like to thank all of Malév passengers, who in the past 66 years chose to travel with us.

With much love,

Malév employees

PANDA PIC OF THE DAY

Apichart Weerawong  /  AP file  Via MSNBC

FOX PUTS '24' FEATURE ON HOLD

This news comes from DeadlineHollywoodDaily via BigHollywood

I’m hearing that fans of the Fox series 24 are going to have to continue waiting for the long awaited 24 feature film. 20th Century Fox isn’t going forward with the film this year. It hadn’t been green lit, but it was scheduled to get going in late March, with Kiefer Sutherland jumping into Jack Bauer mode when his new series Touch goes on hiatus in April. The studio was zeroing in on a director–Antoine Fuqua was the most recent conversation I’d heard of–when the decision was made this week to not go forward, at least this year.

There are rumors this came down to budget and that Sutherland is upset because he was sparked up to resume his role as the rough and tumble government operative, who over eight seasons prevented numerous apocalyptic terror attacks. Studio insiders tell me that Fox wasn’t convinced it had enough time to complete the film before Sutherland has to go back to work on Touch‘s second season, and didn’t want to rush and neither did Sutherland. The picture is being produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Sutherland and they have a script written by Billy Ray, and polished by Mark Bomback. It’s ready to go.

Go read the whole thing. 

GREG SMITH LEAVES GOLDMAN SACHS

Here is an excerpt from his resignation letter.

TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it. 

After reading the full letter I was reminded of this video:

FIRING AT ANDREW BREITBART WHEN HE CANT FIRE BACK

Breitbart.com Editor-In-Chief Joel Pollak has a column about the hate from the "conservatives" in yesterdays Washington Times

Take Ross Douthat, the resident conservative at the New York Times. Mr. Douthat famously earned his bachelor’s degree at Harvard - and he seems to think he went to Harvard Medical School. Last week, Mr. Douthat determined the cause of Andrew’s untimely death as “furious partisanship.” Those who knew him know that Andrew never put party above principle, and never put politics above people. Not so for Mr. Douthat.

In typical condescending fashion, Mr. Douthat contrasted Breitbart with the intellectual James Q. Wilson, who died the same week - as if the two were opposed, as if a robust conservatism was hostile to great ideas. Mr. Douthat’s prescription for the rest of us, evidently, is that it is unhealthy to resist the left’s ceaseless power grabs, so we may as well capitulate to big government, in the hope that we will be its wiser masters one day.

Then there was David Frum, who ought to return his law degree to Harvard after writing in the Daily Beast about Andrew’s “defamation of Shirley Sherrod.” Carefully couching his condemnations in the caveat that “it is wrong to see Breitbart as racially motivated,” Mr. Frum nevertheless slandered Breitbart as a racist who used hatred and “racially coded” politics to attack President Obama, whom he claimed Breitbart hated personally.

Andrew never hated Mr. Obama. He feared what the president is doing to the country. The only people Andrew Breitbart genuinely hated were journalists in the mainstream media who routinely trashed ordinary Americans using lies crafted and coordinated by the left to distract from Mr. Obama’s corruption and failure. Mr. Frum, for example, described Pigford, a multibillion-dollar scandal at the Department of Agriculture, as “back payments to black farmers,” obscuring the massive fraud that Andrew exposed.

Go read the whole thing.

A REPORT FROM YESTERDAYS DJBREITBART PROJECT

Forbes.com has a quick writeup from yesterday's #DJBreitbart Project.

Yesterday, 24 of the late Andrew Breitbart’s friends publicly paid their respects with something called #DJBreitbart: an hour each spent tweeting out videos in his memory. Breitbart himself spent the occasional Friday night on Twitter posting some of his favorite songs — heavy on the British ’80s, though his tastes extended to ’90s acts now lost to time. Yesterday’s selections, curated by the likes of Kurt Loder and Thaddeus McCotter, ran from The Tubes to The The to The Stranglers.

More than a few songs, like Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” were chosen because they echoed Breitbart’s outsider ethos and DIY ethic. “Andrew was a punk rock Republican,” said Kurt Schlichter, “who never slowed down.”

You can find out more about the #DJBreitbart Project here.  

UPDATE ON THE '24" MOVIE

via Big Hollywood comes the latest news on the '24' Feature Film from the man who plays Jack Bauer. 

Once things settle in with the new TV show, Sutherland will also be squeezing in "24: The Movie." He's hoping to shoot the film later this year but there's still the small task of finding a director.

"I'm still very, very optimistic that we are going to be able to do that, and I've got my fingers, my toes, my legs, everything crossed," he laughed.

REPORT FROM THE BREITBART FUNERAL AND MEMORIAL SERVICE

Big Government has a report from the memorial services for Andrew Breitbart that took place on Tuesday. 

The Tuesday afternoon service lasted about two hours from 1-3 p.m. PST.

The family held a reception afterwards at a Brentwood hotel on Sunset Boulevard where guests were invited to take a stage and tell personal stories about experiences they had shared with Breitbart.

“It was a testament to the way Andrew lived his life,” said Blackhawk Down actor Matthew Marsden. “When everyone at his funeral were not only united in grief, but also united in friendship--even those who had just met. What impressed me most was that people spoke the least about his political activism, but more about his loyalty as a friend and his dedication to being a loving father and husband,” he said.

Breitbart’s closest neighbor Michael Silver summarized his personality as a defender of the weak:

He was fond of saying “I love to be hated” in his “Bring It On” style. But truth is he didn’t love to be hated. He loved absorbing hate, so others didn’t have to. What he loved was protecting people. “You want to hate someone, go ahead hate me”. He knew he was stronger than the many he sought to defend and he made it his mission in life to shield them. And for that they loved him.

Breitbart’s business partner Laurence Solov, who abandoned a 13-year career as a civil litigation attorney to work with Breitbart said:

People always think Andrew's impact in this world, which everyone here is a testament to was something of an improbability. And later in life, people would ask me if I was surprised how he turned out, and my answer is really simple: well, yes. But truth be told, knowing him as I did, it makes ALL the sense in the world to me. It was there from the get go. But Andrew was fearless as long as I can remember, and so strong, and smart, and frankly, from day one, obsessed with right and wrong, what was fair and not fair, but always compassionate and caring and there was never a more fiercely loyal friend.

ANDREW BRIETBART TO STAR (POSTHUMOUSLY) IN TWO NEW FILMS )

From The Hollywood Reporter

He died March 1, but we haven’t heard the last from Andrew Breitbart, because the conservative rabble-rouser is set to star in two documentary movies, both of which are in post-production and will no doubt get some measure of theatrical distribution. He’ll also make his acting debut in the second episode of Courage: New Hampshire, a show that streams online where he plays a pre-Revolutionary War sheriff.

It’s the films, though, that will garner the most attention, because in them he’ll be playing his most compelling role: himself -- an unapologetic and unorthodox crusader for right-wing causes who is impossible to ignore, even for those who despised him.

The filmmakers of both movies are vague about their distribution and marketing plans, no doubt mindful that their efforts could be perceived as callous attempts to profit from tragedy. Therefore, it’s difficult to predict which movie will hit screens first.

The first one conceived, though, is called Hating Breitbart, which began two-and-a-half years ago when a camera crew started shadowing their subject at events like Tea Party rallies, where he’d whip like-minded activists into a frenzy with his fiery oratory, as well as Occupy Wall Street protests, where he’d elicit – appropriately, given the title of the film – tremendously hateful responses to his mere presence.

The second film, in fact, is an expose’ of that left-wing movement called Occupy Unmasked from Stephen Bannon, who was behind the pro-Sarah Palin documentary The Undefeated.

Here is the trailer for Hating Breitbart 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER STORY ABOUT ANDREW BREITBART

A NIRVANA FREE ZONE: THE #DJBRIETBART PROJECT TO LAUNCH MARCH 11

Please join us for a 24 hour tribute of music for our friend Andrew Breitbart. 24 of his friends, colleagues and admirers will each be DJing an hour of music, like Andrew used to do.

On the schedule Kurt Schlichter, Michelle Malkin, Derek Hunter, Brad Thor, Dana Loesch and many more.

Check out the website at http://djbreitbart.in/ and follow the #DJBreitbart hashtag on Twitter.

ANDREW BREITBART LAID TO REST IN LOS ANGELES

Today Brietbart.com reports that the funeral for Andrew Breitbart took place today.  

Jon Kahn, a Los Angeles-based musician and close friend of Breitbart’s who often traveled with him around the country, handled many of the funeral events and said the planning of the service mirrored Breitbart's personality.

“I think there are so many moving parts, and they’re happening in a typical Andrew fashion,” he said in an early Tuesday morning interview. “I was up until 3:30 in the morning putting out fires, working on no sleep, but it’s all coming together.”

Big Government editor Mike Flynn, who is based full-time in Washington, D.C., arrived late Monday at LAX and met immediately with a team of Breitbart journalists who were congregating in a hotel restaurant off Sunset Boulevard.

“My total trips to Los Angeles before this were less than half a dozen,” he said “but I’m here for one reason and that’s Andrew’s family. That’s the only reason I’m here, to let them know that Andrew is loved and remembered.”

Earlier that evening, the company’s Editor-in-Chief, Joel Pollak, remained working beside Breitbart’s empty desk in an upstairs loft alongside editors Alex Marlow and Ben Shapiro.

Downstairs, Breitbart staff members, contributors, and friends--including Meredith Dake, Christian Hartsock, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, Tony Katz, Breitbart TV editor Larry O’Connor, and Big Journalism editor Dana Loesch worked on individual assignments on their laptop computers in a circle formation while listening to iTunes.

 [snip]

After sunset, Loesch randomly chose to play the song “King of the Mountain,” by Midnight Oil, on her laptop and Pollak shouted down from the upstairs loft: “Who is playing this song and why?”

When Loesch responded that it had been a random choice, Pollak explained quietly, “That was one of Andrew’s favorite songs.”

Breitbart was known throughout his inner circle for cherishing '80s new wave and retro music. He often listened to songs by bands like New Order, the The, the Cure, Duran Duran and his high school favorite--Devo. He sometimes distracted his fellow editors by spontaneously blasting a song from his computer and happily singing along in the newsroom while tweeting responses to his adversaries and playing air-drums.

In memory of Andrew here is “King of the Mountain,” by Midnight Oil

MOVE AMERICA FORWARD'S TRIBUTE TO ANDREW BREITBART

BRANDON DARBY REMEMBERS ANDREW BREITBART

Steven Crowder Remembers Andrew Breitbart

PART 1 OF REMEMBERING ANDREW BREITBART

Below you will find the PART 1 of the three hour show hosted by Larry O'Connor in honor of Andrew Breitbart. IN this part Larry and Big Hollywood  Editor In Chief John Nolte discuss the future of the Breitbart sites, debunk the conspiracy theories surrounding Andrews passing and have some special guests call in. 

Video streaming by Ustream 
Part 2 is in the post below

PART 2 OF REMEMBERING ANDREW BREITBART

Below you will find the part 2 of the three hour show hosted by Larry O'Connor. You can hear some very moving calls from fans calling in. Once find the whole show I will post it here.




Video streaming by Ustream

UPDATE: I found the whole show and I broke it into 2 posts. I apologize the confusing posts.

TONIGHT AT 9 P.M. THE LARRY O'CONNOR SHOW: REMEMBERING BREITBART

The Larry O'Connor Show x will devote the entire show to Remembering Andrew Breitbart . It has been a emotional 36 hours here in Los Angeles since it Larry O'Connor broke the story on WIBC out of Indianapolis particularity last night when many of Andrews friends, colleagues and I gathered in a bar Andrew would frequent with us.


Big Hollywood Editor in Chief John Nolte is confirmed as a guest and numerous friends and colleagues of Andrew are expected to call in.

The show begins at 9:00 p.m. and ytou can watch live via the website or in the player below.



Video streaming by Ustream

Breitbart.TV’s O’Connor: The Right Never Had Anyone Like Andrew To Fight For Us

Big Journalism’s Dana Loesch Reflects On Breitbart’s Passing

Greg Gutfeld Reacts To Breitbart’s Death

WHAT YESTERDAY HAS TAUGHT US

From The Campaign Spot

Everyone you see in the political world has his public face and his private face. At Ricochet, James Lileks shares this story:

[Andrew Breitbart] was at my house last summer for a party, and it was a great raucous event — everyone was his friend by the end, if they wanted to be. Andrew stayed late. Everyone else was gone. We were having a last drink in the kitchen, waiting for his cab. He was leaning up against the counter, expressing frustrations about how he was regarded by the establishment right, the difficulty of getting the message through the thick stone walls of the mainstream media, the damned toll of it all sometimes, the discouraging moments when rewards seemed scant.

He could tire, and did; perhaps he had his moments of self-doubt that may have stabbed as deep as any conviction he was on the right path. I remember that conversation, because it was the opposite of everything else he always was — and it made who he was all the more remarkable.

If I seemed particularly vocal about the pain I felt on Thursday, it was because my primary memory of Andrew Breitbart was of his private side. It’s not that he and I were particularly close. We chatted a few times at CPAC over the years.

But on the 2010 NATIONAL REVIEW cruise, he, his wife, and his four utterly adorable kids missed the first shuttle at the hotel, along with my wife and myself. So we spent some time waiting for the shuttle bus to return, and then on the bus ride from the hotel to the cruise ship — a good chunk of the morning.

All of us saw the Andrew Breitbart of the web, radio, and television: pugnacious and combative, fearless and sharp, and yet cheerful and seeming to relish every moment. In his public appearances, we saw Andrew Breitbart the provocateur. But that morning, and quite a few times that week on the ship, I got to see glimpses of Andrew Breitbart the dad. I’ve joked that I wanted to see a sitcom or reality show built around the Breitbart family. His four children could very well all turn out to be mini-Andrew Breitbarts with that same spirit of mischief, that same seemingly limitless energy, that same endless reserve of laughter and fun. I heard a lot of “What are you kids doing? Get down from there!” It was the same exasperation that I find myself experiencing with increasing frequency as a father. 

So, needless to say, my first thought was of those four children.

When some particularly twisted souls started using this occasion to show their character and what they’re made of, I found myself behaving in a way I don’t usually behave.

You probably heard Matt Yglesias’s first response on Twitter: ”Conventions around dead people are ridiculous. The world outlook is slightly improved with@AndrewBrietbart dead.” 

I don’t usually suggest physical violence toward others. That’s certainly not the way I want to see myself or the kind of example I want to set for my sons. But, if you’re going to say things like that — just an hour after word arrives that a man suddenly died, leaving his wife a widow and his children fatherless — I don’t think you should be terribly shocked that some folks will want to register their disapproval over the bridge of your nose. And you’ll have it coming.

Really, holding one’s tongue, offering even disingenuous expressions of sympathy, typing the letters “RIP,” when did that get so hard? When did that bar become too high? We have these cultural traditions for a reason. (A quite conservative sentiment, I suppose.) We have them for many reasons, high among them, avoiding mourners’ registering their objections across the noses of the snide and obnoxious. (It’s one of the reasons I strongly suspect that if some grieving parent were to machine-gun a whole flock of the Fred Phelps funeral protesters, every witness would suddenly get struck blind and every jury would remain stubbornly unconvinced.) We shouldn’t suggest that mocking the dead in front of those mourning a loved one is an invitation to violent retribution; the American people are a kind and patient people. But even the most kind and patient people have their limits.

I had observed, yesterday, that there were not merely a handful of folks on the left sneering about how happy they were that Breitbart had suddenly died. There were gobs and gobs of them, all over Twitter and the web at large. If you need examples, Charlie Spiering collected plenty here, though I’d urge most of sound mind to avoid putting themselves through reading that.

You can call this whatever you like — the Daily-Kos-ification of the Left, perhaps — but it confirms what many of us suspected and/or feared. I didn’t want to believe it, really. I personally know too many people I’d identify as Democrats, if not liberals, who are too decent to ever express such raw hate and cruelty. But a large chunk of the rank and file of the Left — way more than a small percentage — really don’t believe that their opponents deserve anything resembling basic human dignity or respect.

We’re not really people to them. It’s not an accident that New York Times columnist referred to his critics on Twitter as “right-wing lice.” They’re not good, decent Americans who just have some different ideas about how to make the world a better place. They run on hate. It appears their entire sense of self-worth is driven by demonizing those who disagree with them and celebrating their political viewpoints as the cardinal measurements of virtue and good character. They are positively energized by the thought of lashing out at those of us who have the audacity to think differently than they. They really do project and accuse the opposition of all their worst traits: rage, closed-mindedness, cruelty, intolerance, bigotry, and an inability to empathize with others. And they completely lack self-awareness. They are blind to the irony of their actions. As someone said on Twitter today (I can’t find the comment now), “How many of the people celebrating Andrew’s death have a ‘NO H8′ icon on their avatar?”

If, in their minds, we’re not deserving of that respect they clamor for endlessly — if their instinct, upon seeing us mourn is to “get in our faces” (a phrase that our president once strangely used) — they really cannot be entrusted with any power. They really would do away with us if given the chance.Does our side have jerks? Sure. Someday, some prominent liberal will unexpectedly pass away, and someone will make some horrid, snide comment. I doubt it will be in the same volume, though I’m sure much of this is in the eye of the beholder. But I do think that if some righty says some variation of “Hooray, that lefty died suddenly! I’m so glad his wife’s now a widow and his children are fatherless,” you will see other righties denouncing that. Even if the liberal you detest most keels over tomorrow, that’s not right. No liberal voice in America deserves to have his death celebrated the way we righteously celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden. Don’t take pleasure in others’ grieving.

We want them to grieve the political loss of the presidency, not the loss of their loved ones.

Anyway, this has been a grim and miserable Morning Jolt to end the week, so I’ll brighten things a bit to close.

 The Weekly Standard’s Matt Labash offered one of the very finest columns about Breitbart’s passing, including this golden anecdote:

Our friend, Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson, had won the Ayers dinner at an Illinois Humanities Council auction, and had brought us along. Tucker and I were a little worried that we had in our possession a human grenade in Breitbart, though if we were being honest with ourselves, that’s precisely why we brought him. With Andrew, every day was anything-can-happen day. 

As it happened, Breitbart was on his best behavior. “I’m here to learn,” Andrew said facetiously. It was part of the pleasure of keeping company with him. He wasn’t just a friend, he was a co-conspirator. Once we arrived at the apartment, much to Andrew’s and Ayers’s chagrin, they got along famously. Just two guys having dinner, finding commonality, even if Andrew regarded it his hidebound duty to passive-aggressively heckle Ayers as he served us plates of hoisin ribs and farmhouse cheeses. (“This is the bomb, Bill,” Breitbart said to the former explosives-rigger.) 

When Ayers asked me what I was reading right now, I told him “Moby Dick,” which actually lived up to its billing. Ayers agreed, though added, as any good academic would, “You’ve picked up the gay subtext?” Breitbart nearly choked on his tofu and quinoa. “You mean in Moby Dick?” Andrew asked. “Or at this dinner?”

…As Thursday wore down, several conservatives remarked that they felt more unified than they had in a while; our mutual shock, grief, and admiration for Andrew reminded us all how much we share with each other — after a primary season in which it has often felt as if we’ve all been at each other’s throats. Perhaps on Monday I’ll expand on this point, but for now, if one of my less-preferred candidates ends up getting the nomination (COUGH, Newt, COUGH), hey, affix bayonets and charge, and let’s make that guy president.

Go read the whole thing.

‘The Five’ Reflects On Death Of Their Friend Andrew Breitbart

BREITBART.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JOEL POLLAK DISCUSSES THE FUTURE OF THE BIG SITES

In Memoriam: Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Very sad news...

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.

We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior.

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.

Andrew recently wrote a new conclusion to 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.

Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us.

 Statement from Matt Drudge: 

DEAR READER: In the first decade of the DRUDGEREPORT Andrew Breitbart was a constant source of energy, passion and commitment. We shared a love of headlines, a love of the news, an excitement about what's happening. I don't think there was a single day during that time when we did not flash each other or laugh with each other, or challenge each other. I still see him in my mind's eye in Venice Beach, the sunny day I met him. He was in his mid 20's. It was all there. He had a wonderful, loving family and we all feel great sadness for them today... MDRUDGE

We are all stunned and saddened by the news of Andrew Breitbart’s passing. Andrew was a warrior who stood on the side of what was right. He defended what was right. He defended the defenseless.

It is so sad to consider his four young children who have lost their dad. All our prayers are with his family now. May God comfort his wife and children.

Many of us will have life-long memories of our work or encounters with Andrew. May we draw on those to help forward the cause of fighting for what is right. For me, just one of those memories was in Pella, Iowa, last year after the premier of “The Undefeated.” Andrew held court in the restaurant at the local hotel talking about his favorite topic: how “culture is upstream of politics” and how conservatives must be unafraid to fight the leftwing media, cultural, and political establishments. The loss of his voice in this fight will be deeply felt, but thankfully his work lives on at his “Bigs,” and thank God for his inspiration and leadership.

God bless you, Andrew. Rest in peace, friend. We will continue the fight.

- Sarah Palin