Romney Campaign Touts Posthumous Andrew Breitbart Quasi-Endorsement

The late Andrew Breitbart was a towering figure in the conservative media before his tragic death in March, a point even his harshest critics would concede, but even in death, his voice echoes in our national politics. This morning, Mitt Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams retweeted part of a message from  Breitbart.com Editor in Chief Joel Pollak, which read “MT @joelpollak: You know who would have liked @MittRomney‘s speech to ‪#NAACP‬?@AndrewBreitbart.”

Pollak’s full message read “You know who would have liked @MittRomney‘s speech to ‪#NAACP‬?@AndrewBreitbart. (Especially audience’s reaction & media reporting thereof.)”

That tweet was followed by these two:

@AndrewBreitbart hated it when Republicans pandered to the forces of political correctness, and he applauded straightforward honesty.‪#NAACP‬

And @AndrewBreitbart would have had nothing but infinitely re-tweetable outrage for those ‪#NAACP‬ “leaders” casting @MittRomney as racist.

It’s not surprising that the Romney campaign would want to highlight such an association with a man who was widely adored by the conservative base their candidate is trying to connect with, and Pollak’s assessment is right on the money. Andrew Breitbart probably would have liked Mitt Romney’s NAACP speech, and Williams’ retweet seems to strengthen the impression, which many commentators (and those NAACP “leaders,” as Pollak derisively calls them) drew from it, that that was the entire point. The NAACP audience was merely a hurdle, over whom he launched his message to his real intended audience.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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