Breitbart and the L.A. Conservative

It’s a testament to the reach of Andrew Breitbart that Twitter is awash in tributes this morning to the conservative commentator. Even House Majority Leader Eric Cantor just tweeted, “I’m stunned to hear about the passing of Andrew Breitbart. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Susie, his children, and his friends.”

And a tweet from hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons: “my condolences to family of Andrew Breitbart. political differences aside, he was a great patriot…”

Granted, most of those with political differences tweeted, ahem, less kind things about Breitbart. And Andrew loved to retweet every last one of ’em, believing that it exposed the most vile of his ideological opponents.

I’ll remember Andrew as purely, purely L.A. His warmth, humor and friendliness helped make political gatherings in our shared hometown like family reunions. He was your friend from the start. He’d rush over to talk to you, excited to hear about the latest projects. He always wanted to help the up-and-comers.

When his popularity took off nationwide, he brought that L.A. Conservative with him. Andrew showed the rest of the country that California is not a homogenous political pot with Nancy Pelosi as overseer. The conservative movement in Los Angeles consists of grass-roots activists, men and women, who are Jewish, Christian, agnostic and atheist; black, white, Latino and Asian; straight and gay; more to the right and more libertarian. Breitbart reminded the country, and the conservative movement, over and over again that all are valuable in the fight — and that L.A. is not just a stomping pad for indulgent celebs, but home for all these patriots. We only needed to go over the hill to visit the resting place of Ronald Reagan, with a sweeping view of the beautiful Simi Valley landscape, to remind us what we fought for and the infinite promise of the West.

More tweets from the Hill:

• Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas): “It’s a sad day. The world has lost an American patriot @AndrewBreitbart – my thoughts & prayers go out to his family.”
• Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.): “Had the privilege of interviewing with Andrew Breitbart at CPAC this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.): “.@AndrewBreitbart broke barriers, shattering egos & myths. He was agressive in spreading truth & a true media innovator. #RIP Andrew”