Andrew Breitbart, the founder of the conservative Breitbart.com and BigHollywood.com websites (and perhaps most famous for posting the picture of former Congressman Anthony Weiner exposing himself -- a photo that led to Weiner's resignation), has died in Los Angeles at age 43. The two websites posted a statement saying that he had "passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning. "Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love," the message said. The principal Republican candidates immediately issued statements expressing sorrow over Breitbart's passing and hailing his conservative activism. "What a huge loss ... to our country and certainly to the conservative movement," Sen. Rick Santorum said. Newt Gingrich praised him as "the most innovative pioneer in conservative activist social media." And Gov. Mitt Romney called him a "brilliant entrepreneur, fearless conservative, loving husband and father."

01/03/2012