About three years ago, Andrew Breitbart, who sadly passed away suddenly this morning in Los Angeles, joined the Media Research Center at our 2009 Gala, featuring the annual “DisHonors Awards [1],” where he accepted the “Media Messiah Award [2]” in jest for Chris Matthews.
The MSNBC host “won” the award for his infamous boast about how “I felt this thrill going up my leg” during a speech by then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Audio: MP3 clip [3]
Breitbart quipped “they always forget ‘husky male model’ on my resume” and relayed that a psychiatrist friend observed Matthews’ affliction was “a common side effect of a double dose of lithium.” He described MSNBC as really bad reality TV and urged the audience to expose their friends to MSNBC since its hosts “are manifestly insane.”
Monica Crowley introduced Breitbart at the Thursday night, March 19, 2009 event held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington, D.C.
MRC President Brent Bozell issued this statement [4] this morning, March 1, 2012:
Today we have a lost a truly brilliant mind and a tireless warrior for the conservative movement. Andrew was one of the few good guys who knew Hollywood inside and out. He coupled that knowledge with the creativity and passion that has become his trademark, offering it for the cause that he so believed in. The entire Breitbart family will be in our thoughts and prayers. May he rest in peace.
Many more tributes on the MRC’s NewsBusters blog: “In Memoriam: Andrew Breitbart [5]”
-- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here [6] to follow Brent Baker on Twitter.