Assistant Quote of the Day

"I think today, it’s safe to stand back and simply recognize that while many people go through their lives without leaving distinguishing marks, Andrew Breitbart definitely had his moments. But he also had enough of a sense of humor to appreciate why someone like me shouldn’t bother to pretend I’m sad he’s dead. He wouldn’t, in my place. So to use one of his favorite words: Good riddance, cocksucker. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out."

-- Matt Taibbi, from a blog post at Rolling Stone's website entitled "Andrew Breitbart: Death of a Douche"

Adding: Reading through the comment section of Taibbi's piece, he's obviously being eviscerated for what many are seeing as his inhumanity and lack of class in writing something so cruel on the day of Breitbart's death. I agree that it was an incredibly harsh thing to say -- although it should be expected, given that Taibbi's the guy who famously got fired for ridiculing the death of Pope John Paul -- and it's something I wouldn't want Breitbart's grieving family to see, to say nothing of its being the kind of thing conservatives can and will now point to with self-righteous indignation as proof that liberals are conscienceless and sick-to-the-soul (the same claim liberals often make about conservatives). But I think one commenter gets what Taibbi was going for and it's what I saw in the piece as well.

Alan Davidson writes:

"As a hard core conservative and saddened Brietbart fan, I actually understand and can read between the lines of this article. Taibbi is the anti-Breitbart and Breibart was the anti-Taibbi. I can see a kind of "tipping-of-the-hat" here. It's like calling someone a "glorious bast#@$". Breitbart wanted real, RAW HARD truth. That is what he fought for 24/7 with 3 hours sleep a day. Taibbi has written, in a sly, edge of satire way, the real truth here. He hated Brietbart. And he is saying so. Folks with this kind of animus write these kinds of eulogies."

I don't look at Taibbi and Breitbart as two sides of the same coin when it comes to their journalism -- not by a long shot. But as outspoken personalities -- the kind who pull no punches and don't care one bit whom they infuriate -- yeah, I think they're almost exactly alike.