Andrew Breitbart dead: Internet gadfly dies at 43

Conservative muckraker Andrew Breitbart died suddenly in Los Angeles Thursday morning, according to his web site BigGovernment.com.

BigGovernment and sister sites BigJournalism, BigHollywood and BigPeace posted a tribute to Breitbart earlier this morning:

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.

We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior.

Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.

Andrew recently wrote a new conclusion to his book, Righteous Indignation:

I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and—famously—I enjoy making enemies.

Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I’ve lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I’ve gained hundreds, thousands—who knows?—of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night.

Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us.

An early associate of Matt Druge, Breitbart assisted Arianna Huffington with the launch of The Huffington Post before striking out and building a conservative media empire dedicating to exposing the foibles of what he saw as “the institutional left.” In the few short years since their inception, Brietbart’s lineup of sites were responsible for breaking the ACORN scandal and exposing the pornographic text messages of Rep. Anthony Weiner, among others.