Shirley Sherrod offered condolences to the Breitbart family and then said that she would make no further comment. We know who Breitbart was. We need to focus on the trauma suffered by Ms Sherrod so that the next time a slander is made a price is paid. Republicans should be asked point blank if they agree with Rush Limbaugh that sexually active women are sluts. The best way to "honor" Breitbart life is to prevent Conservative slanders from going unchallenged. If Republicans don't have the ethical code or backbone to challenge Limbaugh, they should be publicly shamed. Similarly, The Montana federal judge who sent a racist e-mail about Barack Obama should be removed.

Breitbart destroyed ACORN and tried to destroy Shirley Sherrod. Let's honor Breitbart's death by stopping his fellow travelers in their tracks.

I sent Josh a note, under my real name.  Sometimes he answers me.  Sometimes not. 

Anyway, here's what I had to say to him.  Since it's just my side of the conversation, I'm not betraying any confidences.  If he answers me, I'd at best summarize his response but certainly wouldn't cut and paste it here.

Hey Josh,

I think that anyone familiar with your work and with TPM should not have been surprised that you weren't about to let people use it as a platform to say uncharitable things about Breitbart that they might later regret.  At the same time, that admirable vein of American political pugilism that you described -- and I think you get better than most that this is am important part of our politics that can't be expunged without losing a lot of good things -- doesn't really apply to Breitbart, does it?  When I think of our real fighters, in the vein of a Christopher Hitchens or HL Mencken, I think of people who focus their energies on the immensely powerful.  Breitbart went after, what... Acorn?  A middle class black woman who works for a federal agency?  A well known (but not powerful) Congressman who made himself vulnerable?

Breitbart was far more bully than he was pugilist.  He spent a lot of time going after defenseless people.  It's pretty easy to do shock journalism that way.  Beyond that, a lot of TPM readers have counted on you and your people to debunk his sensationalism over the years.  I get that people who knew him, liked him, politics aside.  I like Steve Forbes and Boone Pickens, politics aside.  Most people are pretty likable when it comes down to it.  But maybe you were overly generous with this guy?  His attempt on Shirley Sherrod's livelihood was pretty darned intention and would seem to disqualify him from membership in the community of lovable fighters and roustabouts in politics.

Hope all's well,
Mike