I Miss You, Andrew Breitbart

I met Andrew Breitbart in person for the first time a few years ago in a Manhattan restaurant. Along with a few mutual friends, we laughed, we ate dinner, and we talked about everything from politics to education to reality television to Westwood.

I loved his sense of humor; he was funny without trying to be funny. I immediately understood why he and my friend Greg Gutfeld were so close.

I loved his bluntness. “So you were a professor? Did you get suspended when you went on Fox News?” was one of the first things he asked me.

I loved the fact that he came up with more creative ideas in one night than most people could in a lifetime.

I loved that he hated most news shows because he felt that you couldn’t trust most commentators to speak from the heart.

I loved his passion for making a difference. He saw things that needed to be changed, feathers that needed to be ruffled, and wasn’t afraid to cause some controversy to get results.

I loved that he wasn’t impressed with people because they had important titles or big bank accounts or fancy clothes. He was impressed with sincerity, those rare folks who really mean what they say and say what they mean.

But most importantly, I loved that he got it-the big picture, the key to winning the fight for this country’s future. That big picture centers around academia, the media, and the culture war, not the recycled talking points of career politicians and their allies.

Andrew was one of the few people who really understood what needed to be done. And he may have been the only one who wasn’t afraid to do it.

I miss Andrew for many reasons. He was the kind of guy who would tell you the truth even if it was hard to hear. He was the kind of guy who people just wanted to be around because there was something entertaining about almost everything that came out of his mouth. He was the kind of guy you would want on your team because if he really believed in something, he would fight for it with more strength than most of us have.

Most of all, he was the kind of guy who wasn’t afraid to be creative, to think outside the box, and to brainstorm projects that might be risky, but would leave their mark on history and change hearts and minds.

Andrew and I talked about some daring ideas. At least once a week, I contemplate whether I can even fathom doing them without him. The truth is I’m still not sure, but every now and then I can almost feel him nudging me.

So on this day, like so many others, I miss my friend Andrew Breitbart. But I know that he’s watching us, cheering us on to be a little more gutsy than we ever thought we could be.