Salon.com > Breitbart.com

Is this baby-faced blogger the next Andrew Breitbart?

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:45:00 +0000

In young, conservative circles, there are many ambitious go-getters who want to be the next Andrew Breitbart. Say what you will about the late right-wing pioneer (and there are plenty of negative things to say), but as Joan Walsh wrote recently, the founder of the eponymous media empire was inimitable, both in his successes and tremendous failings, and there is no obvious successor.

The empire he left behind is riven with bitter internal disputes, as BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins detailed, and there is a dearth of young up-and-comers. James O’Keefe happily played this role for a while, but his star has since fallen as his legal troubles have mounted. Dana Loesch, the brash radio host who briefly helmed one of the Breitbart sites, has also been pushed aside (and sued over it).

How not to seem like a racist

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:51:00 +0000

Writing my piece on Andrew Breitbart and Tucker Carlson, I missed a huge example of overlap between their two sham-empires: the reporter who broke the Caller’s now-disgraced “scoop” about Sen. Robert Menendez patronizing prostitutes, Matthew Boyle, now works for Breitbart.com. And on Monday he penned the ridiculous story revealing the location of Malia and Sasha’s spring break vacation (which is now at the top of the Drudge Report).

On Twitter Monday and Tuesday, Breitbart fans attacked my focus on their hero’s bizarre racially driven crusades. They continue to insist that they’re being unfairly tarred with the charge of racism, when they’re the real “post-racialists” who just don’t like Barack Obama because he’s a liberal. I have some advice for right-wingers who don’t want it to seem like their anti-Obama animus is racial: Try treating his daughters with respect.

A new low for Breitbart

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:25:00 +0000

The conservative case against Chuck Hagel’s confirmation to be secretary of defense has been lots of smoke, but little fire, with Republican senators seizing on one thinly sourced report of alleged past misdeeds before jumping to the next as the previous one gets knocked down.

None of the charges were more ridiculous on their face than the allegation that Hagel took a paid speaking gig from a group indiscreetly called “Friends of Hamas." The report came from Breitbart.com, which has a less than stellar reputation, citing unnamed “Senate sources.” Nonetheless, the news took off on the right, getting favorable coverage across the conservative blogosphere and attention from Sen. Rand Paul among other GOP politicians.

It turns out the group doesn’t even exist, and now we know where the rumor really came from.

Sarah Palin is gone, almost forgotten

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:48:00 +0000

Is our long national nightmare finally over?

Sarah Palin held the world rapt as a vice presidential candidate. After she lost she was still a state governor with millions of adoring fans. When she quit there were books and reality tv shows and she could keep the press titillated with threats of a presidential run. Then there were her infallibly gracious television appearances.

Now that Fox News has cut off the conservative semi-celebrity, those appearances won't be nearly as frequent. Palin will have to gulp the media oxygen wherever she can find it. The day after Fox let her go, Palin gave an interview to Stephen K. Bannon, the filmmaker who directed the worshipful Palin biography "The Undefeated." It's posted at Breitbart.com. What does she tell the wildly conservative site? "We can't just preach to the choir; the message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience."