Though I didn’t join the Breitbart News team until after the 2012 election, eight months after Andrew Breitbart passed away, I was always really close with him personally.
Andrew inspired me with his passion. I had never met anyone with so much energy before, and I haven’t since I first crossed paths with him.
He was legitimately enthusiastic and excited whenever he had a big story or whenever he’d pull one of those public moves like only Andrew Breitbart could. Andrew was somebody who was excited for all the right reasons, none of the wrong ones. He really cared about fighting corruption and saving our country. And he shared it not just publicly but with all those of us who had the fortune of learning from him.
The best example I can think of where Andrew was super excited was during the scandal he broke surrounding now former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Andrew caught Weiner tweeting out a photo of a shrouded penis, which–after much lying and misleading on Weiner’s and the mainstream media’s parts–Weiner would admit was his.
On his way into that infamous press conference at which Breitbart stole the stage from Weiner, he called me up. After looking down at my caller ID and seeing “Andrew Breitbart” watching the news waiting for Weiner to come out to address the press, I was elated to hear from the man who broke the scandal. I dropped my laptop on the couch next to me and frantically answered the phone.
“You won’t believe where I am,” Andrew said before I could even get out the word “hello.” Though I couldn’t see his face, Andrew’s tone indicated he was wearing that infamous grin.
“No,” I responded. “Where are you at?”
“I’m at the Weiner press conference,” he coolly replied. “I just walked in.”
“No way,” I said. “No f***ing way. Really? Can I report that?”
“Yes way, and sure,” Andrew answered before that classic hang-up he’d do whenever his attention was pulled elsewhere.
Instantly, I tweeted the news. Andrew went on to steal the spotlight from Weiner – again – and win the battle against him. Weiner apologized to him and resigned shortly thereafter. Andrew exposed the culture of the political class and the mainstream media in the process.
Looking back, that moment is the one I think back to that embodies Breitbart: fearlessness, aggressiveness, and passion. His enthusiasm for whatever he was doing was contagious, and it’s sorely missed. Whenever I find myself lacking the juice to fight, I think back to that moment and it gives me the gusto to move forward.
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