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The Water Cooler Title: Andrew RIP Andrew RIP By Jonah Goldberg March 1, 2012 I walked out of the studio at Fox only to have a producer greet me at the door and tell me the wires were reporting Andrew had died. I walked around, dazed for a few minutes. A booker asked me if I could hang around for reaction. I said yes, foolishly. I went on. Bill Hemmer asked me some questions. I don’t really remember what I said. But I know I started to break down. They showed mercy and let me get off the air. Andrew wasn’t anything like my best friend. But he was an old and special one. Back in the early days of National Review Online, even before we called it National Review Online, Andrew and I were buddies. It would be years before we’d meet in the flesh, but we would Instant Message (these were the AOL days) all the time and talk occasionally by phone. We were the same age (about a month apart), with very similar backgrounds, interests, and senses of humor. His Instant Messager handle was “Bodiaz” and he was one of those names in my “buddies list” that was always there (the only other being more omnipresent was Kathryn’s), because he was always awake. He was working for Matt Drudge and I was groping around trying to figure out where the fuse box was on this Internet thing. He was a huge fan of NRO and helped in countless ways behind the scenes to help me and us when he could. When he was asked to create the Huffington Post, he based it in large part on the Corner. I’ve never known someone, perhaps with the exception of Drudge himself, who had more of a savant’s sense of media, old and new — but especially new. In the early days of the Drudge Report there was a lot of talk about how Drudge made the news, and that was often true. But he could only do that by understanding the news and how it worked at a visceral instinctive level. Matt saw this same gift in Andrew, which is why he hired him. The two of them changed the course of the massive river of news for literally billions of people. That’s no exaggeration, even venerable enterprises and institutions that despised the Drudge Report and pretended it didn’t exist had to change course because of it. Andrew left there and went on to hugely exciting things. He founded Big Hollywood and Big Government and BreitbartTV and I’ve lost track of what else. He picked fights for fun and profit, but most of all for patriotism and an honorable sense of indignation at the hubris and hypocrisy of the mainstream media and the Left. We didn’t agree on everything and we differed on style. Hell, everyone differed with Andrew when it came to style. I’m writing my column about him so I should probably stop this stream of consciousness. There will be lots of eulogies and obituaries for Andrew, including my own, talking about his politics and his beautiful wife and kids and his bottomless happy-warrior spirit. And that’s all true and right and appropriate. But people — particularly NRO readers — should know that Andrew’s accomplishments didn’t begin with his relatively recent fame and his gonzo antics. People will talk a lot about Shirley Sherrod and Anthony Weiner and that’s all fine and good. He’d like it, in fact. But he was a great, sweet, smart guy destined for great things long before he became a cultural touchstone. Indeed, his greatest accomplishment, I’m sure he would say, was marrying up and having four wonderful kids. And that too is something that you won’t see in his clips on YouTube. COMMENTS 8 Oofy Prosser 03/01/12 This is devastating. He was as close a thing as there was to the indispensable man of the movement. Who can replace him? Ironfistvelvetglove 03/01/12 Thank you, Jonah. I hope all who admire Andrew Brietbart will take up his crusade against socialism and vote this November. Some people live into old age and never impact their immediate world, much less a huge world and a cause. Abraham Lincoln once said, "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." May Andrew Brietbart RIP and may his family and friends be comforted from our prayers. And may his cause live on with those who doubted they had his courage but do. RYANT. 03/01/12 This is crazy! Andrew Breitbart was only 43 years old! That is only 12 years older than myself and it is way too young to die! RIP Andrew Breitbart: you were the man! cab 03/01/12 Breitbart could have lived to 100 and still died too young. But what he did with the years he had! Let him be an inspiration to all of us. William 03/01/12 Andrew was a one of a kind, and he moved the earth as a pioneer. It is now for others to follow in his footsteps. His courage, vision and work has and will inspire others to pursue the truth without fear. He proved the story can be found and exposed if you're willing to work. We as a people and the nation as a whole will benefit from his short life, and whatever the left may think of his passing, he was only the beginning, not the end. Richard Reed 03/01/12 Terrible news. Prayers ascending for him, his wife, and young children. Will Antonin 03/01/12 Jonah, I was just watching your Fox News interview at -- where else? -- Breitbart.tv. I'm glad you went on: You handled the moment with gracefulness and sincerity. In a time when grief is exploited and personal emotions are overexposed, you were genuine and hit the exact right note. I, for one, appreciated it. Breitbart did something no other media outlet, including this one, does. He took the fight into the "enemy" territory by breaking stories himself, exposing hypocrisy and lies not just via opinion pieces but also by using the tools of journalism themselves to his own ends. Scott Wilson 03/01/12 Horrible. Absolutely Horrible. What a tremendous loss. I'm so incredibly sorry for his wife and children, the people who will suffer the most from this tragedy. But, his passing will leave a journalism void that hurts the country and not just the conservative movement. He will be missed by family, friends and country alike - which at only 43-years young, is quite an accomplishment.
Poster Comment: mover - shaker - pnewsami !
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#5. To: BorisY (#0)
Rip Andrew Breitbart!
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