Know Thy Enemy: Andrew Breitbart

(Ed. note: Know Thy Enemy is an experimental series profiling particularly prominent political pundits and players. The title is a nod to Sun Tzu. We’ll try to profile more than just conservatives as our liberal bent is wont to do)

Andrew Breitbart

Well, I had been saving this one for a later date but sometimes time is not on one’s side. Conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart died yesterday of a suspected heart attack. Breitbart is known to have had heart troubles and collapsed on a walk near his home in Los Angeles just after midnight. He was 43.

Breitbart was an initial contributor to the Huffington Post when it launched six years ago. He was also a commentator for the Washington Times and contributor to the Drudge Report. His political views are to the extreme right. He was instrumental in helping oust Democratic Senator Anthony Weiner by taking public some lewd text photos Weiner had made of himself and sent to anonymous girls via Twitter.

Brietbart with O'Keefe and Jiles of Pimp video infamy

Breitbart was also known to have given James O’Keefe, the faux conservative investigative reporter, plenty of press coverage. Much of this support resulted in the demise of ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Lately, this had begun to undermine Breitbart’s credibility after it was determined that O’Keefe’s witch hunt became known as a heavily edited farce. Additionally, Breitbart was involved in smear campaigns against Shirley Sherrod causing her to be fired from the US Department of Agriculture. She was later exonerated and brought suit against Breitbart.

Breitbart was a vocal conservative who ran several websites and spoke at Tea Party gatherings. Most recently, he was restrained at an Occupy Wall Street gathering in February.

I have nothing positive to say about Breibart’s politics but I can say that he appeared to have deep convictions about his conservative views. But 43 is too young for anyone to die. I wish he had stayed around so that I could have one day had an opportunity to prove him wrong. 538Refugees offers our condolances and best wishes to his wife, Susannah, his daughters and family.

Related articles

• Alec Baldwin Calls Andrew Breitbart A ‘Festering Boil On The Anus Of Public Discourse’ (mediaite.com)
• Breitbart To Occupiers: “Stop Raping People!” (buzzfeed.com)
• Breitbart to Occupy Protesters: ‘Stop Raping People! You Freaks!’ (crooksandliars.com)