Friday, March 02, 2012

Sad, Not Suspicious. No Conspiracy, Just Tragedy.

A typical sampling of blog and Facebook posts I've been reading today start something like this:

"I never saw or heard the man speak, but a couple of weeks ago this guy said he was going to release tapes that would take down the administration and then he dies. Something very wrong is going on here. This is too strange."


Conspiracies about dart guns, poisoned red wine, and suspiciously early cause of death reports are running wild across the web. But the reality is that while his death is shocking, it was not entirely surprising.

Let me first dispose of the notion that the tapes of President Obama Breitbart referenced during his CPAC speech were some kind of explosive bombshell. The tapes are not a revelation. Breitbart was speaking publicly about them during the Acorn expose as early as 2009.

As for the claim that the LA Times reported his cause of death before it was released - well, they didn't. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center pronounced that Breitbart had probably died of natural causes at 12:19am. The LA Times reported what UCLA Medical had announced at 7:33am.

Remember the "probably" part. It is not at all unusual for ER doctors to speculate on the cause of death immediately following sudden, unexpected trauma. ER doctors all over the world do it every single day. Anyone who has anxiously waited for news of a loved in an emergency waiting room knows this. "He probably died of a heart attack", "It looks like it may have been a stroke", "It could have been an allergic reaction." Far too many of us have heard those words. It's not unusual or strange.

Anyone who knew Andrew Breitbart knows he did not take the best care of his health. He had heart problems, and hadn't been examined by a doctor in over a year. He rarely slept, traveled constantly, and had a wife and 4 energetic kids he took everywhere, including on National Review cruises. Everyone was begging him to slow down.

Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post, of which Breitbart helped to develop, had implored him over the years to slow down:


"Andrew, you’ve got to sleep, got to stop."

Michael Walsh, one of Brietbart's closest friends, claimed:

"....he did suffer from heart trouble, and told me he had spent some time at UCLA Medical Center in the past year for treatment. As a heart patient myself, I often urged him to slow down and take care of his family — even Achilles had to spend time in his tent. It was advice he could not heed."


We don't know the official cause of death as of yet.

A heart attack at 43, if a heart attack is what this turns out to be, is not a strange occurrence. Males 45 and under account for 20% of all heart attacks in the United States. Given Breitbart's non-stop pace and documented heart issues, I don't see this as such a shocker.

So let's take a breath.

I despise the Obama administration. I hate everything it stands for. I want to see this corrupt President and every Democrat run out of Washington in November. I want to see the mainstream media stammering and staggering about trying to spin the massive GOP tidal wave that is coming. I want to watch in delight as liberals seethe with rage. I want to stick it to the Occupy crowd. I want to do all the things that Andrew relished in life.

What I do not want to do is sully Andrew's legacy by skipping down the road to Loch Ness talking about black mini-vans and poison blow darts.

Andrew Breitbart's death was sad, sudden, and tragic. Instead of watching and reading the work of conspiracy theorists, why not make better use of our time watching the hundreds of brilliant and impassioned speeches and interviews Andrew left behind?

Cordially

Joe

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Andrew Breitbart February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012

Widely read conservative Internet publisher Andrew Breitbart has died, his attorney confirms.

The site Big Government, which he founded, reported that Breitbart, 43, died "unexpectedly from natural causes" in Los Angeles shortly after midnight on Thursday.

"We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior," the article on the site said. "Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love."