Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World! by Andrew Breitbart
Book: Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World! by Andrew Breitbart
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Authors: Andrew Breitbart
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unique about myself. For me to realize that there was another voice out there, and that he was doing something about the stranglehold of the Complex, was a revelation. Reading the Drudge Report was opening my eyes to the power of the individual to take on massive, entrenched power—in government, the media, everywhere. To borrow a phrase: Drudge was hope and change.
Then, on July 4, 1997, Drudge broke the Kathleen Willey story. “Coming just hours after the President ‘adamantly’ denies harassing Paula Jones,” wrote Drudge, “the DRUDGE REPORT has learned that NEWSWEEK ace investigative reporter Michael Isikoff is hot on the trail of a new development that threatens to ignite premature holiday fireworks at the White House. Reports have surfaced that Isikoff has been in contact with a former White House staffer who may offer ‘pattern’ evidence of improper sexual conduct on the part of the President.” 1
Willey, a Clinton donor’s wife, claimed to have been fondled by the president when she went to visit him—and when she got home, she found that her husband had killed himself. The Willeys were having financial trouble, and so it was natural for the Willeys to approach Clinton. And because Clinton is who Clinton is, it was just as natural for Clinton to allow the meeting, because Kathleen Willey was an attractive woman. While Willey was there and in the process of telling Clinton that she and her husband were in deep financial straits, the classy gentleman that Clinton is allegedly put the moves on her in a special kitchen area off the Oval Office. According to Willey’s later interview on
60 Minutes
, Clinton “kissed me on my mouth and pulled me closer to him. And… I remember thinking—… ‘What in the world is he doing?’ He touched my breasts with his hand… and he whispered… ‘I’ve wanted to do this ever since I laid eyes on you.’ And… then he took my hand, and he put it on him.” 2
A story that went all the way to the White House. Broken on Drudge. It was mind-boggling to watch how one outsider was frazzling the whole order.
A couple months later, on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana of Wales was killed in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel inParis. Drudge had the story up with the iconic “Drudge siren” on his site before cable news and the networks, in their frantic Paris-and London-based coverage, reported it.
The string of successes of man vs. media was starting to add up. Tons of media began profiling Drudge, the Internet started gaining attention as something other than a hobby, and—naturally!—members of respected journalistic institutions began slandering Drudge with charges they couldn’t back up, let alone prove.
He was not just a threat to the political order—he was also a threat to the business of the mainstream media.
By the summer of 1997, I had actually struck up something of an acquaintance with Drudge over the Internet, and it was in fact he who hooked me up with Arianna Huffington. Arianna had become interested in creating media-driven websites, and she was looking for help from someone who knew the landscape. So I went to her house, and we sat outside and ate spanakopitas and drank iced tea. I’d read about Arianna in
Vanity Fair
, and I thought she was one of those people who was larger than life, the type of person nobody like me gets to meet. She was already writing a column for the
Los Angeles Times
, the
New York Post
, and the
Chicago Sun-Times
. Before I could even get comfortable being in her picture-perfect estate, accepting her graciousness, eating her hors d’oeuvres, I was abruptly hired.
I immediately quit a disposable E! Online job, which I had gotten from the classifieds, and where I had spent most of my time teaching myself the technical basics of the Internet (the job also gave me access to their T-1 line, the equivalent of the Autobahn for the Internet in 1997). I guarantee you, E! did not lament losinga key cog in their
Then, on July 4, 1997, Drudge broke the Kathleen Willey story. “Coming just hours after the President ‘adamantly’ denies harassing Paula Jones,” wrote Drudge, “the DRUDGE REPORT has learned that NEWSWEEK ace investigative reporter Michael Isikoff is hot on the trail of a new development that threatens to ignite premature holiday fireworks at the White House. Reports have surfaced that Isikoff has been in contact with a former White House staffer who may offer ‘pattern’ evidence of improper sexual conduct on the part of the President.” 1
Willey, a Clinton donor’s wife, claimed to have been fondled by the president when she went to visit him—and when she got home, she found that her husband had killed himself. The Willeys were having financial trouble, and so it was natural for the Willeys to approach Clinton. And because Clinton is who Clinton is, it was just as natural for Clinton to allow the meeting, because Kathleen Willey was an attractive woman. While Willey was there and in the process of telling Clinton that she and her husband were in deep financial straits, the classy gentleman that Clinton is allegedly put the moves on her in a special kitchen area off the Oval Office. According to Willey’s later interview on
60 Minutes
, Clinton “kissed me on my mouth and pulled me closer to him. And… I remember thinking—… ‘What in the world is he doing?’ He touched my breasts with his hand… and he whispered… ‘I’ve wanted to do this ever since I laid eyes on you.’ And… then he took my hand, and he put it on him.” 2
A story that went all the way to the White House. Broken on Drudge. It was mind-boggling to watch how one outsider was frazzling the whole order.
A couple months later, on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana of Wales was killed in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel inParis. Drudge had the story up with the iconic “Drudge siren” on his site before cable news and the networks, in their frantic Paris-and London-based coverage, reported it.
The string of successes of man vs. media was starting to add up. Tons of media began profiling Drudge, the Internet started gaining attention as something other than a hobby, and—naturally!—members of respected journalistic institutions began slandering Drudge with charges they couldn’t back up, let alone prove.
He was not just a threat to the political order—he was also a threat to the business of the mainstream media.
By the summer of 1997, I had actually struck up something of an acquaintance with Drudge over the Internet, and it was in fact he who hooked me up with Arianna Huffington. Arianna had become interested in creating media-driven websites, and she was looking for help from someone who knew the landscape. So I went to her house, and we sat outside and ate spanakopitas and drank iced tea. I’d read about Arianna in
Vanity Fair
, and I thought she was one of those people who was larger than life, the type of person nobody like me gets to meet. She was already writing a column for the
Los Angeles Times
, the
New York Post
, and the
Chicago Sun-Times
. Before I could even get comfortable being in her picture-perfect estate, accepting her graciousness, eating her hors d’oeuvres, I was abruptly hired.
I immediately quit a disposable E! Online job, which I had gotten from the classifieds, and where I had spent most of my time teaching myself the technical basics of the Internet (the job also gave me access to their T-1 line, the equivalent of the Autobahn for the Internet in 1997). I guarantee you, E! did not lament losinga key cog in their
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