On the death of Andrew Breitbart [View all]
When it comes to deaths of unsavory individuals, I try always to invoke the "Momma Says" rule. You've all heard it....If you don't have anything good to say, yada yada yada.
Part of me is always the eternal optimist. That someone who has lead a life that has hurt or damaged others, when faced with their dying breath, will realize the error of his or her wasted life and will have regret on how they lived it, and wish for forgiveness on those who've they hurt. The realist in me thinks this rarely happens, but I like to think it does nonetheless.
Prior to his death from brain cancer, the story is that the famous dirty political operative Lee Atwater felt a deep regret for some of the horrible things he did in the name of politics. Assuming that it was genuine and not revisionist history, it's an admirable thing and part of me wished that Breitbart would have come to the same realization. But Atwater knew he was dying. Breitbart didn't. And it goes to show that those who continue to run campaigns of ruin and hate like there is no tomorrow will eventually find the day that there is no tomorrow for them.
As others have mentioned, Breitbart was a father, and to his children there is a small degree of sympathy for their loss. But sadly, whatever good fatherly instincts Breitbart may have had stayed behind when he left home. As a father myself, I could never live with myself having to face my children if I knew in my professional life I caused the harm to so many people.
So I will not speak ill of Andrew Breitbart.....but......
....I will make what I think is a reasoned observation.
Tomorrow Shirley Sherrod will wake up to see a brand new day in her life. Andrew Breitbart will not. And even though I didn't wish Andrew Breitbart dead, I still have no problem with that thought.
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