Left Coast Rebel Meets Andrew Breitbart!

That's Tim Daniel, who joined me last Thursday in Newport for the Breitbart event, "More on Andrew Breitbart in Newport Beach, California":

He's a super-talented speaker, lots of comedy, great storyteller, and above all I witnessed Breitbart's fierce advocacy for the voiceless masses of middle America, those that feel that the Leftist-Media-Industrial-Complex is just a deceitful, evil, all-powerful, information-controlling extension of our coercive, destructive Leviathan government. Speaking to us is what Breitbart does and does better than anyone else.

Word.

I'm still looking for the full video. The talk was one of Breitbart's best ever, and he's never disappointing.

Andrew Breitbart Visits Newport Beach, Receives Standing Ovation

At The Daily Pilot, "Breitbart: 'Vindication running through my veins'":

NEWPORT BEACH — Andrew Breitbart, the right-wing blogger who broke the Rep. Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, strolled into the Newport Beach Golf Course's Tea Room restaurant Wednesday evening to a standing ovation.

There to promote his book, "Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!", and Mike Munzing, who is running for a House seat next year, Breitbart played to the crowd and media waiting for him.

"[Weiner's] polls are probably going to go up because of his degeneracy," Breitbart said. "I don't like any of this kind of behavior" ...

More at the top link.

I'm looking but don't see a full video clip of Breitbart's talk. I wrote about it Thursday night, but here's J.T. Geehr, on Facebook:

It was so fun to just listen to him. He is hysterically funny and thoroughly delights in telling stories. Whenever he's being interviewed on tv, interviewers cut him off, so you don't really get to hear what he's like. He had just flown back from NY and had to be exhausted, but he was still charming and gut-bustingly funny. He is fearless!

Well said, but I'm gonna keep looking for a clip.

Meanwhile, there's some local network coverage, at CBS, "Andrew Breitbart Receives Hero’s Welcome In Newport Beach." And KTLA, "Blogger Who Exposed Congressman Weiner Speaks in SoCal."

Also, at O.C. Register, "'Weinergate' blogger: It's mischievous fun."

Progressive Hypocrisy: Rachel Maddow on Anthony Weiner X-Rated Scandal

The headline at Breitbart: "FEMINISM OFFICIALLY DEAD: MADDOW CHARACTERIZES WEINER’S BEHAVIOR AS ‘BAD MANNERS’."

Maddow's comment about Congressman Weiner's "bad manners of Facebook" comes at the end of the discussion, but it's not the most egregious statement she made. Maddow, like other progressives down the line, standing up against calls for Weiner's resignation, argues that sending pictures of erect male organs around the web is just a matter of "more gossip than news":

This is not a matter of political hypocrisy. He never ran for office by saying, 'I Anthony Weiner have great sexual morality and other people have bad sexual morality and I'll legislate against them ...

She then goes off on making absurd comparisons to Republican David Vitter, and claims "no one in the Republican Party has called for him to resign ..." Actually, Republicans were the first to report the news of David Vitter's relationship with a prostitute, and conservatives denounced him. Indeed, in the Weiner case, Andrew Breitbart has repeatedly stated that this kind of behavior is unconscionable by Democrats and Republicans alike.

What we have here is a longstanding progressive double-standard. See Zombie, "Why the Hypocrisy Defense is political suicide for liberalism."

Read it all.

Moral relativism. Situational ethics. By any name, a bankruptcy of decency on the left.

RELATED: "Progressive Bloggers Are Anthony Weiner’s Biggest Defenders."

Andrew Breitbart in the O.C.!

I watched Nickleodeon with my son while working on this report, so I didn't catch local news coverage of Andrew Breibart's visit tonight to the Newport Beach Golf Course. I'll look for a video later, but Breitbart spoke with a local media crew for 10 or 15 minutes before coming inside the clubhouse:

With my friend Megan Barth, one of the best conservative activists in the country:

I don't have a big write up. Breitbart was on Cloud 9 after this week's sensational developments in the Anthony Weiner scandal. Breitbart's already a hilarious public speaker, but this was literally once in a lifetime material, and he made the most of it. The jokes practically told themselves, and the crowd was enamored --- and completely honored to be in his presence. He basically gave a recap of his entire week, starting with the anecdote of his talk to a policy group on Monday before the Weiner press conference. It was a room full of wonks apparently, and he mentioned that he lives right across from the West Los Angeles Veterans Cemetery, and while some neighbors had designed their backyard fencing, etc., to block the view, Breitbart had his home remodeled so that one could see nothing but the cemetery from his windows. He said he's trying to fight the battle at home with as much commitment as our troops in the field. He sees parents not much older than himself visiting the grave sites and he's thankful for the freedoms for which these families have sacrificed. Afterwards, he was approached by an individual in attendance, who thanked Breitbart for all that he does, and said that Breitbart "should never feel unappreciated." Breitbart quipped about how this made his day, and he had yet to hold a press conference in place of Congressman Weiner!

The crowd was roaring. Anyway, it was Breitbart at his best.

Check Left Coast Rebel as well: "This Photo Was Worth It!"

Andrew Breitbart Meetup

LCR has the details: "Andrew Breitbart at Mike Munzing's Conservative Happy Hour at the Newport Beach Golf Course."

If there was ever a good day for Breitbart meetup, well, this is perfect.

I'll have pictures and perhaps a some video later.

Meanwhile, see RadarOnline, "Rep. Anthony Weiner's Cyber Mistress Tipped Off Rachel Maddow To Sexting Scandal." I thought about a separate post just for this, but couldn't decide on a headline: "Rachel Maddow Sits on Weiner Lead." Nah, that just didn't sound quite right.

Anyway, more tonight.

Andrew Breitbart on 'In The Arena' with Eliot Spitzer

At LAT, "Eliot Spitzer says he sympathizes with Anthony Weiner."

And Breitbart speaks after 5 minutes, and it's riveting:

Breitbart on 'The Today Show'

There's a big long post at NewsBusters, "NBC's Lauer Claims Breitbart Violated Conservative Principles by Breaking Weiner Story."

The full clip is at Big Government, "Breitbart on TODAY: Big Gov’t Publisher Tells the Incredible Story Behind the Weiner Presser."

Watch how hesitant Matt Lauer is to credit Breitbart with legitimacy and vindication. He tries to trip up Breitbart as a conservative hypocrite.

And at New York Times, "A Conservative Blogger Looks for Legitimacy."

Weiner Admits He Lied

The headline's long at NYT, "Weiner Admits He Sent Lewd Photos; Seeks Not to Resign." Just read the whole thing. Amazingly good piece. I especially like the suggestion that by the standards of Rep. Christopher Lee, who resigned from his own shirtless scandal, there's really no reason Weiner should stay in the House. And Nancy Pelosi's not pleased. She's promised an ethics investigation, and while normally that's a joke, I think Weiner's travails are hurting Democratic prospects for 2012, and they know it.

Andrew Breitbart Vindicated

Great video.

Breitbart challenges the media to prove he's a liar. And he says, "I'm here for some vindication."

Also, at Politico, "Andrew Breitbart's day of vindication":

In Andrew Breitbart’s up-and-down career as a conservative agitator, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Ten days ago, he broke the Rep. Anthony Weiner Twitter scandal on his website, Big Government, then on Monday pushed it to its conclusion with the release of more photos of Weiner, forcing the beleaguered New York congressman to hold a self-flagellating press conference hours later.

At the same time, Breitbart managed to steer clear of the accusations of selective editing and bias that have stuck to him as a result of several high-profile “scoops” that turned into fiascos, while painting himself as a victim of a left-leaning press quick to blame him for somehow engineering a scandal that, in the end, was entirely of Weiner’s own making.

Breitbart’s glee was apparent even before Weiner’s confession when he jumped up on the podium before the New York congressman’s press conference Monday afternoon to take questions from reporters and demand an apology. So, too, was his sense of exoneration after the way the left-leaning and mainstream media had painted him as a questionable source in the past.

“I would like an apology for allowing his political protectors – and this was his strategy – to blame me, to blame me for hacking,” Breitbart said. “’Don’t worry, Breitbart is a regular whipping boy. We can accuse him of anything and the press will not hold those journalists to account no matter what they say.’

“So I’m here for some vindication,” he said, declaring that “the big problem here is the coverup and the problem of trying to deflect blame on a journalist for doing his job.”

I checked Google trends a little while ago and Breitbart was trending "spicy" and above "Rep Weiner" searches.

Read all of Politico at the link. And more at Memeorandum.

Added: At Yid With Lid, "The Revenge of the Nerds: Breitbart Vindicated Again."

Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal Update

The Other McCain reports: "#WeinerGate: It Gets WORSE - UPDATE: Press Conference 4 p.m. ET UPDATE: ABC News Interviews Woman."

And at RadarOnline, "Weinergate Grows: Another Woman Provides Sex Messages From His Account." And Hollywood Life, "Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal Continues As Another Woman Comes Forward!" (The post includes photos from Andrew Breitbart's Big Government!)

Added: At The Atlantic Wire, "Anthony Weiner: Resign or Not Resign?" And Nick Gillespie, "Probably About Time to Say Goodbye to Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)."

1:20 PM: I'm following on Twitter. Also, a Breitbart live feed.

Anthony Weiner Upper Body Nude Photos!

God, that resignation's gotta be any minute now!

Seriously.

At Big Government, "Déjà Vu: Another Congressman Bares Naked Torso (and More) for Online Pal." (At Memeorandum.)

Kaboom! Anthony Weiner Scandal Explodes!

I was wrong last night. When I posted on the New York Times's Weiner twitter story I thought perhaps the scandal was peaking. Maybe it was just me, although, yeah, we had the long holiday weekend and establishment D.C. is back to work. But still, Weinergate has taken off exponentially on the web. If People Magazine's on the case, no doubt reports of a congressman's bulging underwear have some, er, longevity. See, "Did Rep. Anthony Weiner Tweet a Lewd Photo to a Woman?" Well, to answer, Weiner denies it, but his story's been changing and most folks on the right are having none of it. See Cold Fury: "Of COURSE he’s lying." Plus, Aaron Worthing and Lee Stranahan, at Patterico's, have some great reporting, for example, here, here, here (hilariously), and here.

And check out Andrew Breitbart's interview on CNN:

Be sure to listen through to Jeffrey Toobin's ridiculous comments about how Breitbart's statements are "outrageous" and that, "look, this is a lighthearted story ... and everybody knows that on the Internet stuff happens ..." And get this: "Look, Twitter is not a very secure environment ... sometimes the information is unreliable ... it doesn't even come from the people it appears to come from ..."

Right. My god, that's almost a criminal. Any wonder everyday Americans get so angry at the pompous cable talking heads who don't know shit, frankly? Well, it's not all bad. See also Liberty Chick, at Big Journalism, "Blame Breitbart!: Salon.com Editor Joan Walsh Lies and Bullies on Weinergate."

So, yeah, I was wrong about this story peaking. Coverage continues to build, at ABC News, for example, "Rep. Anthony Weiner Gets Combative With Reporters About Lewd Twitter Photo."

And of course, keep up on things at Big Government.

Added: Don't miss Michelle's essay, "Weighing in on Weiner." (Fit is hitting the shan.)

Also, at Hot Air, Weiner has a heated exchange with CNN's Dana Bash!

University of Missouri Fires Communist Labor Studies Professor Don Giljum: Democrat-Media-Complex Decries 'Shirley Sherroding' of Radical Academics

At CBS St. Louis, "Union Official, College Lecturer Don Giljum Resigns After AFL-CIO Pressure, UM-KC Won’t Rehire Next Semester." And Big Government, "Labor Notes: Union Official, College Lecturer Don Giljum Resigns After AFL-CIO Pressure, UM-KC Won’t Rehire Next Semester."

The university's obviously embarrassed. The dude was fired for teaching violence in the classroom, for making statements personally advocating violence against capitalists:

I can’t really honestly say that I’ve never wished, or have never been in a position where I haven’t wished real harm on somebody, or inflicted any pain and suffering on some people that, you know, didn’t ask for it,” Giljum said, “It certainly has it’s place.

And now this is all over the news.

Right on cue, the progressive-left's meme is the "Shirly Sherroding" of radical academics. The claims are that the videos were selectively edited and that students' privacy rights were violated. See USA Today, "Career-ending videos of professors are unfairly edited, university officials say"; Chronicle of Higher Education, "Videos 'Ripped' From Online-Course Footage Bring Threats to Instructors"; and especially, Inside Higher Ed, "The Shirley Sherrods of Academe?"
So far co-instructor Judy Ancel, the Director of the Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has not been relieved. And she's making aggressive attempts to refute the video evidence. From the Inside Higher Ed piece:

Ancel, the other instructor, said in an interview that she works on annual contracts and that the university has not taken any action against her. She also released a statement in which she explained the context behind some of the quotes shown in the video.

For example, she noted that one of her quotes in the Breitbart video is: "violence is a tactic and it's to be used when it's the appropriate tactic." Here is what she said really happened: "After students had watched a film on the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King, they were discussing nonviolence. I said, 'One guy in the film ... said 'violence is a tactic, and it’s to be used when it’s the appropriate tactic.' " In this instance, she said, "Breitbart’s editing has literally put words in my mouth that were not mine, and they never were mine."

Both Ancel and Giljum said that a course about the history of the labor movement would of necessity discuss violence. Ancel said in her statement: "Any examination of labor’s past would be incomplete without discussion of violence (which for the most part was directed at workers), and analysis of its roots. At no time did my co-instructor, Don Giljum, nor I advocate violence."

Insurgent Visuals, the media production team that produced the clips from Ancel and Giljum's classes, rejects allegations of selective editing, and specifically rebuts Ancel's denials:

Ancel cannot deny that she and Giljum were discussing violent tactics–and, in Giljum’s case, recalling his personal experience in using fear and intimidation.

So she, and the university, have resorted to a red herring–the false claim that students’ “right to privacy” was violated.

None of the individual students in any of the videos was identified. Furthermore, Ancel herself encouraged students to share the course materials widely, saying in one lecture:

…all labor education materials are uncopyrighted, and to be shared. We do not believe, for the most part, in intellectual property rights. That’s one of the principles of labor education. We share.

This is not an “attack on the rights of working people and on anything that is public,” as Ancel wants Missouri taxpayers to believe. This is about the promotion of violence as a political tactic in labor disputes in a public university classroom.

The fundamental context–which Ancel distorts–is that she and Giljum discussed violence–and militancy, and intimidation, and law-breaking–in the course of teaching impressionable students how to get results through union organizing.

If, at times, they stated that “the tactics have changed,” at other times they seemed to condone those tactics–with Ancel, for example, stating that “there are some people whose definition of terrorism is just an army without a defense budget.”

At one point, Ancel stated: “the struggle for public employee unionism cost lives”–real lives, because people “had to fight for it.”

No doubt she partially meant the lives of those who suffered to win labor rights in America, a large number. But let there be no doubt that labor violence cost lives among those who resisted, for whatever reason–those innocents who were the casualties in the battles she supported.

More on this later.

Andrew Breitbart will be on Bill Maher's tonight: "HBO 'Real Time' Maher hosts Breitbart, Waters, Patrick Friday night, expect fireworks."

RELATED: At Flap's Blog, "Video: Union Leaders Teach Advanced Thug Tactics in University of Missouri Labor Courses." And The Rockin' Conservative!, "Manager of Nuclear Power Workers Union Advocates Industrial Sabotage and Violence."

Andrew Breitbart on Sean Hannity's Show, April 18, 2011

I watched this last night. Breitbart has come into his own. He timed his talk with Hannity very carefully, stressing the history of his personal life transformation. He notes at 6:00 minutes that "people come out of the woodworks and thank you for doing what is right." So true. But he continues --- and I love this --- with his discussion of folks from Hollywood wanting to come out of the ideological closet, including "punk rockers, people with mohawks" who are conservative.

A great interview. Buy the book here.

EXTRA: Folks will have noticed the Ann Coulter banners at the sidebar. She announced her forthcoming book last night during Hannity's broadcast: Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America. And right on cue, progressives have attacked her (as racist?) because --- get this --- the book's cover is black. Of course the slam's from Demon TBogg, so no doubt Coulter's hit the bullseye at the heart of progressive evil. Expect far more diabolical assualts and who knows what else from these genuinely demonic freaks. Coulter's got 'em down cold, and the book's not even out yet.

Andrew Breitbart Slams Progressives at Madison Tea Party!

What a combination!

Andrew Breitbart introducing Sarah Palin. Come to think of it, he introduced her when I saw Palin in the O.C., and he gets better each time:

Via Gateway Pundit, "ANDREW BREITBART Confronts the Angry TrumkaObama Leftist Mob, “You Can Go to Hell! Go to Hell!”"

And don't miss James Pethokoukis, "Palin in Madison: Veni, Vidi, Vici":

Will she run? Even many of those close to Team Palin have no idea. Palin herself may not have made a decision and may not feel she needs to until the autumn. But as it stands, she arguably represents the purest expression out there of Tea Party passion and free-market populist rejection of Washington’s bipartisan crony capitalism. If she ran, her high-wattage appearance in Madison shows just how dangerous her candidacy would be to a field of solid but stolid opponents.

RTWT at the link.

Also at New York Times, "Palin Speaks at Tea Party Rally in Madison." And lots more at Memeorandum.

Andrew Breitbart Saves the World (Or at Least Your Sanity)

I'm reading it now, and loving it. It's hard to put down, and I don't say that about many books these days.

A review from Derek Hunter at Daily Caller, "Righteous Indignation: Andrew Breitbart is out to save the world( and he just might)" (via Big Government):

Of all the things Righteous Indignation does, perhaps its most important function is to pull back the curtain on the unholy alliance between all the cultural and media institutions and the left-wing industrial complex and expose how they fit together like puzzle pieces to advance an agenda. If you trusted the media or the entertainment industry before reading this book, your eyes will be opened. If you didn’t, you will know you are not alone.

Breitbart might not save the world with his book, but he might just save your sanity. Or he might inspire readers to stand up and say “no more!” and take action to defend liberty. Come to think of it, if that happens, he might just save the world.

Andrew Breitbart's, Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!

Available for pre-order, at Amazon.

Click on the image to enlarge:

And from Andrew at Big Government:

I can think of no better way to upset the lefties in your life – and please the inner you – than pre-ordering my forthcoming coming-of-rage® book, Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World. Learn how I went from left to right, then decided to take on the world and become an unexpected culture warrior.

Andrew Breitbart Speaks in Madison

At Instapundit, "ANDREW BREITBART AT THE MADISON TEA PARTY RALLY TODAY":

I'll be updating with Breitbart's speech, and more ...

Andrew Breitbart at CPAC!

This was my first chance to listen to him. He's definitely hot property at the convention. Here's Andrew during his speech this morning at the Marriott balloom.

Andrew was on a roll, as usual. Jillian Rayfield of Talking Points Memo was not amused: "Breitbart: Code Pink Protestors Used To Be 'Kind Of Slutty,' Now They're 'Long In The Tooth'":

In his rambling CPAC speech today, Andrew Breitbart described how he has enjoyed going to progressive rallies and peppering the protesters with questions. But, he said, the women of the anti-war group Code Pink are "tedious at this point" because they used to be "kinda slutty lefties," but "they're getting long in the tooth."

"I don't know why I decided to make my career trying to destroy the institutional left. I thought that would be a fun thing to do," he said at the opening of his remarks. He described how he's found that the people in protests "are not individuals. They've been community organized."

"They're not Americans," Breitbart said later. "They're animals."

Breitbart went on to describe how a "collusion" has developed between the SEIU, OFA, Acorn, and the Obama Administration. "The President is using these thugs," he said.

"It's vulgar to think that the President" has "his fingerprints all over" protest groups, Breitbart said, also noting that "at the end of the day a lot of them are just overacting extras."

He came up to the bloggers' lounge a bit later, and conservatives swarmed around to listen. Andrew quipped, "That wasn't the speech I planned to give." He then proceeded to recount the epic significance of the Pigford scandal:

And he's with Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit and John Hawkins of Right Wing News:

I spoke with him for a couple of minutes. We've met before, but he's a superstar now. He mentioned he might be interested in expanding the coverage at Big Government et al. to colleges and universities. I said, "Hey, I'm your man there":

VIDEO HAT TIP: Marooned in Marin,"Breitbart at CPAC: The Left Is Being Organized By The President Against The Mass ."

Harry Pelosi

Andrew Breitbart's slip of the tongue was perhaps the most memorable thing about Saturday's Palin-GOP rally. The crowd howled and Andrew ran with it.

And iOWNTHEWORLD wastes no time in memorializing it, and the Breitbart speech is at the post: "Harry Pelosi."

RELATED WHISTLING PAST THE POLITICAL GRAVEYARD: "Nancy Pelosi Fires Back: The Woman Speaker Targeted by the GOP Does Not Believe Democrats Will Lose Control of the House" (at Memeorandum).