March 1, 2012
Taibbi - No Respect for the Dead
In case you were unaware or unfamiliar, conservative journalist/blogger Andrew Breitbart passed away today. According to his Wikipedia page, Breitbart was
an American publisher, commentator for the Washington Times, author, and occasional guest commentator on various news programs, who served as an editor for the Drudge Report Web site. He was a researcher for Arianna Huffington, and helped launch her web publication The Huffington Post.
He ran his own news aggregation site, Breitbart.com, and five other websites: Breitbart.tv, Big Hollywood, Big Government, Big Journalism, and Big Peace.
Admittedly, Breitbart could be polarizing and was no stranger to controversy, always willing to mix it up with the left.
Keeping in mind that Breitbart died today, March 1, Rolling Stone blogger Matt Taibbi penned his own sort of obituary (Warning: crude language).
So Andrew Breitbart is dead. Here’s what I have to say to that, and I’m sure Breitbart himself would have respected this reaction: Good! **** him. I couldn’t be happier that he’s dead.Really? That's what this is coming to? This is where the partisan politics has gotten us? Literally, on the day a man dies, this is the response from a member of the liberal media. I would like to think that if it were Keith Olbermann or someone similar who had died today, that Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin would not be rushing to their keyboards to speak such ill. It really is a shame and also speaks poorly on Rolling Stone as well.
ADDENDUM: Anyone that follows one-time Rhode Islander Seth MacFarlane on Twitter will know that he's not shy to point out either real or his perception of conservatives' shortcomings. However, his Twitter post is something more along the of what any human with common decency should expect: "All politics aside, Andrew Breitbart was a fun guy to have a drink with. He shoulda stuck around longer. lockerz.com/s/188703192"
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
It's not a slogan. It's the truth.
I've been spotlighting the oddity of Taibbi's success since he was still a nobody writing for a fringe magazine. Here's what I suspected then and what has been proven over time: He says what liberal-media-types wish they could say, and they're convincing themselves that letting their id loose will ultimately be harmless.
Posted by: Justin Katz at March 1, 2012 11:13 PMI don't want anyone who hates me to feel compelled to say something nice when I die.
Matter of fact,if they're glad it means I got under their skin.
There are some people I'd positively be overjoyed to see "off the count",as they say in prison.
Joe, there's also another option, "If you don't have something nice to say about a person, don't say anything at all"
Dancing on someone's grave before they're even in it is a little cold.
Posted by: Patrick at March 1, 2012 11:54 PMJoe, there's also another option, "If you don't have something nice to say about a person, come sit next to me"
Posted by: Warrington Faust at March 2, 2012 12:48 AMSimply getting what he gave. At least Breitbart wasn't a phony like those who pretend to be outraged over this. Hat tip to Joe for being honest.
"Andrew Breitbart Unleashes A Torrent Of Invective Against Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Legacy On Twitter"
thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/08/26/57997/breitbart-kennedy-twitter/?mobile=nc
Here's Taibbi:
The really crazy thing is that I was sort of trying to be nice to Breitbart – the obit was at least half an homage. Not that I liked the guy, but he did have a few attractive qualities, one of which being the fact that he got a kick out of the nasty things people said about him. He even once had a plan to set up a website encouraging anti-Breitbart abuse, and was going to let it ride for a while, even spending six figures to hire an Obama p.r. flack to make anti-Breitbart posters, until finally revealing that he'd sponsored the whole thing. Would a person like that really expect someone like me to send flowers when he croaked? No way: he’d be insulted if I didn’t give him one last kick in the balls on the way out the door.Posted by: Russ at March 2, 2012 10:26 AMBut I guess no homage is complete without a celebration of the whole man, and the whole man in this case was not just a guy who once said, “It’s all about a good laugh,” but also someone who liked to publish peoples’ personal information on the internet, hack into private web sites, tell lies in an attempt to get his enemies fired, and incite readers to threats against his targets and their families, including death threats. I left all of that stuff out of my obit, but now, thanks to you readers, that’s all in there as well, leaving, for posterity, a much more complete picture of the man.
I used to be shocked at the outright cruelty expressed via the internet. People who hide in their little rooms and crank out insult after insult are only given power when they get what they crave most-attention.
The monological (is that a word?)nature of bloggers and the subsequent commentary lacks immediate repercussion, and gives the writer a sense of entitlement and grandiosity he would never dare express in the real world.
Posted by: michael at March 2, 2012 11:31 AMIt's worth pointing out that Taibbi posted an update and included links to what Breitbart said about Ted Kennedy when he died in 2009.
Taibbi writes: "The really crazy thing is that I was sort of trying to be nice to Breitbart – the obit was at least half an homage."
Posted by: Bill at March 2, 2012 12:26 PMOh puhleease, I wouldn't put anything past Coulter. That's the problem with people today, they whine like its only the other side who stoops so low. Both sides are crass, only thing that matters is who's turn it is today... It's wrong on both sides and I think Taibbi's comment was inappropriate and in poor taste but dont kid yourself that it's only the big bad liberals who would say that. Conservatives have the biggest whaa-whaaaa complex.
Posted by: Rich at March 2, 2012 1:10 PMI paid no attention to Breitbart in life. I pay no attention to Breitbart in death.
"Let the dead bury the dead."
OldTimeLefty
Apparently some people DID pay attention to him-cases in point:
Acorn
Weiner
Sherrod(a dirty job and undeserved)
Wishin' won't make it so OTL.
It seems he's grabbing a lot of print post-mortem also.
Liberals,"Progressives", Liberalism=Gutless
Posted by: ANTHONY at March 3, 2012 7:03 PM