This is one time it’s appropriate to link to Fox News


It’s the natural news site to go to for the announcement that Andrew Breitbart has died, at a surprisingly young age. He had a history of heart problems and collapsed suddenly: I have no sympathy for his views at all, but I can sympathize with that. It’s kind of how I expect to go someday.

Comments

  1. says

    There was a video of him heckling some occupy protestors in which he seemed a little undone or under the influence.

    He was a man who build an empire on dishonesty and fraud, so while I do sympathize with his family, it does change the fact this man was an asshole while he was alive. And the world is a better place with him not in it.

    Also considering the racist comments made about Whitney Houston’s death, I can only imagine racist rates on fox message boards about how this was just one more fat cracker….

  2. johnsobba says

    One less lying, racist hatemonger. He always wanted to be the center of attention though, so he got what he wanted.

  3. janine says

    There was a blurb by Sean Hannity saying that Breitbart lived his principles 24/7. I suppose that it would be good if his principles were honorable.

    For me, he will always be the man who edited a speech by an intelligent, honorable and hard working woman to make it seem like she had a racist agenda in being employed by the government.

  4. Happiestsadist says

    My sympathies to those who for some reason loved him. So glad he’s finally shut up, though. I’d have preferred him realizing the bullshit he was spouting to be bullshit, though.

  5. Alverant says

    I feel sorry for both his loved ones. I hope as his ego faded he realized that Obama would likely be re-elected and that he turned the GOP into a hate-filled joke.

  6. omnicrom says

    My condolences to his family. They’ve lost a relative and they will be alone in their grief, Andrew Breitbart was a racist lying sack of shit who made the world a worse place. Noone but his family the lunatic fringe will miss him.

  7. Brownian says

    He was a man who build an empire on dishonesty and fraud, so while I do sympathize with his family, it does change the fact this man was an asshole while he was alive.

    You’d be surprised how little sympathy families sometimes have for assholes.

  8. davidbrunton says

    It’s no wonder he had such a weak heart, it doesn’t look like he ever used it.

  9. Gregory says

    One should speak good of the dead. He’s dead: good.

    Publicly, at least, he was a cruel and vicious person who never showed the least bit of compassion for his fellow human beings. The things he said about Ted Kennedy when the Senator from Mass. died were unforgivable. He made his living peddling hate, misinformation and bigotry. I feel sympathy for his children, but I believe that they — and the rest of us — are better off.

  10. grumpyoldfart says

    After that “Behave yourself” routine my guess is he died of embarrassment.

  11. ericpaulsen says

    Having been through a death in the family very recently I also offer my condolences to his family. For those who loved him I’m sure his passing will be a great loss.

    Myself, I am reminded of my brother’s mean chow/lab mix which bit several people and often growled at the family in an effort to assert his dominance. I did not miss that dog when it died and actually breathed a sigh of relief that it wouldn’t be around to harm anyone else, but my brother cried for it. Obviously there is something in people that they can find something good even in the most vile animal.

  12. KG says

    From the BBC’s report of his death:

    Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group that had clashed with Breitbart over the years, said in a short statement…
    “We’ve disagreed more than we’ve found common ground, but there was never any question of Andrew’s passion for and commitment to what he believed,”…

    Well, I could say the same of Pol Pot. Passion for and commitment to hatred and lies are not admirable traits.

  13. David Marjanović says

    One should speak good of the dead. He’s dead: good.

    So full of win!

    Well, I could say the same of Pol Pot. Passion for and commitment to hatred and lies are not admirable traits.

    G. W. Bush: staying the course towards the iceberg without ever slowing down.

  14. bbgunn says

    Dr. Audley Z. Darkheart, purveyor of candy and lies @ 21:

    I blame the commenters’ tin foil hats. It really does make ‘teh stupid’ burn hotter, doesn’t it?

  15. rwgate says

    God has called Andrew Breitbart home. Two thumbs up for God. (I suppose this is the sign that we’ve waited for that proves there is a god?).

  16. schism says

    (I suppose this is the sign that we’ve waited for that proves there is a god?).

    The sign is that everyone dies at some point? This alleged deity needs better marketing.

  17. Pinkamena, Panic Pony says

    I think that The Soldier from Team Fortress 2 has it right: “You’re dead, that’s good, amen.”

    In before pearl-clutching “HOW DARE YOU GLOAT WHEN SOMEONE’S DEAD!!!1” tone trolls.

  18. janine says

    Do not worry about it, Pinkamena. Breitbart was infamous for pissing on the fresh graves of his political enemies. Tone trolls have nothing to stand on.

  19. Pinkamena, Panic Pony says

    janine @#33: I thought that too, when Falwell died. They stood on their own righteous indignation anyway.

    Don’t underestimate tone trolls. They have no depths to which they won’t sink, all the while believing themselves to be above it all.

  20. flouncesticker says

    Well, I could say the same of Pol Pot.

    Careful. You’re getting dangerously close to fulfilling Godwin’s Law.

  21. flouncesticker says

    Oh, look. Janine’s typical argument style.

    1. Argument presented
    2. Counterargument presented
    3. Janine: “FUCK OFF, DIPSHIT!!!!”
    4. Therefore, God does not exist.

    Hooray for Janine!

  22. janine says

    Santorum-For-Brains, seek help. You have a disconnection from reality.

    At least the regulars here are having a good laugh at your expense.

  23. ButchKitties says

    When your heart is two sizes too small, I suppose it gives out that much faster.

  24. janine says

    Ing, for a good laugh, follow my link and find out what a viewpoint discrimination is.

    Xe is a flaming idiot.

    Xe is also under impression that I spend my time debating the existence of the big sky daddy.

  25. Brownian says

    Hooray for Janine!

    Well done Janine. Finally, an end to the insipidity of religion.

  26. nerok says

    Breitbart was infamous for pissing on the fresh graves of his political enemies. Tone trolls have nothing to stand on.

    So, he was infamous for it, but it’s really a good thing that we should all do? I guess people would be wrong to think that bad? Or are we just applying some “eye for an eye” mentality here, because that would be hilarious.

  27. crissakentavr says

    Janine, please stop using transgendered pronouns for assholes. Who wants to be associated with that?

  28. janine says

    *facepalm*

    That is not a a transgendered pronoun, it is a genderless pronoun. I do not know the gender of flouncersticker and do not want to assign one.

  29. rickschauer says

    Perfect, the invidious Breitbart and his imaginary friend can now enjoy eternity together.

  30. Kaylakaze says

    What I found most funny was no one (ie the news agencies) believed the report on his blog about his death until they verified it with multiple sources.

  31. Azkyroth says

    “…and if there be a hell, it had received at last the demon soul of an unhallowed thing.” -H. P. Lovecraft

  32. thebookofdave says

    @50

    That’s probably because he’s faking it. Somebody needs to give that jerk a swift kick in the ribs. Some people will do anything to get attention, and he’s the case study for that kind of behavior.

  33. Sili says

    *facepalm*

    That is not a a transgendered pronoun, it is a genderless pronoun. I do not know the gender of flouncersticker and do not want to assign one.

    Heh.

    We wouldn’t get into this mess if we didn’t keep making up silly words like that.

  34. says

    Heh.

    We wouldn’t get into this mess if we didn’t keep making up silly words like that.

    That’s a funny way of saying “sorry, my bad I didn’t understand”

  35. janine says

    Sili, what is the silly made up word that is used to describe what we are communicating on right now? It sure as shit did not exist when I was born, let alone when I graduated from college.

  36. Happiestsadist says

    Sili, if those hard-to-leanr words are just too though for you to follow, kindly shut the fuck up until you become less of a transphobic skidmark.

    Funny how it’s the words oppressed groups come up with for themselves that are just too hard for regular, normal people to be expected to learn. When we’re all comfy with microwave, email, and SUV. (ooooh! scary new terms!)

  37. fastlane says

    I don’t remember the exact quote, but it was Mark Twain:
    “I won’t be attending the funeral, but I’ll send a postcard approving of it.”

  38. phoenicianromans says

    Well, I could say the same of Pol Pot. Passion for and commitment to hatred and lies are not admirable traits.

    Screw it – let’s go full Godwin. From all the videos of Mean Mr Moustache haranguing the troops, he was full of passion and commitment too. But we judge him on the effects he had on Europe and the world between 1939 and 1945.

    Based on the effects Breitbart had on the world, he was a failure as a human being. I’m never going to be as rich as him; I’m never going to be as well-known as him; I’m never going to be as influential as him – but I can look at my life and say that the world has been improved by me being here.

    He can’t. In the most literal sense, the world is better off without him.

  39. municipalis says

    Call me heartless, but I have a hard time feeling any sort of sympathy here. A manipulative, bigotted, authoritarian shitbag who was trying as hard as he could to make the world a worser place is dead. Good. The only reason the people who associated with him should feel bad is for having tolerated this malevolent fucker for as long as they had.

  40. Grumps says

    On the subject of gender-neutral pronouns. I quite like “xe”, and really like “hir”, but before I came across them here I always used they and their. E.g.. “flouncesticker is a silly person who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, their argument is stupid.”

    It kind of works, doesn’t it?

  41. Tony says

    Grumps:
    I agree. It wasn’t until I came to FtB that I was even aware of gender-neutral pronouns. Given the arguments I’ve seen put forth for their usage, I stand completely behind ‘hir’, and ‘xe’ and the like.

  42. municipalis says

    Grumps:

    I quite like “xe”, and really like “hir”, but before I came across them here I always used they and their.

    Same. And it’s not wrong by any book to do so. They/their/them have been used in English as singular pronouns for centuries. And no one blinks an eye at “If anyone comes while I’m away, please let them in”. Why invent new words when the old will do just fine?

    Alternatively, we could all just learn Estonian which completely lacks gendered pronouns.

  43. ianm says

    I just got a comment deleted on Crooks and Liars and as for the Huffington Post, reading the comments section one would figure it was Ghandi or Mother Theresa who had just kicked it, bucketwise.

  44. shawnthesheep says

    Apparently, being an overweight, hate-filled, binge-drinking rageaholic is not a recipe for a long life. Who knew?

  45. echidna says

    Grumps,
    Sure it works.
    Shakespeare
    God send every one their heart’s desire!
    [Much Ado About Nothing, Act III Scene 4]
    There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me,
    As if I were their well-acquainted friend.
    [Comedy of Errors, Act IV Scene 3]

    Oscar Wilde
    Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

  46. charlessoto says

    I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of douches suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

  47. imthegenieicandoanything says

    Another horrible person dead, allowing me (the guy who evidently was declared “Pope” when someone died, and to the silly bullies who can’t read anything but their own self-righteousness: fuck you very much!) to forgive him and move on.
    He’s dead now, and I have no need to further expend energy being angry at his evil deeds, however necessary it is to oppose, and then clean up, the shit he left behind him.

    I’ll avoid reading what my eastwhile “comrades” here post*, as most surely will be mauling the body, but I appreciate PZ’s simple and restrained comments this time, as opposed to when the inexcusable but far more ordinary “Failed human” Joe P. died.

    *I won’t be back here to read whatever snappy insults these same temporary cretins leave, though I must thank them for proving to me that much of “our side” is just as human – in Twain’s sense – as nearly all of “their side”.

  48. says

    There’s nothing wrong with rejoicing in the death of a hateful, lying ass. He called Ted Kennedy a “villain”, a “duplicitous bastard” and a “prick”, immediately after Kennedy died. Then, he said

    “I’m more than willing to go off decorum to ensure THIS MAN is not beatified,” Breitbart wrote. “Sorry, he destroyed lives. And he knew it.”

    So, I don’t feel bad in any way to be happy that this terrible man died.

  49. janine says

    What a slimy way to claim you are better than the rest of us.

    I am slime by your visit. Your sanctimony is just as stomach churning as anything Breitbart bleated.

    Next time, leave your head up your ass.

  50. says

    I can’t be glad he’s dead, while I hated his views he had a family and friends who cared for him and are now in pain. I certainly won’t miss his toxic influence on american politics though.

  51. GodotIsWaiting4U says

    Not glad he’s dead, never glad he’s dead, never glad anyone’s dead, but it is rather useful to know he won’t be doing the whole “right-wing provocateur” bit anymore, and to be honest his death isn’t exactly surprising. Seeing how angry he got at the Occupy protest and how apparently-willing he is to fly off the handle suggests that he probably had all sorts of stress-related health problems, and heart problems would count under that umbrella. Wasn’t in terribly great shape either; that probably just made matters worse.

  52. municipalis says

    Noadi:

    I can’t be glad he’s dead, while I hated his views he had a family and friends who cared for him and are now in pain.

    I’m sure virtually every malevolent asshole in the world had family and friends who were likewise upset at their passing. I wouldn’t wish death on any of them, but I can’t say I’m not glad when their influence on the world is removed. I don’t feel any obligation to feel pity for the family and friends of Kim Jong Il, or Jerry Falwell or Andrew Breitbart, because I think they bore at least partial responsibility in allowing such men to get away with everything they did.

  53. Sili says

    Thanks, Grumps. Yay for “they”.

    Sili, you really might want to shut the fuck up on this issue. Or on GLBT issues in general.

    That is not a a transgendered pronoun, it is a genderless pronoun.

    This is what I’m talking about. Ms. Daisy Cutter seems to agree this is an issue of transgender rights. janine insists on it being a synonym of singular “they”.

    As I said – a mess.

    And sorry for not adding “/snark” the other day. My bad.

  54. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Prepare for the conspiracy theorists to go nuclear tonight

    Breitbart dead, now the bomb squad is investigating a suspicious package at Rush Limbaugh’s Fla home.

  55. gragra says

    I’m glad he’s dead. As Billy Connolly said, “the world’s a wanker short!” Does that make me a bad person? Oh well…

  56. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    I will not attend the funeral, but I’ll send a note expressing my approval.

  57. says

    On the one hand, good riddance to bad rubbish.

    On the other, he WAS someone’s son, brother, father, spouse, friend and we should remember that and have some sympathy for those affected by his death.

    So, um, my sympathy goes out to those close to him.

  58. chaostheory says

    Now if chance could only take care of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and the seemingly endless crew of other greasy, right-wing political/media scum, it just might convince me of some sort of existential justice.

  59. DLC says

    While I despised Brietbart’s modus operandi, and thought little of his politics or his character, I can say for his family that I am sorry for their loss.

  60. says

    It’s time like these that I wish I believed in hell. Because I know if there were a hell Ronnie Ray Gun would be skull fucking Andy for eternity.
    May they both rot in hell.

  61. chaostheory says

    WMDKitty…

    I hear what your saying, and most people can certainly understand sympathies by family and friends over the death of a person close to them.

    It’s interesting to note cultural/familial influences though, since many times those who are close family members and friends tend to share similar views. To me, it seems sort of rare that family, in particular, has diametrically opposed worldviews– either politically, culturally, philosophically, etc.,… probably most directly due to the cultural nature of family and friends…..’birds of a feather flock together’ and all that.

    ( I can remember Ron Reagan and his sister Patty gaining some media attention with their opposing political views in contrast to their father, Prez Ronny Reagan, in the 80’s,…. but generally family members can be reflective and supportive of each others views, as could be expected in politics, certainly.)

  62. Cyranothe2nd says

    Gregory @ 16 One should speak good of the dead. He’s dead: good.

    LOL!

    Cjtotalbro @ 13 Sadly, atlas was too much for him to shrug. And @ 26 Perhaps he was crushed by the white man’s burden?

    You win the thread. Pick up your internet on the way out.

    @ 70

    He’s dead now, and I have no need to further expend energy being angry at his evil deeds, however necessary it is to oppose, and then clean up, the shit he left behind him.

    How magnanimous of you. The flounce was the icing on the cake. Now fuck right off and leave the adults to talk amongst ourselves.

  63. says

    I think we should honour Andrew Brietbart by following his example of honesty and veracity

    Routers and Assorted Press are reporting today that Andrew Brietbart was found by paramedics lying on his back gasping “Barack, you are my hope and change president. I have done everything I can for you , I can do no more”

    Lydia Hope one of the paramedics who attended Brietbart in his final moments has been identified as the source of this story, so its accuracy is clearly beyond question

  64. Ichthyic says

    Lydia Hope one of the paramedics who attended Brietbart in his final moments

    reverse necrodunking FTW!

  65. McCthulhu, now with Techroline and Retsyn says

    Maybe he’s an anecdotal cautionary ad for healthy living. Instead of heckling the protesters with a bizarre one-liner, non-sequitur comeback, just jog around them and give a miss to the Dunkin’ Donuts you see on the way. And don’t believe your dogmatist bullshit or you’ll get high blood pressure. And don’t make up lies about climate change. And…a whole bunch of other shit not-to-do.

  66. iosues says

    No love lost with Breitbart’s death.

    Everyone’s time will come to die. However, if you act like a dick, you’ll be remembered as a dick.

  67. birgerjohansson says

    I recognise his family is mourning, just as I empathized with Nancy Reagan when she lost a family member to Alzheimer’s.
    I feel sorry for *them*, not for the dead.
    — — — — — — —
    I normally do not rejoice over the death of assholes, but when Pol Pot and Augusto Pinochet died, I went to the café and treated myself to a Danish pastry.

    Breitbart: Some extra cream in the coffe.

  68. wbenson says

    Only a twisted mind could admire the unprincipled monster that was Andrew Breitbart. The world is better without him.

  69. Xavier Ninnis says

    @5
    Took another gander after reading your comment; and sure as shit.
    Nice catch.

  70. horrabin says

    When Breitbart was taken to task about his gloating over Ted Kennedy’s death, he said “Why do you grant a BULLY special status upon his death?”

    I normally do not rejoice over the death of assholes, but when Pol Pot and Augusto Pinochet died, I went to the café and treated myself to a Danish pastry.

    Breitbart: Some extra cream in the coffe.

    Sounds about right, breitbart doesn’t rate a full pastry.

  71. mudpuddles says

    @KG #25:

    From the BBC’s report of his death:

    Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group that had clashed with Breitbart over the years, said in a short statement…
    “We’ve disagreed more than we’ve found common ground, but there was never any question of Andrew’s passion for and commitment to what he believed,”…

    Well, I could say the same of Pol Pot. Passion for and commitment to hatred and lies are not admirable traits.

    Well said. I can never understand the myopia of people who praise others for “living their convictions” or “acting on their sincere beliefs”, as if the reasoning behind an immoral action can legitimises it in some way. Like GW Bush was wrong on Iraq but at least he followed his convictions. That’s never really a virtue, especially if you’re a bullish, racist, deluded, megalomaniacal asshole.

    I’m sorry for Breitbart’s family and friends that they have lost someone they loved. Not one bit sorry that the world has one less arrogant bigoted prick to listen to.

  72. anchor says

    Choosing a life that revolves around hatred and the kind of anger it precipitates is a strain on the cardiovascular system. It is a choice. I’ve seen it numerous times in people I’ve known personally – including family and friends with no apparent genetic or familial predisposition – suffering heart attacks and strokes, some of them succumbing fatally, and strikingly occurring during episodes in exhibition of their favored habit. They seem to drop like flies.

    I have found it very interesting that anger exhibited in defense against hatred and the oppression it generates doesn’t seem to pose anywhere near the deleterious physical effect, no matter how often it must be engaged.

  73. llewelly says

    I grew up in Utah. I have plenty of deluded right-wing relatives. They’ve all lost someone who was a lying shithead like Breitbart, someone they loved. They were all better off having lost such people.