Andrew Breitbart R.I.P.

CNN.com:

Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger whose posting of a sexually explicit photo of former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner led to the congressman's downfall, has died, his attorney confirmed Thursday.


He was 43.


Joel Pollak, editor-in-chief and in-house counsel for Breitbart's website, Breitbart.com, posted a statement confirming his death.


"Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles," the statement read. "We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior."


A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman said paramedics received an unspecified medical call at 11:10 p.m. Wednesday.. Breitbart was transported to UCLA Medical Center and pronounced dead 19 minutes after midnight, said Ed Winter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner.


An autopsy is planned for Friday, Winter said, but the Los Angeles Police Department said it is not investigating the circumstances of his death.


Breitbart was the first to post Weiner's infamous Twitter photos last year, in which the married congressman appeared barechested and in his underpants in pictures sent to a woman online. Weiner eventually stepped down amid the scandal.


Breitbart's regular appearances on FOX News, his websites and his speeches to conservative groups made him a star on the right and a villain to the left.


Republican presidential candidates quickly responded to news of Breitbart's death. Former Sen. Rick Santorum called him a "powerful force" who was "constantly out there driving and pushing."


"What a huge loss, in my opinion, to our country and certainly to the conservative movement," Santorum said.


Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tweeted: "Andrew Breitbart was the most innovative pioneer in conservative activist social media in America. He had great courage and creativity."


And former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called Breitbart a "brilliant entrepreneur, fearless conservative, loving husband and father."


Breitbart was a driving force in the conservative tea party movement. In a statement on his death, the Tea Party Nation said Breittbart was an "amazing patriot" who"relished fighting those who would destroy this great country."

I wasn't a huge fan of the guy or his tactics or his sometimes mundane defense of them, but the way Breitbart was always willing to get up in the face of the idiots on the insane-Left as well as his many detractors forever got my respect. Either way 43 is way too young to die. RIP.