Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart dead at 43

Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart died suddenly this morning at the age of 43. Mr. Breitbart’s political views and tactics are not in line with most progressive values, but the death of anyone at such a young age is very sad. Breitbart was married with 4 children. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

It’s true that Breitbart’s life and career was full of public theatrics. His brash brand of conservatism and “call out culture” methods were responsible for both the firing of dedicated long time USDA employee Shirley Sherrod and the resignation of Congressman Anthony Weiner. Sherrod is currently suing Breitbart for defamation after he released a heavily edited video of her making it seem like she discriminated against white farmers. As a result, Sherrod was fired and later cleared of any wrongdoing when the full unedited tape was released.

Today Sherrod put her disagreements aside and said, “The news of Mr. Breitbart’s death came as a surprise to me when I was informed of it this morning. My prayers go out to Mr. Breitbart’s family as they cope through this very difficult time.”

That’s exactly the right response to this sudden death no matter what your feelings about Breitbart are. Despite the fact that he didn’t have as much class himself when Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, like Sherrod, we can do better than that.

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