Coroner: Andrew Breitbart Died of a Heart Attack
The full autopsy report will be released next week. Meanwhile Breitbart.com tells us the coroner has said the cause of death was what was suspected . . . a heart attack:
Chief Coroner Investigator Craig Harvey told Breitbart News that the final autopsy report would be released next week.
A press release issued by the Department of Coroner (below) notes: “No prescription or illicit drugs were detected. The blood alcohol was .04%,” a negligible amount.
Those who suggested that he was on some kind of illicit drugs should apologize, but of course they won’t.
UPDATE: Commenter Dana links the piece I had been thinking about. It is on AlterNet and is by Maer Roshan and Hunter R. Slayton, and is titled What Really Killed Andrew Breitbart? The Likely Cause of Death The Mainstream Media Ignored.
Nonetheless, soon after his death was announced, blogosphere back channels—and numerous emails to The Fix—began buzzing with speculation that drugs or alcohol had played a role in his passing. But despite their private discussions of the topic, not a single mainstream media outlet or website dared to publicly raise the question of substances.
None but these Courageous Journalists, who raised it, and then doubled down.
“Andrew Breitbart is dead at 43 from ‘natural causes,'” read a tweet that echoed hundreds of others posted after his death. “Yes I suppose wine is pretty natural.” A commenter on an addiction site noted that Breitbart’s enraged appearances reminded him of his own behavior after an extended cocaine binge. “You can’t summon up that kind of insane rage naturally,” he said. “No one can be so angry all the time.”
There is no more reliable source for solid facts than random hateful Internet commenters.
But there has been some public speculation that Breitbart’s drug use didn’t end in college. A source close to the blogger told The Fix on condition of anonymity that he’d done cocaine with Breitbart as recently as last October. On the day after his death, Anthony Cumia, of the radio show “Opie and Anthony,” said of Breitbart, “I went out drinking with him, and boy, can he party.” “He liked to stay awake,” added Anthony. “That’s all I’ll say.”
A source close to Maer Roshan and Hunter R. Slayton told Patterico.com on condition of anonymity that they made up the above quote. Well, not really — but that assertion has the same credibility (especially now that I have admitted it’s not true).
Given his erratic behavior, it’s curious that the mainstream media Breitbart so derided has been more willing to report on charges that he was killed by the White House than that he may have had a problem with alcohol or drugs. Consider the reaction to the death of Whitney Houston, whose body was not even in the ambulance before blogs and news outlets—including Breitbart’s own BigHollywood—began speculating that her death was alcohol- or drug-related. Given the endless coverage of celebrity addictions, we’ve almost come to expect pop stars to be battling something or other. But politicians, businessmen and reporters generally get a pass. “Drugs,” one editor noted, “didn’t really go with the Breitbart brand.”
What explains this apparent double standard? Fear certainly has something to do with it—in this instance, fear on the part of an embattled mainstream media of conforming to right-wing allegations of liberal bias.
Maybe what explains it is that there was a basis to suspect it with Houston — and it turned out to be true. There was no basis to suspect it with Andrew — and it turned out to be false.
But these jerks won’t apologize. Go ahead, ask them. Then repeatedly bang your head against a brick wall. The latter will ultimately be more satisfying.
Anyone have any specific links to any of those cretins so I can pressure them publicly to apologize?
Patterico (feda6b) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:09 pmTesting …
Random (2293ea) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:12 pmWe all knew the tox report would come in clean.
I’m so sad and tired; I really wish Breitbart was still here. He’d find a way to rope them into saying something even worse to discredit themselves.
Dianna (f12db5) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:15 pmSo it wasn’t murder? That’s what I kept hearing loons say…
He was young for a heart attack, but it happens.
Alex (31c567) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:24 pmWhen the time comes, that’s how I intend to go.
Random (2293ea) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:28 pmAt least it wasn’t from eating a dog.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:30 pmOpie and Anthony.
Dana (4eca6e) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:32 pmwhen he first died there was some mention of underlying health problems but I don’t think that ever really got elaborated on
but then nobody tells me anything
but will a “final autopsy report” generally speak to that sorta thing?
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:33 pmHappy it was reported that he had horrendously high blood pressure but did not want to address it.
Gazzer (130c87) — 4/20/2012 @ 10:54 pmwouldn’t that be an “other significant condition” though?
but then I guess since maybe the heart attack got him before the blood pressure could, the blood pressure was a lot dwarfed in significance in the end
I don’t understand autopsy reports.
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 4/20/2012 @ 11:01 pmNah, we know it was some kind of government-sanctioned assassination using a poison that mimics a heart attack.
IGotBupkis, Legally Defined Cyberbully in All 57 States (8e2a3d) — 4/20/2012 @ 11:17 pmhigh BP w/CAD = heart attack.
i’m guessing some of the problem was structural/genetic/familial, given the age when it killed him.
given that, it’s possible even the most aggressive therapies might have had little effect on the problem, which may explain his unwillingness to deal with it all.
(just a SWAG on my part there at the end)
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:15 amI read Mark Ebner was quoted about this somewhere today and was reminded that him and Andrew were connected.
There are a lot of sick people out there. Andrew would have re-tweeted all of it.
Noodles (3681c4) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:16 amNoodles,
Pretty sure I know what all that hullabaloo is about, by the way. You know what I mean.
Much ado about nothing, if it’s what I think it is.
Just surprising who’s getting taken in.
Patterico (feda6b) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:24 amComment by Patterico — 4/21/2012 @ 1:24 am
Yeah, I read the tweets about all that. Hopefully it will all be cleared up.
Noodles (3681c4) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:32 amEh, once you let the bad guys in your circle it’s hard to get them out.
Patterico (feda6b) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:40 amAnd I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about someone who may be far too trusting of a bad guy.
I hope I’m wrong. Maybe I am.
Patterico (feda6b) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:41 amI hear you Patterico. Sometimes even smart people can be taken in by others looking to capitalize on them.
Noodles (3681c4) — 4/21/2012 @ 1:51 amDana,
hadn’t been aware of that Opie and Anthony rant but thanks for posting (and Patterico for drawing more attn to it. Unbelievable.
I miss Andrew Breitbart, not as much as his family but very much. Courage, passion, wit, perseverance, and by so many accounts, happiness. He reminded me many times of the theme of that movie Unbreakable: if you discover and know what your life’s mission is about, it gives you energy, strength in fighting what you’re supposed to be fighting, and unassailable joy every day.
Inspiring, and have made use of that inspiration several times IRL already with far-left liberals I know, since hearing of his death, and suspect I’ll continue to do so.
Was about to write “we shall not see his like again” — but of course we will, because he and a few others like him demonstrated a way of standing up and fighting these bigoted, racist, “sophisticated” far-lefties, which way some of us had forgotten and some of us weren’t aware was an option. But whose time had come. He didn’t ride in on that zeitgeist. He helped make it.
no one you know (498806) — 4/21/2012 @ 4:54 am“But these jerks won’t apologize. Go ahead, ask them. Then repeatedly bang your head against a brick wall. The latter will ultimately be more satisfying.”
Well said. If it weren’t for excellent blogs like yours that’s what we would have to do. Keep up the good work.
Corky Boyd (9c6284) — 4/21/2012 @ 7:09 am“But these jerks won’t apologize. Go ahead, ask them. Then repeatedly bang your head against a brick wall. The latter will ultimately be more satisfying.”
I did. Here. Because if it really matters, we will ask. And there are those of us behind the scenes who do just that because being pro-active for truth and not just a whining about it, is good for the soul. Great post calling them out, Patterico.
Dana (4eca6e) — 4/21/2012 @ 9:21 amThere were a number of heinous, drive-by posts on “Breitbart death-related” threads here… allegations of drug abuse, etc.
We all know that they should feel much shame and remorse, but that is tempered by the knowledge that the Left doesn’t “embarrass easy”.
Colonel Haiku (34ef2e) — 4/21/2012 @ 9:37 am“Those who suggested that he was on some kind of illicit drugs should apologize, but of course they won’t.”
The amount of emotional projection on the left is staggering. They hate so they assume others hate, and then they pretend that they know what others think. Andrew Breibart exposed them for what they are, and they hate that too.
tyree (84087f) — 4/21/2012 @ 10:13 amHmmm…
So cocaine use is a bad thing, yes? And that applies to, um, people in higher office in some fashion? Or do we hear more crickets?
Simon Jester (92cc69) — 4/21/2012 @ 12:09 pmlike a taste for canine cuisine in pre-teen years, snarfeling Bolivian Marching Powder as a young adult is a forgivable indiscretion, Simon.
Colonel Haiku (2d4f2a) — 4/21/2012 @ 12:26 pmThere is a word next to “hypotenuse” in the dictionary that applies here. Sigh. I just don’t understand the press: BHO won’t stand up for them. They are like battered girlfriends or something.
Simon Jester (92cc69) — 4/21/2012 @ 12:28 pmIt’s good to know you’ve met your frequent commenters and recognize hem for what they are
Timb (8f04c0) — 4/21/2012 @ 2:02 pmLooking at photos of him in the last weeks of his life, Breitbart looked pretty ragged, pale and worn down. In retrospect, a coronary isn’t as much of a surprise as when it first happened. A lesson for all us middle-aged males to take better care of ourselves.
Spartacus (930453) — 4/21/2012 @ 2:15 pmI have met some of them and I was not talking about them as you well know — which makes your comment seem kind of . . . dishonest.
Patterico (feda6b) — 4/21/2012 @ 2:30 pmYou could definitely see your expertise within the paintings you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. At all times go after your heart.
College girl sucks (5ffd9a) — 4/26/2012 @ 5:49 pm