Last year at BlogWorld I met Andrew Breitbart and it was under very strange circumstances. He was one of the speakers at the closing keynote session they had with Chris Brogan, Chris Pirillo, Shuana Glenn and Sara Benincasa. I got to the keynote early and found a nice seat up front. Before the session started I sat at a huge roundtable and others quickly filled it up.
We start making small talk and we are discussing everything that we do and one guy says my client is speaking here at BlogWorld. I was thinking at the time that it was during the show and that was it.
The keynote session starts and I had never heard of Andrew Breitbart before and he was one of the first speakers. I think he was actually second now that I think about it. This was the famous session where everyone had videos of themselves that was talked about for weeks on the blogosphere. The session went on and Andrew talked I kept saying to myself who is guy, and who does he think he is. In a way he was like me and wasn't afraid to speak his mind and I found that kind of cool.
Then he started getting into politics and my opinion of him kind of turned sour. I totally didn't agree with what he was saying, I found it interesting but I didn't agree with it. This is what he was good at doing, making you think about things in a way that you probably weren't thinking about. I didn't realize it but to me he was coming off as conceited and his way was the right way no questions about it.
After the session was over the guy sitting next to me said “How did you like the session?” My answer was it was pretty good except that Andrew guy turned me off. Within a minute Andrew came to the table and said Hello to everyone. The guy next to me says “This is Andrew, my client.” It was one of the funniest moments I have ever had at a show. We all had a good laugh as the guy told Andrew what I had told him. Andrew got what I meant and we laughed about it as he didn't have time to debate me on anything. I am sure we could have talked for hours if we had time.
They were in a hurry to get out of there because Andrew had to be on Fox news or CNN or something. I gave them a quick tip on how to get out of the Javits quickly and where get a cab. I left about 45 minutes later and saw them both standing outside at another place near the Javits and they couldn't get a cab. I remember laughing to myself as I walked away how this this guy should have listened to me because he couldn't hail a cab. I figured I would never hear this guys name mentioned again.
A few weeks later he broke the whole Anthony Weiner scandal
RIP Andrew! Thanks for the good laugh at Blogworld. It was a pleasure meeting you even if it was brief.
In the spirit exemplified by Mr. Breitbart at the time of the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, when Mr. Breitbart unleashed a barrage of vile insults and lies about the Lion of the Senate, I will relate this story about this arrogant, deceitful, disturbed man.
In 2010 when former HP SEO Carly Fiorina was running against Sen. Barbara Boxer, a few of the women in one of the political groups I belong to decided to attend a Fiorina rally dressed in men’s business suits, and carrying briefcases and a large sign criticizing Fiorina’s allegiance to corporate money and power. It was a 100º degree summer day, and after awhile, the sign grew heavy, and they could no longer keep it raised in the air. There was a group of Latino workers on their lunch break close by, and one of the woman asked if a couple of them could hold the sign up for a few minutes while they took a break. They agreed, and as soon as they held up the sign, Breitbart came running over, screaming at them, and video taping the scene.
A few hours later, there was a YouTube video up of the event, with Breitbart exclaiming that Sen. Boxer had hired illegal aliens to picket the Fiorina rally.
Hopefully Shirley Sherrod will eventually collect a fortune against Breitbart’s estate for the evil lies Breitbart promulgated against her which lead to her unjust firing.
Thanks for sharing that story. I think I saw that video clip on YouTube also. You used the word arrogant and I think that was the word I was looking for to describe his session. Like I said I had never heard of the guy before this and figured I never would hear about him again.