One normally speaks well of the dead. On this one I will not. This man has hurt millions with him knowingly lying and misleading America. These lies have materially affected policies that would otherwise help, improve, or save millions of American lives.
Andrew Breitbart, the 43-year-old conservative writer who died Thursday morning, was found collapsed on the sidewalk near his Westwood home while taking a nighttime walk, his father-in-law told The Times.
Breitbart was found about 12:30 or 1 a.m.
"He was walking near the house somewhere…. He was taken by paramedics to UCLA and they couldn’t revive him," said his father-in-law, actor Orson Bean, who spoke with his daughter, Susannah Bean Breitbart, about what happened.
Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart dies at 43
(CNN) — Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger whose posting of a sexually explicit photo of former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner led to the congressman’s downfall, has died, his attorney confirmed Thursday.
He was 43.
Joel Pollak, editor-in-chief and in-house counsel for Breitbart’s website, Breitbart.com, posted a statement confirming his death.
"Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles," the statement read. "We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior."
Breitbart was the first to post Weiner’s infamous Twitter photos last year, in which the married congressman appeared barechested and in his underpants in pictures sent to a woman online. Weiner eventually stepped down amid the scandal.
Breitbart’s regular appearances on FOX News, his websites and his speeches to conservative groups made him a star on the right and a villain to the left.
Responding Thursday to news of Breitbart’s death, former Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican presidential candidate, called him a "powerful force" who was "constantly out there driving and pushing."
"What a huge loss, in my opinion, to our country and certainly to the conservative movement," Santorum said.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another GOP candidate, tweeted: "Andrew Breitbart was the most innovative pioneer in conservative activist social media in America. He had great courage and creativity."
Breitbart was a driving force in the conservative tea party movement. In a statement on his death, the Tea Party Nation said Breittbart was an "amazing patriot" who"relished fighting those who would destroy this great country."
Breitbart came under heavy criticism in 2010 for posting an edited and incomplete video of a speech by Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod, who is black, appearing to say she discriminated against a white farmer looking for assistance.
Sherrod was forced to resign over the video, which appeared on another of Breitbart’s websites, BigJournalism.com.
A full version of the speech showed that Sherrod had assisted the farmer. The department later offered her job back when it was clear she had been misrepresented.
Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart dies at 43
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