Monday, March 6, 2017

Greg Gutfeld: Remembering Andrew Breitbart

Marking the fifth anniversary of Andrew Breitbart's death, Greg Gutfeld wrote a piece explaining and honoring his friend.

I keep Andrew's quotation from his CPAC 2012 speech permanently posted on the sidebar of this blog.

"Everything has changed, everything has changed in the last few years. Conservatives used to take it and we're not taking it anymore."
I loved watching him on Red Eye and enjoyed his other appearances. He was a warrior, but he was fun. I just found him so likable.

It bothers me that many on the Left and the Right have turned the name "Breitbart" into a synonym for racism, hate, intolerance, and overall idiocy. They say it with a sneer. They consider "Breitbart" synonymous with crap. It's offensive. In discussions, whenever someone degrades "Breitbart," I always remind them to think about Andrew Breitbart and note that distinction.

Read Gutfeld's piece on Breitbart.

Excerpts:
Say what you will about how A.B. felt about Trump's politics, but Andrew predicted this new kind of Republican. His most famous quote? “Politics is downstream from culture.” Meaning, to win in politics, you have to win the culture. Trump is the first Republican to exemplify this equation. Born and bred in the restless impatience of modern culture and eschewing the stuffy moralism of conservative ideology and the politically correct paralysis of the left, he fulfilled what Andrew saw coming: a path free from the tricks played upon the right for so long. Sure, Trump was rude, offensive and sloppy — but so was America. And like America, he was tired of the PC BS.

Andrew was Trump before Trump. Wherever Andrew spoke, crowds formed. He could talk for hours on just about anything. He fell in love with the masses who were looking for a new direction. Sound familiar?

There are disagreements over where Andrew might have stood on Trump, but I know he would have relished the implosion of pernicious tribal politics. Andrew was a conservative, but he hated litmus tests and ideas tethered to precious books. He just wanted to expose the lie of leftism. Trump wouldn't have found his footing in such ground if Andrew hadn’t begun sowing that turf a decade before.

Where would Andrew stand on the internal conflicts among Republicans over Trump? Would it matter that The Donald was neither ideological nor predictably conservative? Would Andrew be suspicious of Trump’s autocratic outbursts, impulsiveness and disdain for critics? Or would he embrace Trump not just as a natural ally, but as the first real candidate in a post-ideological world? I don't know, but he'd be enjoying every minute of it.

...Before Andrew, the right settled for being out of step and outraged. We were offended by a changing culture instead of figuring out how to own it, and we took on the demeanor of the picked-upon nerd, screaming "it's not fair" to the liberal media that constantly degraded conservatives.

Andrew changed that. His goal wasn't simply to make conservatism cool (trying to do that, in itself, is not cool), but to expose how uncool the other side was.

...So, what about now … 2017, the era of Trump? I think Andrew would have found him vastly entertaining, while being cognizant of his impulsiveness. He would struggle with Trump the way so many of us have. But, ultimately, he would see Trump as darkly humorous, important and preferable to the Democratic alternative. At least Trump is real, and more vital. At least Trump has finally opened the door to fight back against those who, for decades, reveled in attacking us.

...The beauty of 2016 is that nothing that used to work for the left works anymore. It's done. The name-calling, the smearing — now, our collective response to such attacks, borrowed from Andrew's own arsenal of rebuttals, is, "So?"
Yes.

Thank you, Greg Gutfeld.



I understand why Greg comes to the conclusions he does regarding Andrew's probable view of politics today because Andrew said it himself on February 10, 2012.


ANDREW BREITBART: You want a unity speech? I'll give you a unity speech. I don't care who our candidate is, and I haven't since the beginning of this. I haven't.

Ask not what the candidate can do for you, ask what you can do for the candidate. And that's what the Tea Party is. We are there to confront them on behalf of our candidate.

I will march behind whoever our candidate is because if we don't we lose.

There are two paths, there are two paths. One is America, and the other one is Occupy. One is America, the other one is Occupy. And I don't care, along the way, along the way, along the way - and I'm not a candidate, I'm never going to be a candidate. I'm just a goofball from Los Angeles who wears goofy shoes; promised people I would shave, didn't; promised to take a shower, I got too caught up talking to everybody.

And here I am, kind of a mess, but kind of excited to be here, because over the last three years I've realized that the Republican Party and the Conservative movement is not what ABC and CBS puts on the screen. They try to portray you in the worst possible light.

And when I walk through CPAC, or a I travel the United States to meet people in the Tea Party who care, black, white, gay, and straight, anyone that's willing to stand next to me to fight the progressive Left, I will be in that bunker. And if you're not in that bunker because you're not satisfied with this candidate, more than shame on you. You're on the other side.

Breitbart rallied people to take on the progressive Left. He urged people not to accept the Leftist media calling them racist and degrading them. He demanded the Leftist media be held accountable. He promised to do it and encouraged everyone to do it.

ANDREW BREITBART: We're watching you to play the race card, MSNBC...call everyone who's Caucasian a racist.... No more. 'He's a racist.' That's a dog whistle.... No more.

We're going to go after you. I bought a dog whistle. I bought a dog whistle factory and I'm giving you dog whistles. And we're going to listen to every word that comes out of your mouth, and we're going to hold you to the same standard that you hold us, which is an impossible one. And you're going to have a hell of a time in 2012 because America has finally awakened to your Saul Alinsky bullshit tactics. And we're coming to get you.

"Everything has changed, everything has changed in the last few years. Conservatives used to take it and we're not taking it anymore."


Thank you, thank you, Andrew Breitbart.

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