Andrew Breitbart Swarmed by Progressive Mob at Netroots Nation

I don't know. Personally, I don't feel safe around progressives. I kept a low profile at the Noam Chomsky event at UCLA last month, because Students for Justice in Palestine, the event's sponsor, is a Hamas-styled organization. And it's not much different at Netroots Nation. Everybody does video-blogging nowadays, but this Kerry Picket viddy captures the mob's violent rage as Breitbart tried to make an exit:

Also at Gateway Pundit, "Andrew Breitbart GANG-RUSHED By Raging Leftist Mob at Nutroots 2011." And Journo-Lister Dave Weigel, "Netroots Nation: Your Convention Ticket Comes With A Free Andrew Breitbart Ambush."

And at Politico, "Breitbart crashes Netroots Nation":

As Breitbart struck up a conversation with Slate blogger Dave Weigel, Ryan Clayton, who works for US Uncut and blogs on 100ProofPolitics, accosted Breitbart and began screaming questions at him: “Have you kicked your cocaine habit?”

“I have no cocaine habit,” Breitbart told him.

“Have you ever slept with a prostitute?” Clayton asked, almost physically trembling as he worked himself up.

“You prove my point,” Breitbart told him, evidently satisfied that he was again the center of attention in hostile territory.

Another person asked Breitbart if he was credentialed to be there. He admitted that he was not. He tried to walk into the exhibition hall and was turned away by conference organizers.

As he walked back toward the escalator to leave, a middle-aged African-American woman walked toward him and began yelling: “You are racist! … It’s gonna come to light who you really are!”

Breitbart has a crew with him, but most other hot-button conservatives I've met --- David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin, for example --- travel with bodyguards.

Chomsky didn't need one at UCLA, of course. The place was filled with communists, hippies, and jihadis.

Added: Blazing Cat Fur links, and there's a thread now at Memeorandum and Wall Street Journal, "Breitbart Sparks a War of Words at Netroots Nation."

Left Coast Rebel Meets Andrew Breitbart!

That's Tim Daniel, who joined me last Thursday in Newport for the Breitbart event, "More on Andrew Breitbart in Newport Beach, California":

He's a super-talented speaker, lots of comedy, great storyteller, and above all I witnessed Breitbart's fierce advocacy for the voiceless masses of middle America, those that feel that the Leftist-Media-Industrial-Complex is just a deceitful, evil, all-powerful, information-controlling extension of our coercive, destructive Leviathan government. Speaking to us is what Breitbart does and does better than anyone else.

Word.

I'm still looking for the full video. The talk was one of Breitbart's best ever, and he's never disappointing.

Andrew Breitbart Visits Newport Beach, Receives Standing Ovation

At The Daily Pilot, "Breitbart: 'Vindication running through my veins'":

NEWPORT BEACH — Andrew Breitbart, the right-wing blogger who broke the Rep. Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, strolled into the Newport Beach Golf Course's Tea Room restaurant Wednesday evening to a standing ovation.

There to promote his book, "Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!", and Mike Munzing, who is running for a House seat next year, Breitbart played to the crowd and media waiting for him.

"[Weiner's] polls are probably going to go up because of his degeneracy," Breitbart said. "I don't like any of this kind of behavior" ...

More at the top link.

I'm looking but don't see a full video clip of Breitbart's talk. I wrote about it Thursday night, but here's J.T. Geehr, on Facebook:

It was so fun to just listen to him. He is hysterically funny and thoroughly delights in telling stories. Whenever he's being interviewed on tv, interviewers cut him off, so you don't really get to hear what he's like. He had just flown back from NY and had to be exhausted, but he was still charming and gut-bustingly funny. He is fearless!

Well said, but I'm gonna keep looking for a clip.

Meanwhile, there's some local network coverage, at CBS, "Andrew Breitbart Receives Hero’s Welcome In Newport Beach." And KTLA, "Blogger Who Exposed Congressman Weiner Speaks in SoCal."

Also, at O.C. Register, "'Weinergate' blogger: It's mischievous fun."

Progressive Hypocrisy: Rachel Maddow on Anthony Weiner X-Rated Scandal

The headline at Breitbart: "FEMINISM OFFICIALLY DEAD: MADDOW CHARACTERIZES WEINER’S BEHAVIOR AS ‘BAD MANNERS’."

Maddow's comment about Congressman Weiner's "bad manners of Facebook" comes at the end of the discussion, but it's not the most egregious statement she made. Maddow, like other progressives down the line, standing up against calls for Weiner's resignation, argues that sending pictures of erect male organs around the web is just a matter of "more gossip than news":

This is not a matter of political hypocrisy. He never ran for office by saying, 'I Anthony Weiner have great sexual morality and other people have bad sexual morality and I'll legislate against them ...

She then goes off on making absurd comparisons to Republican David Vitter, and claims "no one in the Republican Party has called for him to resign ..." Actually, Republicans were the first to report the news of David Vitter's relationship with a prostitute, and conservatives denounced him. Indeed, in the Weiner case, Andrew Breitbart has repeatedly stated that this kind of behavior is unconscionable by Democrats and Republicans alike.

What we have here is a longstanding progressive double-standard. See Zombie, "Why the Hypocrisy Defense is political suicide for liberalism."

Read it all.

Moral relativism. Situational ethics. By any name, a bankruptcy of decency on the left.

RELATED: "Progressive Bloggers Are Anthony Weiner’s Biggest Defenders."

Andrew Breitbart in the O.C.!

I watched Nickleodeon with my son while working on this report, so I didn't catch local news coverage of Andrew Breibart's visit tonight to the Newport Beach Golf Course. I'll look for a video later, but Breitbart spoke with a local media crew for 10 or 15 minutes before coming inside the clubhouse:

With my friend Megan Barth, one of the best conservative activists in the country:

I don't have a big write up. Breitbart was on Cloud 9 after this week's sensational developments in the Anthony Weiner scandal. Breitbart's already a hilarious public speaker, but this was literally once in a lifetime material, and he made the most of it. The jokes practically told themselves, and the crowd was enamored --- and completely honored to be in his presence. He basically gave a recap of his entire week, starting with the anecdote of his talk to a policy group on Monday before the Weiner press conference. It was a room full of wonks apparently, and he mentioned that he lives right across from the West Los Angeles Veterans Cemetery, and while some neighbors had designed their backyard fencing, etc., to block the view, Breitbart had his home remodeled so that one could see nothing but the cemetery from his windows. He said he's trying to fight the battle at home with as much commitment as our troops in the field. He sees parents not much older than himself visiting the grave sites and he's thankful for the freedoms for which these families have sacrificed. Afterwards, he was approached by an individual in attendance, who thanked Breitbart for all that he does, and said that Breitbart "should never feel unappreciated." Breitbart quipped about how this made his day, and he had yet to hold a press conference in place of Congressman Weiner!

The crowd was roaring. Anyway, it was Breitbart at his best.

Check Left Coast Rebel as well: "This Photo Was Worth It!"

Andrew Breitbart Meetup

LCR has the details: "Andrew Breitbart at Mike Munzing's Conservative Happy Hour at the Newport Beach Golf Course."

If there was ever a good day for Breitbart meetup, well, this is perfect.

I'll have pictures and perhaps a some video later.

Meanwhile, see RadarOnline, "Rep. Anthony Weiner's Cyber Mistress Tipped Off Rachel Maddow To Sexting Scandal." I thought about a separate post just for this, but couldn't decide on a headline: "Rachel Maddow Sits on Weiner Lead." Nah, that just didn't sound quite right.

Anyway, more tonight.

Andrew Breitbart on 'In The Arena' with Eliot Spitzer

At LAT, "Eliot Spitzer says he sympathizes with Anthony Weiner."

And Breitbart speaks after 5 minutes, and it's riveting:

Breitbart on 'The Today Show'

There's a big long post at NewsBusters, "NBC's Lauer Claims Breitbart Violated Conservative Principles by Breaking Weiner Story."

The full clip is at Big Government, "Breitbart on TODAY: Big Gov’t Publisher Tells the Incredible Story Behind the Weiner Presser."

Watch how hesitant Matt Lauer is to credit Breitbart with legitimacy and vindication. He tries to trip up Breitbart as a conservative hypocrite.

And at New York Times, "A Conservative Blogger Looks for Legitimacy."

Weiner Admits He Lied

The headline's long at NYT, "Weiner Admits He Sent Lewd Photos; Seeks Not to Resign." Just read the whole thing. Amazingly good piece. I especially like the suggestion that by the standards of Rep. Christopher Lee, who resigned from his own shirtless scandal, there's really no reason Weiner should stay in the House. And Nancy Pelosi's not pleased. She's promised an ethics investigation, and while normally that's a joke, I think Weiner's travails are hurting Democratic prospects for 2012, and they know it.

Andrew Breitbart Vindicated

Great video.

Breitbart challenges the media to prove he's a liar. And he says, "I'm here for some vindication."

Also, at Politico, "Andrew Breitbart's day of vindication":

In Andrew Breitbart’s up-and-down career as a conservative agitator, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Ten days ago, he broke the Rep. Anthony Weiner Twitter scandal on his website, Big Government, then on Monday pushed it to its conclusion with the release of more photos of Weiner, forcing the beleaguered New York congressman to hold a self-flagellating press conference hours later.

At the same time, Breitbart managed to steer clear of the accusations of selective editing and bias that have stuck to him as a result of several high-profile “scoops” that turned into fiascos, while painting himself as a victim of a left-leaning press quick to blame him for somehow engineering a scandal that, in the end, was entirely of Weiner’s own making.

Breitbart’s glee was apparent even before Weiner’s confession when he jumped up on the podium before the New York congressman’s press conference Monday afternoon to take questions from reporters and demand an apology. So, too, was his sense of exoneration after the way the left-leaning and mainstream media had painted him as a questionable source in the past.

“I would like an apology for allowing his political protectors – and this was his strategy – to blame me, to blame me for hacking,” Breitbart said. “’Don’t worry, Breitbart is a regular whipping boy. We can accuse him of anything and the press will not hold those journalists to account no matter what they say.’

“So I’m here for some vindication,” he said, declaring that “the big problem here is the coverup and the problem of trying to deflect blame on a journalist for doing his job.”

I checked Google trends a little while ago and Breitbart was trending "spicy" and above "Rep Weiner" searches.

Read all of Politico at the link. And more at Memeorandum.

Added: At Yid With Lid, "The Revenge of the Nerds: Breitbart Vindicated Again."

Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal Update

The Other McCain reports: "#WeinerGate: It Gets WORSE - UPDATE: Press Conference 4 p.m. ET UPDATE: ABC News Interviews Woman."

And at RadarOnline, "Weinergate Grows: Another Woman Provides Sex Messages From His Account." And Hollywood Life, "Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal Continues As Another Woman Comes Forward!" (The post includes photos from Andrew Breitbart's Big Government!)

Added: At The Atlantic Wire, "Anthony Weiner: Resign or Not Resign?" And Nick Gillespie, "Probably About Time to Say Goodbye to Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)."

1:20 PM: I'm following on Twitter. Also, a Breitbart live feed.

Anthony Weiner Upper Body Nude Photos!

God, that resignation's gotta be any minute now!

Seriously.

At Big Government, "Déjà Vu: Another Congressman Bares Naked Torso (and More) for Online Pal." (At Memeorandum.)

Kaboom! Anthony Weiner Scandal Explodes!

I was wrong last night. When I posted on the New York Times's Weiner twitter story I thought perhaps the scandal was peaking. Maybe it was just me, although, yeah, we had the long holiday weekend and establishment D.C. is back to work. But still, Weinergate has taken off exponentially on the web. If People Magazine's on the case, no doubt reports of a congressman's bulging underwear have some, er, longevity. See, "Did Rep. Anthony Weiner Tweet a Lewd Photo to a Woman?" Well, to answer, Weiner denies it, but his story's been changing and most folks on the right are having none of it. See Cold Fury: "Of COURSE he’s lying." Plus, Aaron Worthing and Lee Stranahan, at Patterico's, have some great reporting, for example, here, here, here (hilariously), and here.

And check out Andrew Breitbart's interview on CNN:

Be sure to listen through to Jeffrey Toobin's ridiculous comments about how Breitbart's statements are "outrageous" and that, "look, this is a lighthearted story ... and everybody knows that on the Internet stuff happens ..." And get this: "Look, Twitter is not a very secure environment ... sometimes the information is unreliable ... it doesn't even come from the people it appears to come from ..."

Right. My god, that's almost a criminal. Any wonder everyday Americans get so angry at the pompous cable talking heads who don't know shit, frankly? Well, it's not all bad. See also Liberty Chick, at Big Journalism, "Blame Breitbart!: Salon.com Editor Joan Walsh Lies and Bullies on Weinergate."

So, yeah, I was wrong about this story peaking. Coverage continues to build, at ABC News, for example, "Rep. Anthony Weiner Gets Combative With Reporters About Lewd Twitter Photo."

And of course, keep up on things at Big Government.

Added: Don't miss Michelle's essay, "Weighing in on Weiner." (Fit is hitting the shan.)

Also, at Hot Air, Weiner has a heated exchange with CNN's Dana Bash!