RIP, Andrew Breitbart **UPDATE**

Business Insider has picked up a Big Journalism story that Andrew Breitbart died last night.  (Big Journalism is one of Breitbart’s web sites.)

If this is true, then we’ve lost a gallant warrior in the battle to preserve and advance freedom and liberty.

Of course, the lefties will flood the internet with hate and bile.  So maybe the obit is a plot to draw the lefties out and reveal them for who and what they really are. I hope it’s that.

UPDATE: 8:58 am Central Ben Howe tweets that he has independent confirmation.  As has Daily Caller, via LA Coroner’s office

Thoughts

Last time I was in Andrew’s company was last June?  He was in St. Louis for Smart Girls Politics convention with his son. Had drinks at Mike Shannon’s after the event.  Andrew was excited (as he always is) that I might be spending lots of time in LA county. (Or maybe he was just being polite.  Either way, his enthusiasm made me feel good.)

I keep thinking “irreplaceable.”  That’s because Andrew’s flaws were as vital as his strengths.  The fact that he never took himself seriously enough, that he picked fights that didn’t need to be picked, and that he continued fight them after they were already decided.

Were those flaws? Or did Andrew just have tougher guts and stronger instincts than the rest of us?

He designed (in the broader sense of the word) Huffington Post. With that, Breitbart.com, and the Bigs, he transformed the internet and, thereby, politics.  He withstood campaigns of lies orchestrated in the Obama White House and executed by CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, and Media Matters.

Andrew was something of the figure I’d hoped to become growing up: the next William F. Buckley.  What I mean by that is he defined movement conservatism for  generation.

But his reign was aborted.  So soon. So, so too soon.

I pray for his soul, for his family, and for our country.  We’ve lost a general in the war for liberty.  Each of us, now must carry a heavier load.

Prayer

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine on him. May he rest in peace. And may God have mercy on us all.