Americans for Limited Government (ALG) sends condolences to the family and friends of Andrew Breitbart, popular media guru who gained notoriety for leading the charge for conservative causes in unconventional ways. Breitbart died last night of natural causes. He will be missed.
ALG was fortunate to host an event featuring Breitbart in 2009 at the Union Pub in Washington, D.C. Then, he spoke about the urgency for conservatives to embrace pop culture to ensure the survival of the conservative movement, and the Republican Party.
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“I really think that the only way that the conservative movement… people that want limited government, the only way we’re ever going to be able to sell the idea is if we learn that the media is the message,” had said Breitbart to an audience of new media personnel of not-for-profit organizations, conservative bloggers, and radio staff.
“We have like a ten to twenty year battle on our hands,” said the co-founder of Big Hollywood, the group blog that features contributions from high profile Hollywood conservatives, Big Government, and other popular websites.
Breitbart said he told GOP Congressmen in Washington to “stop acting like your great, great grandfather, and not be afraid of pop culture.”
Breitbart believed strongly the conservative movement must engage in the culture war. “Every single pop culture arbiter,” said Breitbart, citing David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Ellen Degeneres, and others, “they rigged the game so that they win on the media.”
“Over 40 years of that dominance and the conservative movement following Paul Weyrich’s, ‘we lost the culture war… let’s not fight it, let’s not engage in it,’ that’s why we’re in deep peril. It’s not because of our political point of view. It’s not because we don’t have the right ideas,” Breitbart said.
“It’s because we don’t play that game,” he said.
Breitbart was an author and occasional commentator for political news programs. He appeared on shows such as Real Time With Bill Maher, Dennis Miller and Fox News’ Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld. He was a part-time editor of the Drudge Report and developer for the Huffington Post. He ran his own news portal, Breitbart.com with the motto “Just The News”.
In addition to his success on the web, Breitbart was the co-author of the wildly popular book Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon — The Case Against Celebrity. Breitbart’s work had also been published in the Wall Street Journal, National Review Online and the Weekly Standard Online, among others. He wrote a weekly column for The Washington Times, which appeared at Real Clear Politics.
Breitbart believed that the conservative movement is ready to “open up that golden gate,” and take on Hollywood. He stated he knew of “hundreds if not thousands of people who are in Hollywood that you would recognize their names, whether they be directors, writers, or actors, and these people have to stay silent,” citing job discrimination and intimidation.
“Hollywood for the last 40 years has been controlled by the left, and I’m here to tell you that there are a lot of conservatives out there — more than you can possibly imagine,” Breitbart declared.
“40 years is too long for there not to be a counter-revolution,” Breitbart added. “And I think that Hollywood is the place, believe it or not, where… it’s going to happen.”
It is a cause that will surely carry on long after his untimely departure — as his greatest legacy. Goodbye, happy warrior.
Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government.
