When a giant tree falls in the forest, everyone within a large distance is affected.
Andrew Breitbart
Andrew Breitbart died early this morning from a probable cardiac condition. He was only 43 and had a wife and four children. He was a happy warrior for conservative causes and the leftist blogosphere has erupted in abuse and vile vituperation. Even David Frum, who I once thought of as a conservative, has participated in the hatefest.
He was an early participant in the Drudge Report and basically designed the Huffington Post, which turned sharply left after his contribution. I met him briefly at an event for Cathy Seipp, another conservative warrior we could ill afford to lose. His loss will be very serious and his place hard to fill. We just don’t have the reservoirs of logic and common sense that we should have. Now that 47% of the population pays no income tax, we are very close to the tipping point that Alexis de Tocqueville predicted. “In other words, a democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.”
Ace of Spades reminded to quote Teddy Roosevelt on Andrew;
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Tags: politics
Wow, Mike… YOU’RE alive!
Great to hear!
With the blog lying dormant for so long I’d feared the worst.
BILL
I didn’t follow Andrew closely, but from what I’ve seen and read he did a great service to this country.
I read Cathy Seipp religiously. I’ll never get over her death. Her blog was great because it wasn’t just politics. She talked about Hollywood, the L.A. Times, her friends, and her family. She excelled at using personal stories to portray the culture at large.
What’s more, Cathy’s blog had a lively and intimate commentariat, in which you played a significant role, Mike.
Breitbart was a ray of sunshine in a time where conservatism is largely driven from the public sphere.
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[…]Andrew Breitbart « A Brief History…[…]…
Breitbart was a fearless defender of conservatism. Although he grew up very near me in West L.A. I never knew him; but I understood his experiences of growing up a bastion of liberalism. And he was once one of them. Perhaps that is how he knew how to take them on so well. He will be missed. You can’t replace him.
Love that Roosevelt quote. One of my favorites.
A noble warrior has fallen and his steed wanders the meadow with a melancholy mein. Tears of the righteous flow, rivulets of grief mourning for the death of a prince.
The dark Arab hordes murmur in the Valley below and the sound of their chortling and contumely offends the ears of the just. The day of vengeance will come, even if the sainted Andrew and Cathy are no longer with us.
A glimmer of marzipan and zith from the broth shines in the crnoline and semolina pilchard climbs the Tour Eiffel, forever and a day.
I am sad beyond release. Come Elisabeth, let us tarry no more.