March 1, 2012: “Very sad news to report, just breaking. Andrew Breitbart is dead.”

WILLIAM A. JACOBSON MAR 1, 2022 6:40 PM

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years.

I remember that day

Very sad news to report, just breaking.  Andrew Breitbart is dead….We should focus on how much good he did in standing up against the left-wing smear machine, which now will be celebrating for sure.There are few people who are irreplaceable, but Andrew may have been one of those few.

I wrote this personal note later in the day:

I only spoke once with Andrew Breitbart. He reached out to me, and we spoke by phone.  The topic is not important, but I was shocked that he even knew who I was; but as I’ve come to learn, Andrew seemed to know who everyone was in the conservative blogosphere.  He was just that way.Since my wife called this morning to let me know of Andrew’s death, it has been hard to focus on anything else.  In her words, we don’t have that many bright media lights, and to lose him hurts.

On March 1, 2012, Andrew Breitbart died. Each year we remember him, and try to focus on various aspects of his life and legacy.

• Andrew Breitbart dead (March 1, 2012)
• A personal note on the death of Andrew Breitbart (March 1, 2012)
• One year ago today, Andrew Breitbart died (March 1, 2013)
• Remembering Andrew Breitbart 2 years after his death (March 1, 2014)
• What and who Andrew Breitbart faced (March 1, 2014)
• 3 Years after Andrew Breitbart’s death, no apologies needed (March 1, 2015)
• Andrew Breitbart died 4 years ago today (March 1, 2016)
• Andrew Breitbart died 5 years ago today (March 1, 2017)
• Andrew Breitbart died 6 years ago (March 1, 2018)
• “Wake up, Conservatives: Left is involved in 100% organized class & race warfare & you think you can sit this one out & not fight back?!?!” (March 1, 2019)
• “Walk toward the fire” — Andrew Breitbart died 8 years ago (March 1, 2020)
• Rush Limbaugh Eulogizes Andrew Breitbart (March 1, 2012): “He was far more effective than he probably ever dreamed” (March 2, 2021)

Andrew saw the challenge facing our society more clearly than most:

Wake up, Conservatives: Left is involved in 100% organized class & race warfare & you think you can sit this one out & not fight back?!?!

He saw the corrupt media for what it was long before others awakened to the threat they pose:

The attacks on Andrew by the cabal of left wing media and activists will sound very familiar in that false narratives were completely invented, with malicious racial framing. Not that I could change the narrative, but I repeatedly rebutted the false allegation that Andrew released a misleading video of Shirley Sherrod:

• The Original Sherrod Clip Was Not “False”
• Dissecting Shirley Sherrod’s Complaint Against Andrew Breitbart
• Saturday Night Card Game (Repeat after me: “The Shirley Sherrod tape was not misleading”)(regarding AP and Politico article)
• Repeat after me again and again: “The Shirley Sherrod tape was not misleading” (regarding WaPo article)
• The myth of Andrew Breitbart’s “deceptively edited” Shirley Sherrod tape lives on at Slate.com
• NY Times perpetuates myth of Andrew Breitbart’s misleading Shirley Sherrod video
• Shirley Sherrod case settled, now put to bed myth that Breitbart’s tape was misleading
• Myth of Andrew Breitbart’s “deceptively edited” Shirley Sherrod tape resurfaces with Vilsack nomination

Faced with the Sherrod smear, Andrew taught us a lesson that became useful during the 2020-2021 cancel culture purges. “Apologize, for what?” became most associated with him, and it was phrase he tweeted the day of his death:

There was a tribute atthe Breitbart website today:

And from James O’Keefe and Project Veritas:

We have our own special connection. Mary Chastain knew Andrew and used to work at Breitbart.com.

Our Editor Emerita Mandy Nagy was particularly close to Andrew:

It may not be healthy to dwell on what might have been.

Sorry, right now I just can’t stop thinking about what might have been.

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